Friday Freeforall: Poetry Prompts Instead of Firecrackers

9:00 a.m. — Walnut Creek

Hello everyone. I hope all is well going into the weekend.

We start with Donna’s Poetry Tow Truck and a prompt that says in part: So this week, do some reading. Find a poem that is radically different from your writing.  (If you write imagistic free verse, find a tightly-metered rhyming poem. You get the picture.) Then follow the steps above to create your own poem that goes against type… To find out the steps and read the whole prompt head over to the Tow Truck and check out the rest of the prompt. It’s a challenge worth trying.

This is the last week for Writer’s Island and many of us feel the wrench. Losing two loved sites in a matter of weeks has cast a bit of a pall. But over on the island there is celebration of life. The final prompt says: So it is simple this week, please meditate on your vision of the future, be it for yourself, or loved one(s), or for the world — then share it with us… or let the image above spark your muse. Sail to the island for the farewell and to see the image and relax on the shores one more time.

The next site is The Sunday Whirl. Visit to see Brenda’s wordle and to read up on how it works, if you wish to post responses. Otherwise, enjoy a weekly wordle, the words of which come from responses to the previous week’s wordle. This week’s is from three poems. And be sure to go over to see what others have done.

Poetic Bloomings, hosted by Maria Elena Good and Walt Wojtanik, whom many of you know, have a form to follow this week: The Monchielle is a poem consisting of four five-line stanzas where the first line repeats in each verse. Each line within the stanzas consist of six syllables, and lines three and five rhyme. The rhyme pattern is Abcdc Aefgf Ahiji Aklml. Visit the site and look it over, read the prompt and the poems by the hosts in response.

The line chosen by Carry on Tuesday is: Is that all there is? from Peggy Lee. The question is interesting and might work as a repetition, so play with it before going over to the site to see what others have written and for a link to read the lyrics and hear the song.

Sunday Scribblings’ prompt is: give, or a form of the word. And One Single Impression offers us a celebration of tau day. To find out more go over to the site. You might check out some of the participants’ offerings.

At Scribble & Scatter’s ‘Sunday Snaps’ Susan May James has two photographs ready for you to look at. If you use one, consider submitting your creation to ‘Sunday Snaps: the Stories’  a collection of 52 photos and stories/poems. Susan is finalising submissions for her next book and has posted a deadline. Head to the stories’ link to read up on it.

Whether you like to read them or want to try writing one, this site is the place to play with limericks. I enjoy the whole site more every week. It is plain fun to browse. Go to Mad Kane’s Humor Blog for her Limerick-off Mondays and a lot more besides.

Jingle Poetry’s ‘Monday Potluck’ offers us Saints, Monks and Meditation. Remember to pop by and check the image that accompanies the prompt and also a new feature that involves music. Next week they are giving us Siblings, Cousins and Friends.

Visit Magpie Tales for our other image prompt. The photograph is visually intriguing. I’m not sure what I will do with it; I know I want to try something. I will need to think of the illustration as a metaphor…

For you alliterists out there, here is ABC Wednesday‘s letter for this week: X. That is all I am giving you. The intro writer has been particularly creative to use the letter x. You should visit to enjoy the creativity. Read it for fun, if you don’t play.

The three words this week for Three Word Wednesday are bump, knuckle, and transfix. As always, visit them for their definitions. They have a particularly good source. These three words made me laugh, for some reason and I will try to get back to see what people did with them.

Part the curtains, swing the windows open wide! Take a fresh breath of sky, prepare to greet something old and make it new again! That’s our way to say with a flourish, take some older poem of yours, something you thought might be better expressed somehow, someday – that day is today! Revise or rewrite that poem. That is how We Write Poems starts its prompt. Head on over and find out what else is suggested. I dug my poem out this morning.

Poets United asks us to think and write about freedom: I would like to point out that freedom is so much more than a country or mind set. One can experience freedom in a million ways.  You can be a free spirit.  Freedom is being eleven years old and experiencing the first time your parents trusted you enough to leave you home alone. Freedom is the ability to have silence in a bustling household because dad decided to take the kids to the park. They always have more, to help us choose possible paths, so go over and read the rest of the prompt and view the photographs.

Scribble & Scatter’s ‘Alpha to Omega Thursdays‘ is taking a small break but Susan assures us she will be back after a brief vacation to continue the challenge.

And, while not a prompt, I want to remind people to check out Elizabeth Crawford’s new discussion site Writers Speak where she asks writers of all genres to stop by and talk about the life of a writer. She will post new topics every week around Friday.

That should keep you busy and writing. If you think anyone else would enjoy these, click on the buttons below. If you have questions ask. If you write in response to any of these, both the people whose blogs you visit and I would love to read your responses. So, post!

I shall see you Tuesday for another open prompt, Thursday for a discussion of sites worth visiting, and next Friday for more of the same. Happy writing, everyone.