The Fountain Pen Blog

Welcome to Day 2 of my personal month-late NaPoWriMo challenge. Check out my last post for Day 1.

Today’s poetry prompt?

Prompt #2:

Create a list poem.

Start by choosing something to make a list about. The title of the list will be the title of the poem. For instance:

“Things that Terrify Me Daily” could be a list.

or

“Reasons to Get Out of Bed This Morning”

or on a more cheerful note,

“Why I Smiled Today.”

or to be more humorous/BuzzFeed-ish,

“Actual Thoughts I’ve had in the Shower”

These are just examples off the top of my head. Write the list and see what comes out. Keep adding to it until you feel like you can’t come up with anything new for it, or until you’ve reached at least 10 items (though you can pick a higher number if you’d prefer).

These aren’t super interesting list ideas, I know, and some of them may turn into blog posts instead of poems, but I’m hoping that in the process of creating the list I’ll stumble upon an image or phrase that will turn it into something more substantial. I’ve found lists to flow very naturally for me when I’m experiencing writer’s block, so this is just a good tool to have in your back pocket.

To give credit where it’s due, I got the idea for this prompt from a TED talk and a list poem, both by Sarah Kay, who is a spoken word poet. The poem is called “The Oak Tree Speaks,” and it’s published online, so you can check it out here. Some of her spoken word poetry is on YouTube. She’s most well known for this TED talk in which she performs, and that’s how I found out about her. She talks about writing lists in it too.

If anyone tries this or any of the prompts I’m sharing throughout this month, feel free to let me know! If you try a prompt on your blog, share the link! I’ll check it out.

I’m always happy to read any thoughts or writing tips you may have. Feel free to share them in the comments below!