Poetry Prompt #145

Too Darn Hot!

Some days it’s just too darn hot. So hot you stick to every chair. So hot you can’t move. So hot it feels like you’re melting.

Too Hot cartoon.jpg

Writers use figurative language to convey feeling. They compare things in new and unusual ways. Similes are comparisons using “like” or “as”. Metaphors are comparisons that don’t have to use “like” or “as”. Hyperbole is exaggeration.

Too Hot.jpg

Try writing a poem describing how hot it is without using the word “hot”. Use figurative language to show what hot feels like, smells like, tastes like, sounds like. To help you get started, think of ways to finish this sentence—and then leave out the prompt.

You know it’s hot when…

Set your timer for 7 minutes

Don’t think about it too much; just do it!

Start writing!

Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 1500 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or the whole poem in the comments.

Poetry Prompt #144

Global Garbage Man Day

Boy howdy, where would we be without those garbage trucks to roll down the street gobbling up trash! Buried under piles, heaps, mounds of smelly yuck is where. Pee-yew!

One fella, John D. Arwood, knowing what a smelly world this could be, designated June 17th as Global Garbage Man Day, in honor of the hard-working, under-appreciated trash collectors who keep our communities clean. Let’s join in the celebration!

Hip-Hip-Hooray! It’s Global Garbage Man Day

Write a garbage poem—it can be about a garbage truck, garbage collector, or kinds of garbage. Toss in as many words that include the letter g as you can. And, at least one onomatopoeia. Can you make your poem sound like a garbage truck roaring down the street?

For extra fun, read Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman & David Clemesha, illustrated by Dan Yacarrinao. Here’s a link to the read-aloud: https://youtu.be/jFu0_hWbE2Q

Global Garbage Man Day: https://nationaldaycalendar.com/global-garbage-man-day-june-17/

Set your timer for 7 minutes

Don’t think about it too much; just do it!

Start writing!

Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 1400 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.

Poetry Prompt #143

National Ballpoint Pen Day

There’s a saying that “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Before ballpoint pens, people used fountain pens—pens that needed to be dipped or refilled with ink and whose sharp points worked only on paper. If you wanted to write on any other surface (wood, coarse wrapping paper, leather) you were out of luck.

The first patent for the ballpoint pen was issued in 1888 to John J. Loud, a leather tanner who often needed to write on the leather. This pen had a metal ball for the point (where it got its name!) that couldn’t fall out or in but rolled on the surface. It worked well on leather but was pretty messy on paper. Many years passed before the Biro brothers found a solution for a new sharper point.

In honor of Ballpoint Pen Day and inventions, write a poem about your favorite pen. What does it feel like? What does it look like? What color does it write? What’s the best thing it has ever written?

Set your timer for 7 minutes

Don’t think about it too much; just do it!

Start writing!

Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 1400 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.

Poetry Prompt #142

Repeat That!

Repetition can be used in poetry in many ways. You can repeat a sound like a long o sound or an l or t sound. You can repeat a word several times in the poem like the word “bells” in a famous poem by Edgar Allan Poe. You can repeat a phrase or a whole line. Or you can repeat a verse like the refrain in a song.

Choose a way to repeat from the list above and write a poem that uses some repetition.

Set your timer for 7 minutes

Don’t think about it too much; just do it!

Start writing!

Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 1400 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.