Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 646

Every Wednesday, Robert Lee Brewer shares a prompt and an example poem to get things started on the Poetic Asides blog. This week, write a “Blank Like Nobody’s Watching” poem.

ICYMI, I made the official announcement for the 16th Annual April Poem-A-Day Challenge. Hope you're ready to poem...daily...in April.

For this week's prompt, take the phrase "(blank) Like Nobody's Watching," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles might include: "Dance Like Nobody's Watching," "Work Like Nobody's Watching," "Sing Like Nobody's Watching," and/or "Poem Like Nobody's Watching."

Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them.

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Write a poem every single day of the year with Robert Lee Brewer's Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming. After sharing more than a thousand prompts and prompting thousands of poems for more than a decade, Brewer picked 365 of his favorite poetry prompts here.

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Here’s my attempt at a Blank Like Nobody's Watching Poem:

“watch like nobody's watching,” by Robert Lee Brewer

the paint dries whether
you watch it or don't

the earth orbits the sun
& the moon moves

ever so slightly away
& over time that alone

will lead to something
as the paint dries

& the earth orbits
& the sun shines

over everything
& everyone

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.