Category Archives: LexPoMo Writing Prompt

The Story of a Fruit

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Today’s prompt is by Jeremy Paden, author of ruina montium (Broadstone Books).

Take a fruit, common or uncommon, tell the story of that fruit so that its story is also another story. This can be of love, of hate, of politics. It can be a private or a public story. It can rely on myth or science or both. Stay with the fruit, or some product made from the fruit and spin your poem about it in various ways.

Here is one poor example of my own.

Xocolatl

Tlaloc’s brew, your name is lost in bitter struggle,
bean toasted and offered up as tribute
to Tenochtitlan’s flower warriors.

Quezalcoatl’s gift, dark currency
turned to morning drink, you sit on the tongue
bright like the taste of lost paradise.

Chokol atl, hot liquor mixed with chilies,
draught of gods and of those sent on to meet them
drink offered to Cortés as welcoming cup.

The Last 24 Hours

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Today’s prompt is from Bianca Spriggs, Poetry Editor for Apex Magazine.

Here’s one I use often in workshops and is good for a daily practice for novice and veteran writers:

  • Step 1: Make a list of five things you’ve seen in the last 24 hours (people, objects, events)
  • Step 2: Circle the one that interests you the most.
  • Step 3: Free-write for a few minutes about that thing using only objective description (five senses, who, what, where, why, when). The more specific the better. Color of eyes. Time of day. Temperature.
  • Step 4: Free-write for a few minutes about that thing using subjective description (memories, thoughts, emotions that this thing evokes—why do you think you circled this thing in the first place)
  • Step 5: Craft a poem with content that reflects the subjective and use the objective for creating strong imagery.
  • Step 6: To revise, go back and try to add some measure of tension to the poem. Think of the ending like a cliff-hanger and add suspense. I always use the example of trying to recreate the atmosphere of simple dialogue in a Quentin Tarantino movie that immediately precedes some sort of major or event or even violence.

Make Us Laugh

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Today’s Writing Prompt comes from Accents Editor, Christopher McCurry.

Whether it is through a limerick, a knock-knock joke, a wicked series of puns, or an extended narrative, try to make someone on the other side of the screen crack a smile, guffaw, spray their drink on the screen.

If you’re looking to catch up on your humor theory, click here.