Chapter 22

Prompts to Keep Your Writing Flowing

In the following pages are prompts designed to help you keep writing. They are not prescriptive but meant to jumpstart your creative process. Use these prompts as opening lines or topics. They are put into sections of five, so as not to overwhelm you. Look at a section and pick one that inspires you most.

I’m always afraid of ___________ showing up at my doorstep.

Write a poem about a wedding you went to or didn’t go to.

Growing up on my street, in my town, meant ...

Write a poem about background noises.

The worst test I ever took ...

My mother’s stories ...

I am the daughter/father/aunt/son who ...

I come from a long line of ...

What I told the cops/what really happened ...

The most peaceful place I’ve ever been ...

This anger will last.

“Ma, hear me now, tell me your story, again and again” (from a poem by Nellie Wong).

I’m waiting ...

I love/hate the phone/internet because ...

Teacher you remember ... (describe the classroom the way you remember it).

God made it cold in here.

Is there anything in the world sadder than ...

Write a poem about big or greased hair.

My mother would never talk about death.

Don’t tell me how to ...

Write a poem addressed to a poet or to poets in general.

Write about a particular food or drink that you associate with feeling warm and safe.

Write a poem about words or actions you would take back if you could.

Write a poem about a man/woman who left you, or whom you left.

I was never young with you.

My brother / father / husband / daughter is the one who...

Because my alarm clock didn’t go off ...

Write a poem about your favorite shoes.

Ever since _______ I can’t stand the sound or smell of ...

Write a poem about ugly people.

I’d forgotten until now ...

Reading to the children ...

The time I lost my son or daughter ...

Your ambitions when you were seven years old ...

Write a poem about a particular car.

I think about death ...

Answer this question in a poem: Can this really be my life?

The china in my mother’s / grandmother’s cupboard ...

Write a poem of apology.

What did you collect as a child? Write a poem about what you collected or being a collector.

If only I had realized ...

Answer this question in a poem: Where do the dead go?

We had seen it on TV and thought we’d try it.

Long, long before I had escaped from a life where ...

Write a poem about hats, shoes, or gloves.

When my mother / father tried to tell me about sex / about what to do with my life / about what was wrong with me, they said ...

Bringing in wood ...

“always and everywhere / go after that which is lost” (from a poem by Carolyn Forché).

The black sheep of the family ...

Memory of a day in church from your childhood.

Why are you grieving?

What they don’t teach you.

Write a poem about the topic of mortal sins.

I’m fifteen and every day after school I go to ...

Donald Rumsfeld confesses in a mosque in Harlem ...

What is it inside that is always missing.

Use the word “after” or “because” as the first word of the first line and repeat it throughout the poem.

Being loud enough to wake the dead ...

“I’m the only one who has a weird family” (Flip Wilson from Good Times).

“The truth is such a rare thing. It is delightful to tell it” (from a poem by Emily Dickinson)

Write a poem about light.

If I were on a reality TV show, I’d be sure to ...

As an athlete ...

Write about a personal (perhaps obsessive) routine.

What to call joy and grief.

When I can’t sleep, I ...

You said ...

What I’d most like to leave behind ...

How my life has changed ...

Write about a time when you were silent and didn’t want to be.

Men/women don’t usually ...

Answer this question in a poem: America, what is happening? We’ve lived too long in the shadow.

The food I liked most when I was a kid ...

I lost my self-esteem.

Write a poem about your favorite place (for example, a library, kitchen, camp, baseball field, etc.).

I am God.

One shoe in the road ...

Laundry on a line ...

Write about a picture from when you were a child.

Think of someone whose story you want to tell, perhaps someone who could not tell their story.

In my worst/best dream ... Playing doctor ...

When I was a kid I loved to order _______ from the back of cereal boxes.

Why I love / hate the accordion / guitar / piano / Bach / Beethoven / hip hop / country music / rock ...

If only I could ...

Open your heart and let me see what I’ve missed.

Answer this question in a poem: Who are we when a face opens to us?

On Saturdays we ...

Write a poem about something you wanted to say but didn’t and now it’s too late.

I am here in the Pathmark (or some other supermarket) among the cheeses.

“We have come to this simplicity from afar.” (from a poem by Sonia Sanchez)

Write a poem about empathy.

On the night of the funeral / wake ...

When I am empty ...

I’ve never told you this, but I remember ...

I am / am not a great believer in luck ...

Something I lost that I never found ... What I know of violence ...

I’m jealous of ... (or) The one thing I’m jealous of ...

Even though girls/boys are supposed to ... Write a poem about spin the bottle ...

My mother/father said ...

All I really want is ...

Write about some antique or artifact from your parent’s childhood.

Write a poem about your cousins. When I leave you ...

What am I most ashamed of ...

Write a poem about a miracle you or somebody you know experienced.

The last date I remember ...

I am my father / mother ...

What trees / dogs / cats know ...

Write a poem in praise of ectomorph / endomorph / mesomorph I miss ...

Best day of the week ...

Write a poem about something you built.

I admit it now ...

Write a poem about blame.

Answer this question in a poem: Who are the people in our lives who live only in photographs?

Write a poem using the phrase “This is the hour ...” repetitively.

The last time I went to church ...

All those years and miles ...

Write a poem about a moment when you felt lost. We got as close to perfect as ...

That timeless, seedy dive in ...

When I was growing up, my favorite ...

Write a poem about daughters: my mother’s daughters; my mother as a daughter; the daughter or son I might have had or might still have.

Back in the days when ...

Baking with my mother ...

Write about some books that were important to you when you were young.

Leaning on the post office counter this is what she said: I practice selective memory.

Write a poem that is a riff on praying or learning how to pray, or “I’ve forgotten how to pray.”

All the stuff we don’t say because it isn’t polite ...

Write a poem that tries to define America or talks to America.

Going to a bar to look for someone to love ...

When the door slammed ...

Because it fails us ...

This really happened ...

Perfect circles ...

With every step you take, there is an army of women watching over you.

Write a poem about a cardboard box. Write a poem about your first room.

Write about your first car or a car that was very important to you or that you loved.

Liars ...

Answer this question in a poem: How many ghosts walk in one kitchen?

Write a poem about a bookstore.

Being a family man ...

In a particular [time, place, year]...

Answer this question in a poem: Who needs words anyhow?

Write a poem on some American icon, or legendary, pop, or historical figure.

In my house no one needed to say I was a disgrace / perfect. On entering the driveway of _________, I ...

I wanted to take you / him / her ...

I am part of it now ...

You know you have a weird family when ...

Answer this question in a poem: Who are the people inside me whose voices I hear in my head?

She took the money because ...

Write about some object or antique from your parents’ childhood. Write a poem about that which eludes us, what we can never hold.

How quickly / early ...

Where in the world will I find ...

Is there anything in the world sadder than ...

I am a monkey.

My neighbors ...

In my family we always said ...

“In July, that ring of heat we all jumped through” (from a poem by Gary Soto).

Write a poem about eyes.

I can’t talk about _______ without crying.

In high school, I had it ...

Whenever I hear that song ...

The things I can’t change ...

Write a poem about what needs to be forgiven, who needs forgiveness.

Write a poem about an address.

It’s hard to have a sense of humor in ...

Write a poem about silence

Think of a fairy tale you heard as a child – Snow White, Rapunzel – and fit it into your life now or imagine what that fairy tale character would have felt if she were living now.

Next time I fly ...

The scent of you tells me I am home.

What happens when they finally see me ... / Will they ever see me ...

I always wanted to be the kind of girl/boy who ...

Answer this question in a poem: If we forgive our fathers, what’s left?

Although I pretend to ________, I actually ...

“And I remember Saturday afternoon at our house” (from a poem by Sonia Sanchez)

When I was growing up my heroes were ...

Write a poem about what you would erase from your memory ...

Write a poem about your room.

If you were an animal ...

It was like being there.

Write a poem about your first college sweetheart.

I am drunk on ...

Something about a passport ...

I didn’t expect to fall in love.

Write about someone who is waiting or not waiting for you.

When my car broke down ...

I think about them when I think of you.

For years I lived in ...

Write a poem about violence.

Write a poem about visiting the cemetery. Why we don’t express grief.

I was sure if I had ______ my life would change.

Think of an article of clothing that belonged to you or to someone very close to you when you were young. What does it make you feel? Write a poem from that.

On the first day of school ...

Write a poem about songs that remind you of junior high.

My neighborhood didn’t have any color.

The first horse I ever saw ...

Think of something someone said to you and start out agreeing with it. Then turn it around on the person. Like: “You don’t look like a poet.”

Again, last night, I am running.

Answer this question in a poem: Whose people are you? All those years and miles.

Waiting at the bus stop ...

Write a poem about a person whose name you would like to shut out. First time I tasted beer / champagne ...

People I love the best ...

I used to think nothing could be more ...

When I can’t sleep, I worry ...

I am sad when ...

Writing in the dark ...

In the school lunchroom.

Write about a memory of embarrassment.

Sleeping in a strange bed ...

The men I’ve loved ...

A name I always wanted ... / The name I was called ...

For hours today I watched ... The girls with perfect teeth ...

What first comes to mind when you think of the word cheap? Think about all the meanings of the word cheap. How does the word

apply to you and/or to events or specific people in your past? What connotations does it have when people apply the word cheap to an article of clothing? With whom or what do you associate cheap shoes or clothes?

No matter how far ...

Write a poem about an article of clothing or piece of jewelry that’s very important to you: your mother’s ring, an old sweatshirt, a poncho from 1969, a pair of jeans, etc.

This isn’t high school anymore ... Something about cashmere ...

Eighth grade parties ...

After the party ...

We don’t go on dates anymore ...

Write a poem that tells the best and the worst about something. Confronting the mail box ...

Write a poem about a memory of someone who has died and frame it in a present day event that triggers the memory.

Answer this question in a poem: What do people sing in their cars? In a world where nothing is lost ...

“We work even as we ___________” (from a poem by T.H. Wallace). I never thought I’d write a poem about ...

We’ve been told so many things over the years ... I can open .../ I can make ... / or I can teach ... End of the semester ...

How it is ...

“No one ever told me grief and fear are the same.” (from C.S. Lewis)

Answer this question in a poem: How do I say I love you? My father’s name ...

We had no way to tell each other ...

The perfect woman / man

Oh, what are the wages of mercy?

From my mother / teacher / grandfather I learned ...

Write four to six couplets connected by an associative leap. Break the thread every second line and let the emotional momentum carry it across the gap.

I lost my shoes when ...

I am my mother / father / brother when I ...

Write about a childhood memory, one that will remain the same for you and won’t ever change.

If superman / superwoman (or whatever hero) was my significant other ... Write a poem about family vacation.

My ancestors are ...

She had so many versions of the truth.

At seventeen I thought I knew everything.

Write about a moment in your life that seems funny in retrospect, but did not seem so funny when it was happening.

I always wanted to be a contestant on ... Taking my child to the school bus ... What I don’t feel ...

The men / women in our family were ...

Write a poem about sidewalks.

Write a poem in which you address an earlier version of yourself. Pretend you are speaking directly to that person. Describe what you were like, what you felt, what you wanted.

Write about a disastrous kitchen incident.

Everybody had their family vacation in _____, but our family ... Even after all these years, I remember ...

My grandfather’s mandolin / car / truck / books / cigars / money ... Write a poem about French kissing ...

Write a poem in which you address a person with whom you have a long history – mother, father, sister, brother, grandmother. Pretend that you are speaking directly to this person, say everything you would like to say but can’t. Make us see the person, where is she, her clothes, jewelry, etc.

Since I made up my mind to ... The silence between us ...

If things were different ...

What will become of this poem ...

Next time ...

I didn’t see that then ...

This is the one thing that scares me ...

I wanted to scream ... I am waiting ...

Write about something you adopted, not necessarily an animal, maybe a style, a way of life, a persona, or façade.

Write a poem about a time when you stole something from someone. If I could have my way, I would ...

See what happens when ...

The poverty here is not in these trees. I would have, but ...

Secrets of a magazine cover girl ... I’m always trying to please.

I am standing in the back of the school gymnasium ...

What if she never meant to ...

Grandma (or someone else) held my hand like ...

Answer this question in a poem: What is the road that leads you here? Banking the fires ...

Write a poem / prose poem / prose piece about a photograph you wish you had taken but never did.

I don’t let people know ...

I have never been ...

Write a poem about a childhood photo that you particularly remember. Because one is always leaving ...

When I go to a department store at Christmas ...

My father was a young man then.

Describe your childhood room. What was your favorite thing about it? We are the women / men who have suffered alone.

On the first day of my life ...

It’s a bedroom ...

Describe your kitchen by choosing an object in that room and writing from the point of view of that object, and extend it into a simile or metaphor.

Write a poem about potatoes.

Love is ...

When your mother / father dies / moves in with you ...

Think of a fairy tale you heard or read as a child: Snow White, Rapunzel, Princess and the Pea, Beauty and the Beast, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Three Bears, Three Little Pigs, and imagine that you could make that fairy tale character speak. What would the character say?

Every day in the life of man / woman is a ...

Sunday morning at our house ...

Write a poem about TV shows you always wanted to be a part of ... Tell a family secret.

What shall I pack in my box marked spring or summer?

“Lord, what fools these mortals be” (from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream).

How can any girl know ...

Answer this question in a poem: How do you learn to live with the past? When my car was new ...

So much that is broken or lost ...

Reading a story to my child ...

Dinners of my childhood.

Answer this question in a poem: What do I know how to do? I guess it’s about time someone kissed in this family.

Write about bruises.

Write about what it means to be a girl / boy / man / woman, and how you learned that concept.

“We are his people” (from T.H. Wallace). That time, years ago, driving west ...

Write about a birthday you remember best.

We started dying when ...

My father’s / mother’s voice ...

I woke up in someone else’s ...

Answer this question in a poem: What is it I don’t want to know?

Answer this question in a poem: If you had a big bag stuffed with regrets, which regret would be heaviest of all?

Write about a moment in the past when you disappointed your mother or father or grandparent or someone who served in that capacity.

If I were a superhero ...

Learning how to dance ...

No room for myself in a house full of ... I didn’t know love would hurt this much.

Sometimes I think I’ll never ... The way I sleep ...

Write about going to the funeral. Write about Sunday mornings. First day of a new job ...

My mother was the only one I knew who ... What I think when I ...

Write a poem about that girl or guy friend who was your substitute/ backup/reserve relationship to your primary romantic entanglement.

Write a poem about your ancestors that looks at them as a way of understanding yourself. You could start with an object that was passed on to you or a quality you have that you inherited from your ancestors. What would you like to pass on to your own children?

What is this absence in the heart?

Write a poem about identifying (or not identifying) with your name’s ancestry.

I don’t know her by name ...

Write a poem in which you speak in the voice of a character from history or literature.

I’ve grown to appreciate insanity. The things I cannot throw away ...

Think of some song from the past, some half heard melody that repeats. In our house we always ...

The woman / man I loved when I was ...

Write a portrait poem of a member of your family, or of yourself, your town or city, the place where you grew up, your street. Make use of smell, sounds, the kinds of things a particular person would say, what kind of clothes the person wore. Where do you imagine the person to be – in a kitchen, office, barcalounger, walking out the door?

The time I cut my hair short / let it grow / dyed it / streaked it ...

“A sleeping child gives the impression of a traveler in a far country” (from Emerson’s journals).

It just grew there ...

As we go from shop to shop ...

Now that a month has passed since you left me ...

Write about something under your bed: dogs, dust balls, a present ...

“Don’t tell your brother” (from a poem by R. Guido DeVries). On a Greyhound bus ...

I am afraid ...

Visiting _____ in the hospital ...

At twelve, I thought ...

The gift I never got ...

Write a poem about something that makes you angry.

Write a poem about something you wanted when you were a child and didn’t get.

Write a poem about your first girlfriend / boyfriend.

Write a poem for your father, saying all the things you have never said.

I am lonely when ...

Four o’clock makes me want to kill ...

I’m scared of ...

Write a political poem about something happening in the country where you live right now.

Running away ...

Write a poem about plumbing.

Write a poem about riding in your parents’ car when you were young. What are the smells, sounds, sights?

Now that you are dead and gone ... I feel lost when ...

Sitting in the driveway ...

Write a poem about your first vacation.

Write a memory poem using these words: slap, belt, hide, sorrow, mother, sting, jump, dance.

Write a poem about throwing up.

Write about shame. What is it that makes you feel ashamed? When was the first time that someone or something that happened made you feel ashamed? Go back to that time in your mind. Try to recreate the scene. Where was it? What did the place look/feel/smell like? Is there a particular person or action that you associate with shame? In what context was the word used when you were growing up?

When I was eleven, I lived ...

Write a poem about America.

What ever happened to ...

Even at 12 I knew how easily we break. The safe place I keep searching for ...

This is the street you have walked down ...

Write a poem that has in it: a banging window, yellow linoleum, an unmade bed, a plastic bag.

Riding on the school bus ...

Answer this question in a poem: Can anything save the earth? My bones cry out ...

My first pair of ...

I was sure he / she was looking at me ...

Write about an object from nature.

Green / blue is ...

Answer this question in a poem: Why is it so hard to tell the truth about our lives?

Every member of the family ...

When I was growing up, our house smelled like ...

Write about something someone told you about yourself that comes back to haunt you.

Write a poem about waving goodbye.

If I were a man / woman I would ...

Describe a job you have or had. What the place looks like, etc.

“This is the land that time forgot.”

So many things are forbidden / taboo for me.

My mother always called me in early for dinner.

Write a poem about a phone number – forgetting it, remembering it. Write a poem about a doll.

Write a poem about cheap shoes.

The first time I saw my father I was ...

The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do ...

Everything is political.

Gary Soto wrote: “At ten I wanted fame ...” What did you want at that age?

Carpe diem.

My favorite circus performer ... How to make pesto ...

Write about a place that you remember from the past and that you associate with one person – either yourself at an earlier age, or

someone else – and write about what it was like to be in that place either in reality or in your imagination.

If I had to stop talking, the last thing I would tell you is ...

Write a poem about lines, or people in lines.

What Superman / Wonder woman / etc. meant to me ... What we expected / What we didn’t get ...

When I saw my reflection ...

Listening to that music I hear ...

Experience is what you get when you’re wishing for something else. Write a poem about where drunk men go.

Write a poem about the way you dressed twenty years ago, or how you dress now.

Write about climbing trees. Making small talk.

Mom, she says, you’d hate him.

Why my mother dressed in the closet ... Rain on the roof ...

My mother always let me ...

Write a poem about drought.

The first time I realized I was different ... Write a poem about building something. Our lives are in danger ...

I’d like to get out of my body ... These few hours of solitude ...

In our house nobody ever ...

Describe your room as a child or your mother’s room. What does it make you feel?

When I woke up calling my mother’s name ... There’s so much noise in ...

The date from hell ...

Sitting in the hospital waiting room ...

What is it about you that makes me so angry? From my mother / father I learned ...

Why I want to strangle my mechanic ...

In the art gallery ...

The hardest thing she ever had to do ...

I walk the dark street.

Inside me there is a child / old woman / old man ...

If I could get someone to come to your class / house, which poet or writer would it be, and what would you ask him or her?

Flattery will get you / me anywhere / nowhere ...

I have driven country roads / highways.

Answer this question in a poem: How do I pack up the house of my life? I haven’t suffered enough ...

What I want for you...

“I never liked long walks” (from Jane Eyre).

The last time I ...

How it is ...

My mother’s mother (father’s father) was ... In my dreams I hold you.

Will I ever stop missing ...

The ghosts that inhabit your life ...

Write a poem about a sixteenth birthday party.

My body is the ultimate mystery.

The ritual of morning ...

Write a list poem of people I’ve hurt; my failures; cars I’ve had; people I’ve loved; places I’ve lived; movies / foods I love, etc.

At the shore/lake/mountains/on the boardwalk where I ... The first picture I remember when I think of you.

Write a poem about a train, plane, or bus you’ve missed or almost missed.

In the car on the way, we ...

Answer this question in a poem: What do you need to visit the dead?

Death is a path we take to meet on the other side. Before I left ...

Our family has never been one to talk things out. What I hope to remember about my father always ... Write about bearing witness to something.

Write a poem about cleaning house. I remember the day I left you ... Gargoyles remind me of ...

Write about iridescence. What does the word iridescence mean to you? When have you felt iridescent? Have you met someone or had a particular experience that seems iridescent to you? Was there a particular time in your life that seemed iridescent?

Write a poem about Sundays.

When I return to ... Finally, I enjoy my mother. I was born at ...

My bellybutton ...

My mother’s talent was ...

Shall I bear witness to the nameless child who can’t stop ...

Now, after all these years I remember: the conversation, the classroom, the dinner, the kitchen ...

Growing up poor / rich / middle class / Jewish / Protestant ... Write a poem about the morning news.

Write a poem about your opinion about something.

Write a poem about your favorite color eyes.

Write a poem about thirst / hunger / need.

I’m looking for you (mother/ grandfather) in all the old ... Write a poem about stairs, up or down.

If I could sing a duet with anyone it would be ...

What I want ...

It was a long winter ...

If things were different ...

I will die in _____ on a _____ day ... Why should I be surprised?

Write a poem about the sweetest or meanest thing anyone ever said to you.

Write about your most embarrassing moment. I like it hot.

All the things we cannot learn to say.

The worst haircut I ever had ...

In my desk drawer ...

Gary Soto wrote: “It was a sad time for the heart.” Write about a time like this.

Talking about underwear.

I approach writing like I approach skydiving. Even when he was there, he was missing.

When I was growing up, I ... A freshly paved street ... The first time I left home ... How they met ...

On a daughter leaving home ...

Things that are missing ... In my hometown, we ...

My body is ...

My mother / father never ... Where I came from ...

The last time ...

The faces I make / The faces I wear ... Tell me ...

I have many pictures to choose from ... Sooner or later we face the dark.

Write a poem about your parents’ wedding day.

Write a poem about Sesame Street.

Write about Lent, or sacrifice, or something you’ve given up in your life. I told you ...

All the self-help books are in the bedroom.

What my parents do not yet know ...

The man / woman I hooked up with last night.

Think of someone from your past who bullied, made fun of, or mistreated you in some way and write about that person. Speak directly to that person.

Write a poem about waiting for someone to say a particular thing: I love you; you’re ok; you look beautiful; you did a good job; I really admire you.

Why I hate taking charge, following orders, standing in line, waiting, etc.

Write about a prom you didn’t go to / wished you hadn’t gone to. “When I come to where our house was” (from a Gary Soto poem). The heat of his / her hand.

Write about your most boring job.

The house on ______ street where I grew up.

I / We can talk about these things because it’s different now.

In many families telling family secrets is taboo, a kind of betrayal of the people inside the family group. Telling stories, however, is acceptable, particularly if they reflect well on the family and even if they don’t and are humorous. Think about the secrets you weren’t supposed to tell and write a poem that tells them or tell a story about someone in your family or a story that was handed down in your family.

The first time you kissed ... Last will and testament ... My best friend ...

Answer this question in a poem: Who are these people who live only in photographs?

My mother’s / father’s / sister’s idea of a fancy meal ...

Write about the past and / or future.

Look, the fifties / sixties weren’t anything like that ...

Answer this question in a poem: What used to be in the empty Styrofoam cup on the street?

My father won’t talk.

My family makes me feel ...

Write about a piece of jewelry or clothing.

Write about clothes / accessories / rhinestones / glitter. Cleaning out the closet.

I used to wish I ...

Write the story of where you live: mountains, ocean, stream, plants ...

My mother / father always wore her / his perfume / sandals / jewelry / black suit on / to ...

Wearing my mother’s / father’s clothes or shoes ... Write a poem about your seventh grade classroom.

Because you died, I never ... When I was little and someone ...

Answer one of these questions (or all) in a poem: What do I save? / What do I worry about? / What do I need?

Write about a time when you didn’t have a chance to say goodbye or said goodbye to a lover.

The story of my life / day ...

Sometimes I pretend ...

When I am sleeping I am ...

I worry about ...

Clenching my teeth ...

I never liked my name / a particular song / book.

Article passed down by a family member ...

Answer this question in a poem: How often have I tried to please you? It can’t happen ...

What once was ...

Write about cell phones.

Write about the first house in which you lived. When I look at an ocean, pond, river, lake ... What can’t I face about someone I love ... Losing my nerve is / isn’t like losing my wallet ... Write about fury.

The house I live in ...

If I was in a band it would sound like ...

Even in the family photo, you’re the one who stands out. Write about your first dance.

If I could speak to the dead, I would ...

No one wanted to dance with ...

I wonder where you are tonight.

Write about a time you felt invisible.

Looking out a window ...

Write about the person who disliked me / I disliked the most when I was a kid.

The best movie I ever saw as a kid was ...

The last thing I say ...

Write about a moment from personal history suddenly remembered.

Write a poem in which you draw a portrait in words of someone who is very important to you.

What are the words you now, or always, wanted to hear spoken?

Man / woman / father / mother / child I loved ... Sometimes I forget how fragile the heart is.

What other absences will I have to learn to welcome? His voice brought me here.

Those were the days ...

Go look in your drawer and write about what you’d like to throw away but can’t.

Write a poem on biblical characters. I don’t know how it happened ...

Write about a friend or some unlikely person from childhood who made a lasting impression.

We were / weren’t a Brady Bunch family (or some TV family) ...

The other day I spotted Elvis Presley in Wegman’s.

If I had the nerve, I’d tell my brother / sister / cousin / aunt / mother ... Sometimes I wonder what happened to ...

On the class field trip ...

If I asked, would you ...

I’m thinking of the dress I wore when ...

If love were like an animal, what animal would it be?

This bed ... / My first bed ... / A bed I remember ...

Write about something that happened in the past that made you laugh or cry.

Some things need to be said out loud.

I am in love with ...

Write about getting out of bed.

Write a poem that includes a date forty or fifty years ago, a song, a Tibetan monk, a mahogany highboy, a pink Cadillac.

Boyfriends are not like husbands ... Walking through the graveyard ...

Even though he/she __________, I ...

Answer this question in a poem: Do you know what it is to hate somebody for leaving when you need to have him / her there?

Write about parties.

Women write to women authors; men write to men authors. He was almost always silent.

She is her mother’s daughter ... / He is his father’s son ... What I remember first when I think of you ...

I imagine the stairway in the house on ...

Write about learning the two-step.

Write about glasses.

If only ...

The things we tried to say ... When I can’t sleep I worry about ... Describe your street.

What I remember best.

“The man who loved to call me stupid” (from a poem by Cornelius Eady).

My bad habits ...

What is the biggest lie you ever told and why did you tell it? Write a poem about a celebrity.

The last / only time I stole something.

Write about a cab ride.

If only I could change / bring you back / love you / stop loving you. We don’t laugh / we don’t smile.

My father was a young man then ... Only in America ...

Write about the world as seen by a particular animal. Early autumn song ...

My mother asked me ...

I see a young girl / woman ...

I told everyone ...

Now close your eyes and tell me ... Things I love and things I hate ... Write about money.

Write about the Fourth of July.

The dead are always with you.

Write a self-portrait.

Like many men / women before me ...

Write about something you feel remorseful or sad about that you didn’t do.

Write an elegy to what is gone in your life.

Write about a time when you failed or seemed a fool.

The words I didn’t say ... What I did when I cut class ...

I remember when I had my ears pierced / my hair cut / I rode a two wheeler / my brother left for college / overnight camp.

Write a poem that repeats “If...” at the start of each stanza.

“All your biography preserved in your face” (from Sonia Sanchez).

“My mother read everything except books” (from Tobias Wolff).

Write about a particular person from grammar or high school. What you would say to him or her if you could?

In the fifth grade there was a girl / boy who used to ... Loss is ...

Write about a time when someone left / moved away / died / broke up with you.

The men / women in our family were ... Who do I remember?

In my secret mind ...

Write about forgetting someone’s name. In the lingerie aisle at Victoria’s Secret ...

In seventh grade, my favorite song was ...

Write about a moment after someone misunderstood what you wanted and gave you the wrong thing.

Why I never ... Adolescence ...

The baggage I carry ...

Answer this question in a poem: Do you feel like a man / woman yet? My father had both his parents in our house, the TV was always on.

Write about a particular holiday. Write about names/ nicknames.

Write a poem about a song that brings back memories of a particular time.

The night we hit a deer ...

She / He said it was my fault.

If I could wake up anywhere I choose ... Because my mother ...

Beauty is ...

Write about your mother or father at the age you are now.

I know someone else would have figured it out sooner, but ... It’s easy to get trapped in our own history.

What have you done for me lately?

If there is one relative I’d pretend not to know, it would be ...

Write a poem about river(s).

My favorite song reminds me of ... If I could start over ...

Comfort food ...

In the movies no one ever ages.

The last time I had to visit a government office ... It’s kind of like fishing / hunting / swimming / diving. When I am naked ...

All the girls or boys I’ve kissed ...

Even the things I did well got on her nerves.

My best friend ...

I always wanted to write about ... / I can’t write about ... / how can I write about ...

Mr. Clean...

Write about your favorite piece of furniture.

Answer this question in a poem: What was hidden in your house?

My mother was always angry / violent / loving / upset / lost ... Cinderella’s glass slippers ...

It was not meant to be this way ...

What my mother said ...

Mom / Dad forgot to tell me ...

Ignoring someone on purpose. Write about being caught. How I learned to dance ...

My brother is ...

Write about fists.

Write about your mother’s mother.

Write about yourself as seen by a particular friend, relative, lover. The distance bleeding between us ...

You seem so confident / shy/ aggressive.

What our names do ...

After school ...

Write an elegy to someone.

Think of someone who is dead whom you wish you had met. Describe the person. Imagine hanging out and talking to her / him.

Answer this question in a poem: What blooms in winter? The choice is never clear.

Write about going to the dentist or the doctor.

The rooms of my childhood are full of ...

When pink turns to lavender / lavender turns to green ...

Write about being afraid to care too much for fear the other person doesn’t care at all.

Getting dressed in the dark ...

High tide ...

The party I didn’t go to ...

Answer this question in a poem: Are we ever satisfied?

If I could take three things out of my pocket / purse / wallet they would be ...

I took a deep breath before I rang the bell ...

Write about seeing a particular movie. Listening to that music, I hear ... Write a poem in the form of a letter.

Write about a particular meal that you remember: When was it? What food was served? What was said? What wasn’t said? What did you feel? What were people feeling in the room?

A stranger in my house ...

Here is something once lost ...

Write about a teacher you loved or hated.

Write about a particular day or year or time in your life that was important to you.

In my family we didn’t ... Because of my father’s job ...

You never sit still.

Write about a movie that you associate with yourself or growing up or a particular movie theater.

“I walk through the rooms of memory” (from Marge Piercy).

My kids scare me.

A moment when you wanted to get away but couldn’t or didn’t.

Answer this question in a poem: Where does it come from, this hunger? Growing up in my mother’s house.

Other folks have better luck.

Write about Nancy Drew / Black Stallion / Bobbsey Twins books.

Out my window ...

Feeling green ...

Growing up [Italian, Jewish American, or __________] ...

Karaoke night at the bar and grill.

“Your face is a doorway that slams closed in the dark” (from Ruth Stone). Write about family dinner.

Answer this question in a poem: How do you speak to the dead? What I did was listen.

Write about particular clothes, tastes, styles, etc. you inherited from the dead.

When I had the chicken pox ...

Write a list poem: take one room and make a list of 20 things in that room. Cross out ten. Make two poems – one is a list and the other an expanded line for each item.

Winter stays.

What am I ashamed or afraid to tell?

Going to a bar looking for someone to love.

Start with a line of dialogue that has stayed with you and then describe the place and time when you heard it.

I am fourteen ...

Write about the words you’ve always wanted to hear spoken. Write about your most vivid memory of my childhood.

If you have to go, I suppose that’s the way to do it.

If he / she had loved me ...

Answer this question in a poem: What can we do to save the earth?

What it takes to survive.

I was old enough to know ...

Write about particular memories associated with a book. What keeps / kept a family together?

Each year, they arrive.

We used to have things we believed in, names for all the things that were larger than we were, more beautiful ...

Enjoying my Mexican breakfast ... No one will say why ...

It was in 1964 / 1974 that I first ... There was a time when ...

The first time I ever kissed a boy or girl ...

Answer this question in a poem: Who are the ghosts who haunt our house?

How nature saves us.

Write about the ways people walk.

The time I was most frightened in my life ...

Write about your first sexual experience. When I left my house ...

The smell of friends ...

Some of us never really leave high school. Would you have loved me more or less?

Alone in the woods ...

Write about rewriting the past.

Write about a street, neighborhood, town, and the person with whom you associate that place.

Write about a personal event that appears unexplainable. If I had another chance ...

The attic in our house ...

Write about that which cannot be said.

Write about something that made you ashamed or triumphant or terrified.

______ was my boyfriend / girlfriend in first grade. What I don’t feel ...

Flip to a random word and write a poem about it.

Write about one of the following: people you have hurt / loved; cars you’ve had; places you lived; movies you love.

Your arms are a deprivation chamber.

Let it pass you by.

My worst job / boss / paper / teacher / friend ...

Again!

In the basement, the damp places of life ... Low cut jeans ...

A day in the country ...

How things change.

The loneliness of growing up ...

Write about a moment in your classroom when you felt your students were laughing at you, or when you were a child and other children laughed at you.

That was the day I’ll never forget. Watching the river rise ...

Her name was ______ and it suited her.

Feed someone you know.

In the stacks ...

Write about Sunday outings with my family.

Write an ode about some small thing (like your socks). Wearing my mother’s clothes ...

This is not my name.

My father is a quiet ghost / a talkative ghost / a rambunctious ghost.

The missing father ...

Answer this question in a poem: Why do you never say what you mean?

I want to write a poem about love / peace / war.

Write about growing pains.

Green Buddhas ...

Write about what you didn’t learn in school. That New Year’s Eve I didn’t ...

Show me the way out.

Sometimes I feel like a hot fudge sundae / baked potato / Buddha / courtesan. Why? Try for an extended metaphor.

All the while I’ve been shopping in ...

Write about a Halloween costume.

Drinking to blot you out, I ...

“I never understood the girls who had the sweater or the latest hairdo copied out of a magazine.” (from D. Wakowski)

Language difficulties ...

I never told anyone about ...

Write about a word or phrase that you associate with a particular time, place or person from your past.

Write about curtains.

Write about something you did or didn’t do with your father.

She smokes in the girl’s bathroom.

Ode to my uterus.

My first real poem was about you / it / that time. I knew my life had changed when ...

What was it about that house?

She/he might have been my friend but ...

Something I can’t forgive myself for ...

Ourselves or nothing ...

I’m still angry because when my parents didn’t ________, I felt ... This is the poem in which I finally tell you ...

In my house there are no ...

If I asked, would you ...

Reading him/her to sleep ...

Write about a teacher or a moment in school that you particularly remember.

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got.

I wish you’d understand.

Write about firsts: your first date, first kiss, first day of school or college, first child, first time you won or lost something, first love, first time you left home.

When I was eight I thought ... I really didn’t enjoy ... Blowing a fuse ...

What blankets are for ... All along I’ve wanted ... Digging a grave ...

What I like / love / need ... My mother’s bureau ...

Your hands are ...

Write a poem honoring a teacher.

I remember the concert when ...

Write about what it is like to turn 20, 30, 40, 50, etc. “Remember this” (from a poem by Lucille Clifton).

These are the words you have said over and over.

Write a poem on the first day of school: yours, your child’s, a teacher’s. How to make a mess ...

We used to call it downtown, remember?

The day he / she died ...

What we love in the corners of our lives ... First thing I remember ...

First time you drank too much ...

Write about chicken pox.

I don’t know when I started ...

Last time ...

When my alarm rings ...

Write an ode to any body part. How sad I am today, how lonely. A bright improbable pink ...

The last time I heard Led Zeppelin, I ...

I didn’t find out my father was in jail until ...

Answer this question in a poem: How long should I mourn? What scares me ...

This poem is ...

Things my mother didn’t tell me ...

Joy at the center of things.

In 19__ sex was ... or ... When I was thirteen, sex was a ... When I loved you ...

She is the one with eyes ...

Write a poem that has a five word title, a street name in your town, and a piece of living room furniture.

Our house was always open / closed.

If I could change one thing about my looks ... Write an environmental poem.

Who are the women who ...?

Write about someone you had a crush on. Write about swimming in the harbor at red tide. I get cold now ...

My father ran the streets.

Sticky kisses ...

I am practicing letting go ...

What is your sacred place?

There was this boy / girl who used to ...

Write about doing something with my son / daughter / mother / father: fixing steps, baking a cake, sewing a dress, arguing ...

In the newspaper today I read / saw ...

The lost photograph ...

If it weren’t too late, I’d ...

I was a faithful watcher of ...

If I lived in New York ...

Start with a poem you love so much you feel you could have written it yourself.

Why are you so ...

Write about the worst experience you’ve ever had in a car.

My crazy aunt / uncle always told me ...

Reoccupying the site of injury ...

Pick a particular person you remember from the past. What would you say to him / her if you could?

Answer this question in a poem: What remains unspoken between us? How can any boy know ...

I admit it, I was taken in by the ads for ...

Write a poem about trust.

The hippie merchants on 4th Ave ...

Write about a high school dance. Write about your favorite color. Bugs Bunny gets a _________. My mother / father was ...

Smell of obedience ...

The nails left in the walls.

Write something about slippers: your grandmother’s, your own old ones, your father’s, your own sexy or unsexy slippers.

Write about a word or phrase that you associate with a particular time, place or person from your past.

Tell a lie in a poem and at the end admit what the lie is.

Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Jack Nicholson – any other actor. Write a poem in which you address that person. Tell them about your life. Don’t be afraid to be funny.

My father tells me this was once a nice part of town. In the dressing room mirror ...

“My clothes have failed me” (Gary Soto).

My normal life; my ordinary life ...

Write a poem in which you look at your hand. Really look at it and then describe it in detail. What moment does it remind you of? Weave in and out between the hand and your life.

November music ...

Write a resume of your life and turn it into a poem.

When a room becomes lonely ...

This is the last poem ...

Write a poem about a disaster that happened to someone else.

Write a poem about a friend you liked but your family didn’t, or a relative your family liked but you didn’t.

The article of clothing that ...

Because you’ve never said ...

I always wanted to wear support stockings / girdle / white gloves / a cross / a locket / high heels.

For the first time my family went ...

I had thought the choices would be clearer ...

Write about heritage.

The basement ...

Write a poem about the same scene / object / building in a different season / weather / time.

Write about hysterical laughter.

Write about something you were afraid of as a child that stays with you now.

My father always wore ...

Write a poem that uses these words: crocodile, ocean, dragonfly, skitter, erupt, fiery, discombobulated.

I want ...

Write about guilt.

I never watch TV in the mornings.

Write about a moment when you wanted to get away but couldn’t or didn’t.

Everyone complains about ...

My first pair of grown-up shoes ...

You know what I don’t like about this room.

On nights I stay home alone ... My mother calls to warn me ... I’ll save what I can.

My father always drove ... There are a lot of ways to die.

The taste of his / her skin.

I am not my father / mother ...

I have two left feet.

Sitting in Dunkin’ Donuts or Friendly’s ... Write about alcohol.

I have a reputation for being ...

Write about a seashore memory; a funhouse memory; a roller coaster, boardwalk, zoo, or circus memory.

Sadness roots in everything that breathes. For no good reason ...

I’m ten, and every day after school, I ...

In my grandmother’s / mother’s kitchen, or some holiday meal, or a memorable meal.

Write an imagistic landscape poem – an urban or natural landscape, a place you’ve been, the physicality of it, emotional quality of it.

Dinners in our house were ...

In my body, it is winter, it is spring. My first bicycle / doll / toy ...

Neighbors who pretend not to know ...

The family pet really belonged to ...

I know everybody in _______, but I never ...

Write about the first time you remember lying to yourself. Write a portrait poem.

In high school we ...

Write about parking.

Imagine your mother as a girl, your father as a boy. Write about that. Write about the words you have always wanted to hear spoken. Write about keys.

In the attic ...

Maybe all there is, is the next thing that happens. Ten long seconds ...

Walking my dog ...

The last time I lost my mind ...

Write a eulogy for something or someone who hasn’t died. My father took me ...

It’s strange that love and grief turn out to be the same thing. I hate to admit that I watch ...

Write about middle school dances.

The thing I like about oatmeal ...

Write about favorite boots / shoes / coat / hat. It is blank as hell ...

I’m ashamed of myself.

I wish I could be ...

First time I left home ... What you need to do ... You look better in the dark.

Use the word “after” to begin each line: after the party / after graduation / after work / after my first child / after the first year of my marriage / after I got my degree / after I got angry.

Write a poem that starts with a quote from someone in your life, something the person always says to you.

Ars poetica (a piece on the art and nature of poetry).

I am beautiful / lonely / sad when ...

The first thing I ever saved my money for and bought for myself ... Looking at the constellations ...

Write about anguish.

When I wake up at 3 am ...

The world is so noisy.

First time I saw my mother or father cry ... Write about Valentine’s Day in grammar school. If I could change one part of my personality ...

My first real poem was about you ... In my dreams I fly ...

Write about doctors.

I want to dance.

My mother is reading ...

Write about early morning.

The women in your family have never lost touch with one another.

Swimming in the harbor at red tide.

My student / co-worker / guy or girl in my apartment building who looks like my ex.

Grief is ...

Bad and all the ramifications of the word: When was the first time someone called you bad? Define bad as it relates to your experience of the word. What does the word make you feel? How has the meaning of the word changed for you as you’ve grown older? Write a poem called “Bad.”

In twenty years I’ll ...

Who was the odd kid you remember from school? Were you the odd kid? How did that kid make you feel then, and when you think about him or her now?

What’s that smell? Never again ...

Mom, Dad – couldn’t it have been different? When I went to the zoo, I identified with ...

In the movie The Graduate there’s a scene in which the character

is standing in front of a fish tank watching fish swimming around in circles. Think about this image in relation to yourself, your life or to the world, and let it take you wherever it will.

Describe building or making something, and learning how to do it. Pick a year, a particular grade and write about it.

Love is a long shadow, a dark ...

Because I did not die ...

I found her / him again this morning.

My last piggyback ride ...

Write about getting stuck physically or emotionally.

So that I wouldn’t sleep, I ...

I never intended ...

Answer this question in a poem: What else can I ask for?

The names I’ve called myself ...

Things I could or could not do; things my brother / sister could / could not do ...

The dead walk among us, unable ... Write about winners / losers.

Write about a crash.

Write about war stories.

When my _____ tells me ...

This winter ...

The silver heart, the crystal beads.

In Atlanta / Boston / Denver (or another city) ...

Answer this question in a poem: How do we connect to the world? What’s missing?

Write about a liar.

At sixteen, I worked ...

Where I lived when I was a kid ...

Write a poem that uses quotes from somebody from your past to build a portrait of the person.

Answer this question in a poem: What brings us out?

I have to _____ before anything else I love gets away. Remembering you ...

Write about leaving a message or the unreturned phone call. The photo on the milk carton ...

Write a poem about your home state.

I imagine St. Francis or St. Jude speaking to me.

Something I have forgotten ...

Something I still don’t understand ...

Write about love, hope, fury, injustice, rage without ever mentioning those words.

Answer this question in a poem: What is it we can’t forgive in ourselves?

Listen ... Suppose ...

Answer this question in a poem: If the moon could speak, what would it say?

We all wear the scarf of regret.

Answer this question in a poem: What can you do with a book?

When the jukebox or band played.

Tonight, I am ...

Write about listening to the Grateful Dead.

Write about learning how to make do.

Write about the song I love best, the song that reminds me, the song that always makes me cry.

Some lessons you never forget. What I remember about that day ... Write about red Jell-O.

Write about legs.

My mother gave ...

Write about Wonder Woman. Saving it ...

People ask me how I like living in ... I was named after ...

Write about having a club.

After ...

Write about Bette Davis eyes.

Write about smoking / blowing smoke rings / KOOL. Write a list poem: things I love ...

When people ask me, “Did your mother hold you?” I ...

Write about learning how to ride a bike. When I look in the mirror I see ...

When am I most alone?

Barbie falls out of love.

I am ...

Write about writer’s block.

Poem in praise of ...

Hour of the snake, hour of the wolf, hour of the fox ...

We were still girls / boys then ...

Answer this question in a poem: How do we outlast despair?

What we once thought was ugly ...

What do we bring with us, what do we take away? Riding the Ferris Wheel ...

I still think no one loves me.

This winter could kill me ...

In my remembered childhood, it is always ... If only I’d ...

How to begin again ...

It is your face I think of when I remember ... Everything happens so fast.

The morning after ... Missing you ...

Where are they gone? I don’t care that ... Move closer to me.

Show & tell.

My father worked late.

Write about your first bicycle.

Answer this question in a poem: Why are people so afraid of being touched?

Plenty of words for hate ...

I imagine my mother falling in love. Home before dark ...

Write about a summer job.

It was that way in our family ...

My friend tells me ...

In my basement ...

My father / mother / grandfather / grandmother spent his / her life ... The headline this morning ...

Why do you always think you’re it?

My horoscope ...

Write about the boardwalk.

Write about a password.

Answer this question in a poem: What can I do about it? The world is ...

What did I expect?

The town / city where I grew up ... When I’m, nervous or upset I ... How fortunate I am to have ... Write about old-time radio.

The streets of my city / town.

The phone rang ...

_____ makes me scream.

Why I write ...

Write about being soaking wet. Ode to my underwear ...

Answer this question in a poem: Can we start again? I want a tattoo of ...

In the Wal-Mart ...

What day is this?

Being the good girl ...

I tortured you all through school.

I know how to live ...

The man standing next to me on line in Wegman’s.

Write about a newspaper photo.

Answer this question in a poem: Why I read the obituaries?

Riding a Harley with James Dean.

It has taken me a long time to surface.

I still have my pride.

This is not what we had in mind.

The songs help me remember what it was.

The hard way was the only way you knew.

I never intended ...

Answer this question in a poem: What can I ask for? Write about winners / losers.

The names I’ve called myself ...

On Sundays we ...

When my _____ tells me ____, I ...

The trip of my dreams ...

This winter ...

Write about something personal that you were doing when some major event in the world was happening.

The silver heart ...

The crystal beads ...

Write about what makes you angry. Things I could and could not do ... My people are ...

The most unpopular kid in the class ... Double Dutch ...

At sixteen, I worked ...

Where I lived when I was a kid ... These are my people ...

Answer this question in a poem: What is it about morning light?

Answer this question in a poem: Is this the way it is with fathers / mothers?

Because I saw ...

Write a love song for a place or a time in your past. I knew I wouldn’t ...

At dusk ...

On days like this ...

My hair ...

Write your own story about being different. Write about your home economics / shop class.

My _____is like ____.

My _____is _____.

Write about the inside of your car.

Too bad you’re not Catholic, you could call on St. Anthony. Those Volvo SUV’s are so ugly.

What we can’t say to ourselves.

I keep losing men / women.

My wife / husband says I’m such a crybaby. I had a dream about ...

Nomadic kisses.

Your mama said ...

I must confess ...

I want to visit the grave of ...

My inner child is throwing a tantrum. In a chat room with ...

Every time you sing that song ...

Poetry is the way I want to say something to you. I’m sorry, I’m hysterical.

By the time this is over I will break ...

I’d better not find myself in any of these poems.

Write about Sunday dinner at Grandmother’s. Corn nuts and jelly beans ...

It came to you like grace.

Baseball nights ...

I just want to go back.

I would have given anything to leave.

Leaving Penn Station / Binghamton / Canal Street ... Write about regret.

What if ...

I’m busy being a philanthropist.

I’m busy being ...

Don’t hold on too tightly.

I’d rather be ...

Yes, I am a cheerleader.

I love this long-sleeved shirt.

Every time I write about ______, she / he ... What can we do to save the world?

Don’t you ever dare.

The closer you are to ...

I got an email about ...

It’s so hard to let go.

Make a list of short phrases starting with the word don’t. Write about a newspaper photo.

Why I read the obituaries.

So much that is not right in the world.

Why I am poor at ...

Some of my worst wounds ...

I open my mouth and ...

In my grandmother’s house ...

Dancing the jitterbug / funky chicken ...

Why I’m so bad ...

Why I love to dance ...

Why I could / couldn’t climb the rope ... My favorite beauty mark / birthmark ... What nudity is to me ...

In 1995 or 1996 I am ...

I’ll run naked through the streets. I don’t know what to do about ... Write about an eating disorder. When _____ told me ...

What I wish I hadn’t done ... The teacher I hated the most ... This spring ...

If the truth be told ...

I never thought I’d sleep with ...

Climbing barbed wire fences ... Write about running away.

I can’t help but be hot.

The first time I climbed a tree ... What silence is.

Instead of ____, I eat chocolate.

“I miss who I used to be” (from Jen Simon). What a haircut can tell you.

The girl / boy I loved in second grade. When I think of high school, I think of ...

The last time I flew a kite ...

Global warming is caused by ...

The only picture I’ve ever kissed ...

The cologne reminds me of ...

You can’t get Chinese food at 3 AM in Binghamton.

Stranded on a desert island with George Bush and Colin Powell ... I don’t have much ...

Reading in New Haven ...

Why I hate instant messaging ...

Why it’s impossible to hide ...

If I were in Survivor, I would ...

I think it’s time to start drinking.

The chances we take ...

The house at the end of the street ... I know you remember ...

Write about an avocado-colored shirt / skirt. I never liked silk.

Rosemary is for remembrance ...

Watching my child sleep ...

All the locks are latched.

What they warned us about ...

Answer this question in a poem: What terrifies us? Write about a second kiss.

In that borrowed dress / car ...

When I dream of _____ I wake up ____ ...

Simple jobs ...

My mother never had much ... What was I thinking when ... Stooping to pick up pennies.

I always take the time.

It’s too late for her.

Write a poem on forgiveness or I forgive you.

Skip to My Lou; A-Tisket, A-Tasket, a green and yellow basket... Write about yellow.

This is where he said ...

I hadn’t done that until 10th grade. The gospel according to Eve ... No one calls your name.

Blue like ...

Down on _______ street, they ...

My daughter says ...

They can tell ...

I have forgotten your name

Answer this question in a poem: Have you saved my letters? You ask why.

I want to ask my father ...

I was there when it happened.

After / Before ...

Write a portrait of a person you love as he or she was twenty, thirty years ago.

Like a finger loves a scar ...

I have a dumb prompt ...

Write an ode to something you’ve never read a poem about. I’m trying to write a poem that’s not about sex.

Singing my child to sleep ...

Imagine ...

What I cannot forgive in myself ...

I heard it from ...

Answer this question in a poem: What happened then? On their wedding night ...

On CNN ...

This is a protest poem.

Witches don’t like the ocean.

Write a poem with a joke in it.

Answer this question in a poem: Have you ever laughed and cried at the same time?

Spending the weekend ...

You entrust them to me ...

Write about puzzles / Monopoly / Trivial Pursuit. Write about card games: Old Maid, Crazy Eights. When we played the game Cootie ...

In a past life you were _____ to my ______.

People assume that ...

Fearing to tread where angels rush in ...

Write about baloney, malarkey, snake oil, doublespeak. Will I ever recover?

Write a happy / funny poem.

Celebrating joy.

I hate myself when ...

What I don’t like about myself ...

Write about something you did that you’re ashamed of. I’m not ashamed of ...

Maria Mazziotti giLLan 157

Answer this question in a poem: What would you do for $300? I love that movie.

What memories you select ...

I know you lied.

I just saw Courtney Love at ________.

When the monsters arrive ... I really hope ...

This love affair must end. Why I hate you / me.

Why I hate New England ...

I don’t mean to offend you but ... Somebody else ...

Slowly I turn ...

My clothes ...

Write about the first day of college.

Someday I’ll get that right.

The difference between a poem and a rant.

I wrote a poem that made someone run away. Write a poem that’s an extended metaphor. Write about running home from school.

Write about the matinee.

Write about having a guest at your house.

Even my best friend / husband / wife / mother doesn’t know ... Write about earth / gardening / digging / beach / sand.

The trouble with hate.

When _______ drinks too much. On pay day ...

I want, I want, I want, I want ... Write about cheese or chocolates. He’s throwing them at me.

The summer house / place.

Actually, this is about my mother.

My father / mother / husband drove ...

Answer this question in a poem: Do you know what it is to love someone as much as you hate them?

I am trying to see my mother / father / grandmother now, but ...

The spaces that do not contain ...

The face you came to see ...

It is not your house.

At fifteen / sixteen / nine, you are desperate.

Write about what has happened to America since September 11, 2001.

Everything matters ...

Staring into the dark ...

This is how it works.

During dinner, my parents ... Observing the world keeps us honest.

Write about meeting Picasso or Salvador Dali on a street corner in NYC or your own town.

I often take wrong turns.

Answer this question in a poem: Can you believe the luck?

My mother never / always played bingo / gin rummy / mahjong. What makes me sad.

Answer this question in a poem: When did I stop looking at myself in mirrors?

Seeing my mother in the bath ... My father disappeared often.

I am not ready to take my place among the dead / to let you take your place.

All the brutal years ...

Our history is full of ...

We are here still in all our various disguises. Write about walking the dog.

Write about a wedding day.

When winter comes ...

Answer this question in a poem: What is in my mother’s handbag / my father’s briefcase?

In the Grand Union parking lot ...

Why I’m not a good kisser.

Maybe they had it right in kindergarten / first grade.

Write a poem in which every fourth line starts with “because I am / because I am not.”

The time I waste.

Answer this question in a poem: What do I want? You bring me back.

How my heart got to be this way.

Write about how to do something: pull an all-nighter, fall in love, build a shed or a boat or a soap box, make a mess, plan a funeral, love, keep a friend, or anything.

If I could have been ...

Names they called me ...

Her / his / my father / mother promised nothing / everything. When I come to that quiet place ...

Write about Spiderman or some other cartoon hero.

The night the lights went out ...

Going dancing / Why I love to dance ...

How it begins ...

The cars I drive or my father / mother drove ... Write about trouble.

At twilight ...

When my father / mother sang ... Each birthday, my mother ...

This is how you want it.

We know a lot / we don’t remember.

Nothing keeps ...

Hard work ...

Answer this question in a poem: What is found there? Answer this question in a poem: What doesn’t matter? Write about caring too much.

Write about first love.

My mother’s girdle ...

On the benefits of letting sleeping dogs lie ...

My hands come down from ...

The last time I cried / saw my mother, father, sister, brother cry ...

Write a meditation on sex or sexuality.

Answer this question in a poem: In what language do you dream? Crossing over language ...

I expect to find my mother and father in ______.

Impossible nightmares ...

Write about sirens.

Answer this question in a poem: What are the words I need to say? Write about lamplight.

When I first read / saw ________ ...

At 18, I thought ...

Write about the movie theater.

Write about your favorite cereal as a child. Write about a trip to the 5 & Dime store. My senior picture or class photo ...

Write about autumn colors.

No matter how old I get, part of me stays sixteen. I am / am not my mother’s daughter.

My father’s son ...

Glass shadow ...

The girls and boys in fourth grade ...

Write about your earliest memory.

Write about learning to polka or do the tarantella or the bunny hop or the funky chicken.

Ode to my thumb. Write a surreal poem. What does it take to ...?

You can make the story different. Listen ...

Here is the story I write ...

Try this ...

Write about hair – my mother’s, my father’s, my own.

Write about paper dolls. When I first read ...

At the wedding ...

Write about making love. In the old trunk ...

I fell in love with a man / woman who ... Movies I went to ...

Write a radio poem.

Frogs, fields, dandelions ...

What I wanted ...

This is mine ...

The day I was born ...

Perfect numbers ...

Everyone has a story. This is mine.

I always wanted to come from a town where ... or I never wanted to come from a town where ...

On a good day, I ...

Why I loved the Life of Reilly or Leave it to Beaver or The Fonz ... Answer this question in a poem: What is gone?

Write about gratitude.

My father’s hats ...

We named our first cars.

What my father / mother wanted ...

We had so many places we wanted to go.

Because she is a girl / ... because he is a boy ...

Write about learning to build model planes, or to fish, or to cook a roast, or bake a cake, or run a mile.

You’ve got to play the hand that’s dealt you. Favorite moment of the day or evening.

Answer this question in a poem: What eased down the drawbridge over the unspeakable?

Answer this question in a poem: What love is or jealousy or rage or hate?

Write about a drive–in.

Write a poem about America, a political / angry poem. Answer this question in a poem: Whose voice is it that I hear? In our house we were not allowed to talk about ...

Write about taboo.

Answer this question in a poem: How shall I bear witness to the nameless?

Answer this question in a poem: What is sacred?

Write about moving.

My bedroom was painted / I painted my bedroom ...

The bathroom in our house ...

Write a poem about place that focuses on a particular town, street, city, house, that is a microcosm of what America is now.

Write about a movie or TV program that reminds you of a particular time in your life.

Write about what’s in your mother’s or father’s dresser or closet.

Write about learning to ride a bike, drive a car, make a bed, play ball, jump rope.

Answer this question in a poem: What is in the dark at the top of the stairs?

Write about growing up in the 90s.

Write about getting ready for the high school dance. Answer this question in a poem: What offers comfort? The rooftops of houses ...

If I had the courage I’d ...

Write a poem defining despair.

Write about how my mother and father met. I am 13 and ...

I’m not finished with you yet.

The first time I went ...

After all these years, I am going to tell you ...

To my mistakes, or mistakes I have made ...

When I think of photographs, the first one I remember is ... The cliches my mother / father / aunt / uncle / _______ lived by. My 12th birthday ...

On TV, the war ...

Answer this question in a poem: What has happened?

Write about seeking absolution.

Write a poem about what is happening to the earth.

Answer this question in a poem: What were the songs they played? Write about TV families you grew up with

Dying alone with a cat ...

Never date a writer ...

There were no more I love yous.

If_______, then________.

Answer this question in a poem: What does death carry in its suitcase?

If I had a band ...

I’m nothing without what I remember.

Answer this question in a poem: What is unsettled between us? Write about the onset of puberty.

I’ll let you know when I get ...

I think I’m turning into a slut.

What I’m afraid to say ...

There are many rooms in the house of poetry ... My poem would never ...

After work we ...

All morning in the September light ...

I’m afraid of ...

If our hearts had been pure we would have ...

Answer this question in a poem: What opens in the skin of the world? Someone should take her picture.

It’s a hard war to figure out ...

Certainly it is daylight in Iraq right now.

We live so much of our lives alone.

Everything seems combustible.

Answer this question in a poem: Why doesn’t somebody do something?

Maple Rock Auto Repair ...

Write about cigarettes.

Names I’ve forgotten ...

Outside your city / town, the highway ... The singer on the radio ...

I said goodbye to my father / mother ... or I never said goodbye ... When I was twelve I wanted / didn’t want ...

I can see him / her ...

This is my first time trying to ...

Answer this question in a poem: How does the heart decide what to remember?

To the things / moments that shine ... In my dream there were ...

I tried to pretend it wasn’t there.

I want the details.

Whatever you do is enough.

When I saw her / him last.

You have begun to leave me ...

Write about ceremony.

Write about second-hand clothes.

I never wanted to know what was under the bed.

Twenty years later my sister is still ... Write about the porch.

Write about staying home from school. Because you keep turning toward me ...

Answer this question in a poem: Why do we always expect to become someone else?

Noticing the world around you ... My mother used to say, “Don’t ...” The thin thread of pleasure ... What I regret ...

You have not changed at all.

Ode to my hands, my tongue, my legs ...

We can’t tell ...

Write about hiding.

Even when I forget you, I go on looking for you. Pretend ...

For the first time my family went ...

My first pair of ...

If I were a superhero ...

I approach writing like I approach skydiving.

Although I don’t usually admit it, I am a closet fan of ...

Although I pretend to – I actually ...

When I was growing up, our house smelled like ... On Saturdays, we ...

The first time I realized I was different ...

The worst test I ever took, had ...

Sitting in the hospital waiting room ...

The time in my life I was most frightened ... I’m still angry that ...

When my parents didn’t _______ I felt ... Song for a long winter ...

How easily we break.

The most embarrassing moment in my life ... The black cat crosses the road in front of my car. Someone should take her picture.

It’s a hard war to figure out.

We live so much of our lives alone.

Answer this question in a poem: How do we reach into the shadows of the past?

“The world is a burning house” (from the Buddha). I tried to pretend it wasn’t there ...

When I saw her / him last ...

Answer this question in a poem: What defines us? Pretend ...

To my mistakes ... or mistakes I have made ... What I believe in ...

More than anything my father / mother hated ...

Watching my father / mother eat lunch ... The happiest day you remember ...

You do not want to be here.

We are sorry to inform you ...

Things people told you turned out to be true ...

Write about a Girl / Boy Scout trip.

On that day, nothing / something happened ... You’d think when things change, there’d be ... This is how memory works ...

Suck it up ...

I discovered sex / love ...

I don’t know what it is I mourn the most ...

Write a scene in a diner.

No room for yourself in a house full of ...

When I speak sometimes I hear my mother’s voice.

Answer this question in a poem: What is green, what grows? Kitchen table stories ...

How to live in this world ...

Write about your grandmother’s sacred recipe.

I could choose to keep ...

Write about the cool kid in second grade.

Answer this question in a poem: What is it that my heart wants? My father / mother always wore ...

Because of my father’s job ...

In my room ...

At ten I loved ...

Answer this question in a poem: Who will help me find the way out? When I don’t like myself ...

Write about your favorite relative.

Why I always loved / hated my sister ...

Look around you ...

Write an ode to your body.

Write a poem on the subject of beauty, glamour, hair, make-up, body image, fashion, sex symbols, or beauty icons.

Write a poem about a place – make us really see and smell it. Answer this question in a poem: Who was it I loved that night?

Write a poem about food.

Full house ...

What I need ...

The places we call home ...

Answer this question in a poem: What is it that my heart wants?

How to live in the world ...

Jesus is always appearing in New Jersey. Write about things you’re grateful for. Write about days when nothing happens. Make me fall in love with you.

Tell me what it’s like to ...

When I turned to look ...

Write about the quiet in this place. Think about sex ...

I love these Saturdays ...

Now is not the time to question. The dance of the street.

Write about working the night shift. My father’s / mother’s hats ...

I give testimony.

Rain on an empty street, grace ...

When you kiss me ...

Some of us say ...

I typed my name into an internet search engine.

Answer this question in a poem: What is the color of sleep / death / love?

Write about waiting at the bus stop.

Answer this question in a poem: Is there no mercy?

One thing that can save ...

Answer this question in a poem: Does every choice involve losing something?

Answer this question in a poem: What I would do for love?

At home, it’s autumn ...

I wait for a sign.

Who would have thought love would ...

I am afraid of ...

What I found in books, music, TV programs ...

It reminds me of ...

Why I grind my teeth in my sleep ...

You never know what you have until you lose it. When I became a pessimist ...

It had always seemed so certain.

Answer this question in a poem: What were you waiting for? Write about the Saturday matinee.

Write about a family outing.

All my life I’ve been waiting for them to come back ...

Write about the summer when ...

Why is it so difficult to lose; what we didn’t know about losing ... Write a prayer.

Write a poem with a famous writer in it.

Teach me the science of desire.

The problem with my name ...

The problem with my sister / brother ...

If you’re a girl, a boy, say 14 years old, living in ...

Answer this question in a poem: What sadness / loneliness drove him? When I was a child, I thought ...

Every year in my town we always ...

The past is an ...

Every Christmas / Hanukkah, we ...

My family is ...

I promised myself ...

Write about your first best friend, or why you didn’t have any best friends.

The grammar school teacher I remember.

“Everything that rises must converge” (from Flannery O’Connor). Write a poem to a female poet.

Write a poem about the internet.

Adversity, perseverance, redemption, miracle ...

Running away ...

You never know ...

When a man loves a woman / when a woman loves a man ... Write about something lost in translation.

The big storm ...

The coldest winter ...

My poem would / would never...

After work we ...

You imagine your mother as a girl / father as a boy ... You don’t know much.

I imagine my mother falling in love ... We lived on the edge ...

Plenty of words for hate ...

The jobs I’ve had ...

When I got mugged, my mother / father ...

At the drive-in ...

We are almost home ...

Answer this question in a poem: America what is happening? Blessing the house ...

I was the girl who / boy who ...

Answer this question in a poem: What was she thinking?

I was in love with ...

Write about trying to keep a secret.

Answer this question in a poem: What do my hands reach for? We / Our parents used to play cards ...

For years now, my father ...

Just yesterday ...

Standing on a train platform ...

I am trying to remember the girls / boys I used to love. I made a fool of myself.

Write about desire.

I’m making a list of ...

My parents never stayed in motels or went out to eat. When my father / mother sang ...

When I am invisible ...

I no longer recognize myself.

Write about a February morning.

Write a poem about studying biology [or other science]. Answer this question in a poem: What makes the world tilt? Answer this question in a poem: What do I love about the past?

Answer this question in a poem: What is there to praise?

In the Wal-Mart sporting goods aisle, two women / men ... So many people fall away / are left behind ...

The present I gave my third / fourth / fifth grade teacher ... I imagine my mother dancing ...

We all need our own order. That summer we learned ... Write about family love / hate. On the record ...

Write about a guessing game.

Answer this question in a poem: What is it that I don’t want to know? Write about a moving day.

Answer this question in a poem: Why is it so hard to decide?

If I could be born again, I would want ...

Things I’ve grown to love / can’t forget ...

The first time I understood what it means to be lonely ...

Answer this question in a poem: What color would I like to paint the world?

Answer this question in a poem: What landscape is the landscape I claim as my own?

Write a poem about a turnip or a sweet potato. When my father / mother was young ...

Write about bathing by candlelight.

What do I know of my father’s father, or my mother’s mother? When we had music ...

I would not confess ...

Write about the first day of high school.

Write about what you never had the chance to tell someone or your mother / father never had the chance to say.

Answer this question in a poem: Do you know what it is to need what you don’t have?

I worked there every day after school. Ode to the ordinary, the everyday.

My father / mother showed me how ...

We used to sunbathe, our skin ... What can’t last ...

What endures ...

Write about the street you lived on. Anything goes in ...

Everyone’s off someplace warm ...

Write a poem that includes the names of songs or a singer you love or loved.

Things like this happen ...

Some nights are easy.

The cramped geography of my life.

Lucky are those who ...

I catch myself whispering please ...

Choose a word or phrase – forgive me, because, save me. Write a poem that uses them repetitively.

It’s almost spring.

What is the color of love / loneliness / loss ...

Sometimes panic overwhelms me.

Of course it didn’t last.

Write a portrait of your parents.

The pictures on my living room walls / my mother’s mantle ... How to be happy ...

What I should have done.

I used to blame my mother / father.

What is not there ...

Answer this question in a poem: Have you ever walked through the country of grief?

It was forbidden to touch ...

Write about your refrigerator.

On being cool ...

The newspapers are full of stories, so many stories I’ve read lately ... What I notice when I look closely.

Write a poem of praise.

We used to sing along with the radio. I’m four / five / six years old ...

I’m worried about ...

Things that burn ...

Poets love the stuff by the side of the road.

On spring nights, we drove ... She knows what it’s called ... At recess, we ...

The people who come after us. I was never into the kinky stuff.

Holding on ...

Answer this question in a poem: What are the habits of our hearts? Again my bed is empty ...

Write about what you do when you can’t sleep.

The first time I saw ...

Tell me again how ...

In my restless memory, how lovely it was ...

In the memory of their faces.

Letters to the dead ...

Write Beatitudes for the Twenty-first Century: Blessed are ...

Write a poem of protest.

Write about using your father’s / grandfather’s razor or watching your father shave.

There is no language to say ... I wear my grief like ...

My thoughts are prayers.

I’m trying to keep something down.

Walking in my town, I’ve seen ...

If my father and I have anything in common ...

Write a poem in which you try to imagine your father / mother at the age you are now.

Sometimes you can wish so hard ...

Write about sleeping in a strange bed.

It’s so complicated, this loving ...

I still see them some nights.

I will not surrender to the failures of my body.

Answer this question in a poem: How many games have I played?

Bless the girl / boy who ...

The last thing I want to talk about ... Write a poem about the kitchen table. What is lost or never was.

When I am not sure ...

Why is it so hard to decide / to choose ...

Write about getting dirty.

Answer this question in a poem: What manner of love is this? Thinking of Thoreau ...

Write about locked doors.

Once I believed it was either the life I wanted, or nothing.

Write about going to bed.

It was that way in our family .

Write a poem in which every line is a quote from someone about things you should do or you should be afraid of. Tell us who said the line.

Answer this question in a poem: Who remembers women ironing?

The first day ... The phone call ...

____________ never stops speaking before the answering machine shuts off.

Answer this question in a poem: Where do we find redemption?

Write about the relationships between mothers and daughters or fathers and sons.

Write about eavesdropping. All that must change.

Write a poem about rebellion. Why am I afraid.

Answer this question in a poem: What is happening to the world?

Answer this question in a poem: What used to be green? This is the poem I want to write.

Write about your mother’s regret.

I still see him.

My days feel like ...

Our house was filled with ...

The polar bears are drowning.

In Australia, they are killing stingrays ...

Answer this question in a poem: How do I find what I need? Geese are flying in the wrong direction.

Write about some important moment or event in your life that you connect with something that happened in the world on the same day.

Answer this question in a poem: What place am I rooted to?

Answer this question in a poem: Why do we destroy the very things we love?

Answer this question in a poem: What can we do to heal? On the way to class ...

Write about the tongue.

Answer this question in a poem: Why do I love mangoes?

My father learned to ...

Write a portrait poem of someone you know from your neighborhood. I imagine tracing my finger ...

If only I could name what I long for.

Write about superstitions.

What are the colors ...

Write a list poem that answers the following question: What I love / hate / need?

Write about eating alone.

All the boys / girls wore them.

I don’t know what came first. War or exile ...

Being able to say what I want ... Write about buying new shoes.

We’re driving the elephants crazy.

On the news ...

When my father / mother came home ...

Answer this question in a poem: How do our eyes work? What I overheard ...

What I expected ...

I was a camera recording ...

Write about passing from shadow into light. Why I’m a naturalist ...

I fall for every woman / man I meet.

Answer this question in a poem: What gets lost? What can be saved? War and all its ramifications ...

Let me tell you ...

This is the year I learn ...

Write about three people you remember from 7th grade.

That was when I started / stopped smoking. It was winter. I imagine ...

Write about showing off.

Write about a box or urn. What does it hold? In a box marked the past I find ...

Write about a treasure chest.

Answer this question in a poem: What can we do to ward off evil? I heard my / your heart beating.

I’m putting my faith in reincarnation.

Parking in the graveyard ...

Write about the people in your town / America. Ugly.

I don’t know how to tell the story.

Answer this question in a poem: What watches us? We don’t deserve it.

Write about day trips.

Answer this question in a poem: What makes me sad? I believe in ...

I am mourning.

What I saw ...

Bedroom song.

Write about hanging curtains.

While driving my car, I am thinking ...

Write about a moving day.

Answer this question in a poem: What do I notice when I look at the world outside?

Each of us has a name.

What would I ask for on the final ...? On a day like this ...

If I am the wolf ...

We believed ...

Write about the place where you bought your first CD / record / cassette tape.

Write about the wall between the present and the future. From my father / mother I learned ...

Write about everyday dangers.

Answer this question in a poem: Why I went /didn’t go to summer camp?

If my grandfather could tell the story of his life, my grandmother ...

“The history of whales is a history of serial disasters” (from Greenpeace).

Answer this question in a poem: Where do I want to go when I die? This is the way the world comes back.

Now that I have ...

This poem is for ...

Answer this question in a poem: What do we honor, what do we celebrate?

Write about going to the shoe store as a kid. There are landscapes we cannot control. The dead sit calmly among us.

Write about learning to be grateful.

In Chin’s restaurant ...

Use the word “unknown” as the first word of every stanza or line. Now, in November ...

Sometimes I can’t sleep because ...

Answer this question in a poem: What happened on my front porch? We took what was given.

Write about bullies, what bullies have said / say.

Why I / my brother / sister / father / mother love(s) video games. Your mother’s sisters, your father’s brothers.

Write about pretty girls or a pretty girl.

Answer this question in a poem: What remains?

In my dreams ...

What the teacher said ...

Answer this question in a poem: What do we leave behind?

My dead father’s hand ...

Write a poem in which you repeat “If you ...” as the start of stanzas or lines.

By day you can bear almost anything. Write a poem to rivers, streams.

It’s not right ...

What can we do to atone? I let the spirits in ...

We share the world ...

Think about the most embarrassing moment of your life and combine that with something you read about in a newspaper or saw on TV. Go back and forth between the two things.

Write portrait poems of your sister or brother or a cousin.

Write about speaking across generations. Before something happens ...

You promised ...

Write about the sixth grade.

Stick to your own kind.

I’ve always been afraid of ... Accidents can / do happen ...

Write about hats: your mother’s winter hat, grandpa’s hat, the hat I wore to, the hat my father wore to ...

One more year alive ...

What is the sorrow that never leaves, the space inside me nothing can fill?

Answer this question in a poem: How will one of us live without? Write about how you learned religion.

Answer this question in a poem: What is that sad road ahead? Waiting for spring in the endless mountains.

What I know about America ...

Answer this question in a poem: How did we all get tricked into believing in fate?

We live in an age where ...

Write a poem in which you take on the persona of a famous person in politics, music, movies.

When I was ten I watched ... Oh, what do you want anyway?

The last time I saw ...

Write about X-ray machines, fluoroscope machines, going to the doctor ...

When I open the door, my father / mother ...

Answer one of these questions (or both) in a poem: What escaped us? What we wanted to escape?

In the slow unraveling of love ...

Our breath, our need, our sorrow ...

It is memory that turns ...

So what is this place where love / anger / hate lives. Write about watching a war on the news.

I want to find my way back.

Tonight in my father’s / mother’s house ...

Even now, I’m still searching for a thing to keep.

Answer this question in a poem: Is this the way it has to be? On the way home from school ...

What I believe ...

Answer this question in a poem: What is it like waiting to be kissed? I now know so much more ...

This afternoon I could almost think nothing’s changed.

After recess ...

One perfect thing I / my mother / father can / could do ...

July in my hometown meant ...

Write a poem using the following words: winter, Crackerjacks, Bruce Springsteen, geometry, map.

Write about Cinderella in middle age.

Write about a family party.

It’s Saturday night, senior year.

We’d meet at the diner after ...

Write about a movie star or singer who was very important to someone in your life. Include both that person in the poem and the star they loved and why.

What I’m waiting for. Black ice ...

When I’m feeling sad, I ...

Bullies.

At 14, I told my father / mother ...

Driving through my town ... Let your mind jump around. Make your own connections between lines. Let one thing remind you of something or someone else. Don’t censor yourself.

Answer this question in a poem: What steps do we need to forget or remember?

Even I ...

The glaciers are melting in Juneau, Alaska. Even the bees are vanishing.

Meeting the obscure dead ...

Why is it sometimes loneliness ...

Someday I’m going to re-read Proust / learn to speak Italian. The boss ...

I want to name all of them, the living and the long dead, before I am, too.

Write about trying to start a garden. Forgiving ...

Answer this question in a poem: Why do we need to destroy everything?

On TV we watch the bridge collapse.

The food that gives me comfort ...

Write about something you never expected to do. Answer this question in a poem: Is this it, after all?

I used to know what it meant ... What I remember most ... Everything comes to an end. The last time I saw my mother ... Traveling ...

That’s the way we sleep now. We must witness ...

We bend our memories to fit ... The game I loved ...

Answer this question in a poem: How does sadness get caught in our throats?

In Georgia, a lake, almost as large as the sea, is drying up. Write about survival.

Answer this question in a poem: What is it about 3 am? We are always trying to return ...

Imagine reading a story to a child (possibly yours) / a sister / brother, or someone reading a story to you. Write a poem about that.

What I wanted to be.

Answer this question in a poem: What would you like to (not) pass on to your children?

All the things I’ve never let myself say ...

Write a political poem. Connect it to your own life.

Write about something someone told you about yourself that comes back to haunt you.

At 19 or 12 or 8, I did not know ...

In my new school ...

How I lost my best friend ...

Sometimes I get so worried, it’s hard to breathe.

Answer this question in a poem: Why do some moments get caught in our memory, the smell of them, the sound?

Saying goodbye ...

The night we broke up ...

Even now, I want ...

What I like about myself; what I hate about myself. Games I’ve played ...

Go away. I want to be alone with Dylan Thomas / Rilke / Neruda. In these green mountains ...

The music of the universe is everywhere.

In the silence before sleep ...

Write about Christmas morning / a night of Hanukkah.

Write about homeroom in high school or junior high.

I don’t remember ...

My favorite teacher/grade. The teacher/grade I hated. What I wrote in my notebook when I was twelve ... Write about family breakfast.

What I long for ...

Letting go of the past ...

You can’t make this stuff up.

How I learned irony.

Write about your mother / grandmother’s wedding picture.

The strangest gift I ever received or gave ...

Write an ode to your mother’s hair.

We were not prepared for it.

Write about the first cigarette you smoked (or didn’t). What is it about you that makes me ...

Answer this question in a poem: How far away are the dead? What I want that I know I can never have ...

Write about turning sixteen.

Answer this question in a poem: What did I think would happen? Write a poem about love or loss or grief or all three.

Write a poem that includes Iraq, George Bush, Joe Torre, a kangaroo, a kid from your high school class.

Missing you is like ...

Sometimes I feel I have forgotten how to speak.

The clothes I wore.

Answer this question in a poem: What makes me ashamed?