because I broke it
Sometimes a simple mistake can change your life in profound ways. Sometimes, it makes no difference at all. Have you ever broken something and had to face consequences? Or did you break a rule and learn something new about life? Use it as a first line or a jumping off point, and think about how breaking something may have changed your life.
Reading secrets in a flower, touching
I was young when she was young and we
What color is the sky on your planet, Andrew?
A handful of earth, a packet of seeds
This is where the children play today today
Looking for inspiration in others’ work is a time-honored tradition. Every week, the Ringing of the Bards Poetry Carnival is hosted at a different blog around the net. You can always find out who is hosting by visiting Ringing of the Bards. If you want to get a full dose of poetic inspiration, volunteer to host a poetry carnival of your own!
Poetry Thursday gives you a new writing prompt every week. Just check their writing prompt on the front page (the totally optional idea), write your poem, then post the url to it in a comment at Poetry Thursday. Check back on Thursday to see what everyone else did with the same thoughts.
Sometimes all you need is a great first line. One that leaves you hanging. One that makes you think. One that puzzles you. Taking off from a first line as a writing prompt can be a great way to feed your muse something a little different than her usual diet. Here’s a snack tray of first lines for your muse to nosh on.
my father was never in the picture
four years after the day you told me
your breath is always
it was only a red jacket but
opening like the petals of
there is no strength in having
Have fun – and share! If you use one of these first lines to start a poem of your own, post a link back to us in a comment so others can see what you’ve done!
You might have guessed that snakes is this week’s challenge subject because tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day. I’m not Irish, but I claim honorary clan membership by dint of spending my formative years as a member of St. Patrick’s Parish and my elementary school years under the rule of the nuns who taught at St. Patrick’s Parochial School… not to mention having been raised by an Irish stepfather, marrying an Irish husband and having Irish children. If all that doesn’t qualify me, I don’t know what does.
Heritage is a powerful musebait. If you’re stuck on writing, take a web-tour of writings by poets and authors who share your heritage. Let the words get into your blood. For those who have a symbolic (or real) link to things Gaelic and Irish, I highly recommend Seamus Heaney, winner of this year’s T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry and the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature (among many many others). Read a review of Heaney’s latest book of poetry, District and Circle, by Stephen Burt, and listen to him reading from his work at the Poetry Archives.
One of the most potent sources of inspiration is other people’s poetry. Workshopping your poetry will get you more than feedback on your own work – it lets you into the minds of other writers. If you’re more in the mood just to read, then the blogosphere is a treasure trove of other people’s poetry. One place that you can count on finding lots and lots of poems – fresh poetry every week! – is the Ringing of the Bards Carnival. You’ll find a list of who’s hosting the Carnival each week at the link above – along with instructions on how to host a Carnival at your own blog.
My daddy was a forester and I really lived in a log house with a wolf as a pet. My uncle, another forester, would visit and we would call owls down from the trees late at night. In the summer we would sleep out on the lawn to watch the meteor showers all the while hoping that the bears would leave our freshly brushed breath alone while they walked through our yard to check out our neighbor’s garbage can. While snow shoeing I have fallen into a hole over my head upside down only to find that the will to survive is mighty strong in 20 below weather. While hiking in the White Mountains I have watched an elderly couple bath nude in the icey waters. I also watched in horror as my older brother fell off a cliff while goofing around, and nearly choked on my own heart as my father chased after him to save him from his fate. I have never experienced “nothing” while communing with nature. There is always something new, something alive to grab one’s attention. Take a day, a weekend, lace up a pair of sturdy shoes and open your eyes.
writers are seldom only creative with words. use your other creative interests to fuel your muse. paint a portrait. dabble with your music. knit an afghan. color a picture with crayons. or do what Jared did and spend weeks dripping wax to create something unique.
Keep a journal next to your bed and write down your dreams when they first wake you. I don’t know about others, but there is some crazy alternate universe stuff going on in my dreams. Great resource material.