Hello! Welcome to the winter-vacation syndication segment of the newsletter! The Friday Dispatch and other regular Hattie content is on a break until January 12th. Until then, you’ll be getting some top-ten lists from me.
Throughout the year, I’ve thrilled and exhilarated you with a wide range of poetry prompts. Some are quick and easy. Some are bizarre and challenging. My goal was to help readers establish a fun, enjoyable poetry practice, whether they’re first-time poets or seasoned professionals. Today, I’ve collected ten of my favorite prompts. If you’re looking for something to do in the remaining days of 2023, or if writing is a major component of your new year’s resolution for 2024, I hope my prompts can help.
Top 10 Poetry Prompts From 2023
Stichomancy Isn’t Dead – For this poetry prompt you’ll need a poetry PROP!
Character Study – For this one, you’ll need a timer and a place to write, and also…a movie. You don’t actually need the movie on hand, but as a start, think about a movie you’ve seen ten million times.
Borrowing Through Translation – A simple, three-ingredient poetry recipe. You’ll need: two songs you love and Google Translate.
Grounding Yourself – The poet’s guide to “grounding” yourself in imagined places. Maybe they’re remembered, maybe they’re totally manufactured. Maybe it’s even a sitcom house you know by heart.
The Packing List – You’re going to be writing five short lists, then harvesting them for a list poem. Easy. Short. Quick.
I Award You No Points And May God Have Mercy On Your Soul – You are writing a poem and then never, ever looking at it again. This is why they invented SnapChat!
Mirror Image – I had a fever and I watched A Chorus Line and I invented a creepy new way to write poems.
Frankenstanzas – This is a poetry exercise for anyone Googling “ADHD symptoms in adults” and losing their dollar-store fidget cubes. So, uh, not me.
Building the Bio-Poem – I’m using a prompt from the first “craft book” I’ve ever read. All you REALLY need for this one is a vague sense of self.
Speak Now (Hattie’s Version) – Collect three to five poems – your own, famous ones, random entries from Poem-a-Day, whatever. You could do lyrics, too. The important thing is collecting auditory detritus.