Poetry Memoir

Do you write poetry? Have you ever tried to write poetry?

Here at PromptlyJonica I have been giving prompts for a while. I started this community to help people reach their writing goals here on read.cash. I know sometimes I open my laptop and my mind goes completely blank. Even when I've been "writing" in my head all day.

Writing is like exercising. The more you do it, the easier it gets. The more you do it, the better you get. The more you do it, the stronger you get.

Part of my personal writing goal is to stretch my imagination as far as it will stretch.

If writing is like exercise, then imagination is the stretching before or after you exercise. You don't have to stretch before or after, but if you don't you are more likely to injure yourself and stop exercising altogether.

You don't have to use your imagination to write, but if you don't you are more likely to end up writing the same thing over and over again. You might get bored. You might give up.

It doesn't matter what form your writing takes. Whether academic, technical, educational, personal essay, journaling, or even writing a recipe, you must first imagine what you want to write about.

The writing prompts I've issued here are to help spark your imagination. Whether it is one word or a phrase or a song or a poem, I want the prompt to help you envision what you will write about next.

I have a friend, Christina, who is a professional poet. She has a degree in poetry writing and several books published. You can check them out via the link. I am not an affiliate, so I get nothing for promoting her. I'm just a friend and a fan.

She had a Medium Publication called Fiddleheads and Floss. From there she would run POM prompts. POM stands for Poets On Medium. I don't actually know if she is still running this pub or if she is doing other things. We got caught up in life stuff and I haven't been as good about keeping in touch (with most of my friends) since the pandemic. But you can check her out on Medium or on Amazon or just google her: Christina M. Ward.

Anyhow, Christina runs/ran this publication for poets on Medium and she was doing a prompt series. For poets to write poetry.

I'm curious to see if anyone here on read.cash would like to try their hand at poetry. I'm eager to find all the poets on read.cash, which is for the most part a crypto writing platform. I know y'all are out there.

I may use Christina's format for prompting a poem if anyone expresses an interest.

Below is one poem I wrote for the POM prompt (linked below the poem).

What is She Doing Over There

With a pen in her mouth and ink in her hair?

What is she doing over there? Eyes glassy. Blank stare? Is that ink in her hair?

Words pressing in her brain. Images went in, they want out again. They are trapped in a prison of fear and shame. The words want out. Now! They are beginning to cause pain.

The small voices speak inside her. They say she is bad; she is wrong, they can’t abide her. She’ll fail. She’ll fall. She’ll stay off the horse. She’ll let it ride her.

Too many years chasing the dragon. The words build and build. She hops on the wagon.

Years and years later, she finds she has a choice. She doesn’t have to listen to that small yelling voice.

It sounds so believable. It sounds like her mother. She refuses to listen. She won’t let it smother.

She grabs paper and pen. She smiles and writes, releasing the words once again.

Stronger now than ever, she is starting to show it. Releasing the pressure. Revealing the writer.

She became a poet.

https://medium.com/the-pom/pomprompt-2-tell-me-about-why-you-write-18dd7e88f76e

So you can see how a poetry prompt would work. What say you? Interested? If so, I'll start including a poetry prompt every once in a while in the PromptlyJonica prompt community.

Please leave your thoughts and ideas below. I am also always open to hosting a guest prompter to write an introduction to the prompt. In addition, I am always open to prompt suggestions if you have a subject you would like to write about.

Don't forget to check out the PromptlyJonica writing prompts linked, in order.

Also, don't forget there are no time limitations on how long you have to write a prompt topic. You may write on any prompt anytime for as many times as you like forever. That's the whole point of having them linked. For you.

I really am all about helping other writers find their voice, hone their skills, and become the most successful they can be while stretching their imagination even past their comfort zones.

Are you a writer who needs a little push now and then? Leave me a comment below. I'll help you out!