Today the challenge is to write a paragraph that briefly recounts a story, describes the scene outside your window, or even gives directions from your house to the grocery store. Now try erasing words from this paragraph to create a poem or, alternatively, use the...
Poetry
NaPoWriMo Day 18: Focus
A very interesting prompt today! First, find a poem in a book or magazine (ideally one you are not familiar with). Use a piece of paper to cover over everything but the last line. Now write a line of your own that completes the thought of that single line you can see,...
NaPoWriMo Day 17: An Amusing Family Vacation
The challenge of NaPoWriMo today is to write a poem re-telling a family anecdote that has stuck with you over time. It could be the story of the time your Uncle Louis caught a home run ball, the time your Cousin May accidentally brought home a coyote and gave it a...
NaPoWriMo Day 16: The Game of Life
The NaPoWriMo prompt for the day asks us to write a poem that prominently features the idea of play. It could be a poem about a sport or game, a poem about people who play (or are playing a game), or even a poem in the form of the rules for a sport or game that you’ve...
NaPoWriMo Day 15: My Dear Rapunzel
The prompt of NaPoWriMo for today is to write a poem in which a villain faces an unfortunate situation, and is revealed to be human (but still evil). Perhaps this could mean the witch from Hansel & Gretel has lost her beloved cat, and is going about the...
NaPoWriMo Day 14: My Dream Dictionary
Here’s today's prompt. Dream dictionaries have been around as long as people have had dreams. Interestingly, if you consult a few of them, they nearly always tend to have totally different things to say about specific objects or symbols. Dreams, unlike words...
NaPoWriMo Day 13: How Do I Zip My Lips
The challenge of NaPoWriMo on Friday, the 13th, is to write a poem in which the words or meaning of a familiar phrase get up-ended. For example, if you chose the phrase “A stitch in time saves nine,” you might reverse that into something like: “a broken thread; I’m...
NaPoWriMo Day 12: Home Sweet Home
The challenge of NaPoWriMo for today is to specifically write a haibun that takes in the natural landscape of the place you live. It may be the high sierra, dusty plains, lush rainforest, or a suburbia of tiny, identical houses – but wherever you live, here’s your...
NaPoWriMo Day 11: A Day in My Future
NaPoWriMo challenge for Day 11 is to write a poem that addresses the future, answering the questions “What does y(our) future provide? What is your future state of mind? If you are a citizen of the “union” that is your body, what is your future “state of the union”...








