Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 719
Every Wednesday, Robert Lee Brewer shares a prompt and an example poem to get things started for poets. This week, write an unexpected poem.
Before we get into today's prompt, I just want to let you know this will be the final Wednesday Poetry Prompt for a few weeks, because we're starting the November PAD Chapbook Challenge on Friday. So we'll still be poeming on Wednesdays; we'll just be doing it as part of that daily poeming challenge. Click here to learn more about the challenge.
For this week's prompt, write an unexpected poem. Tomorrow is Halloween; so, of course, tricks and treats and people shouting, "Boo," are all around. But there are many other unexpected things that happen throughout the year, both bad and good. Explore the unexpected this week.
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 an Unexpected Poem:
“haiku,” by Robert Lee Brewer
from autumn branches
the squirrel fell on its back
across the sidewalk

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.