Yesterday concluded the National Poetry Month writing challenge, where many poets strive to write 30 poems in 30 days. If you played along, I hope you tried some new types of writing and found inspiration in Wild Violet’s prompts. For convenience, all the prompts for April 2020 are listed below. Each prompt includes tips for both adults and children.
In addition, if you are interested in viewing the poetry workshop I did earlier this month for the Emmaus Public Library, I’ve embedded the video.
Happy May and keep writing!
Poetry writing workshop by Pennsylvania poet and editor, Alyce Wilson. What do you need to know about writing your own poetry?
Posted by Emmaus Public Library on Saturday, April 18, 2020
Prompt 1: Object
Prompt 2: Dream
Prompt 3: Literary Inspiration
Prompt 4: Alliteration
Prompt 5: Get Small
Prompt 6: Acrostic
Prompt 7: Color
Prompt 8: Art as Inspiration
Prompt 9: Definition
Prompt 10: Overheard
Prompt 11: Spring
Prompt 12: Haiku
Prompt 13: Tanka
Prompt 14: How To
Prompt 15: Neighborhood
Prompt 16: Twenty Questions
Prompt 17: Seven Days
Prompt 18: Firsts
Prompt 19: Sounds
Prompt 20: Telling Untruths
Prompt 21: List (Litany)
Prompt 22: Celebration (Encomium)
Prompt 23: Road Trip
Prompt 24: Fractured Sayings (Idiom)
Prompt 25: Shapes (Concrete)
Prompt 26: Weather
Prompt 27: Hope
Prompt 28: Past, Present, Future
Prompt 29: Letter (Epistolary)
Prompt 30: Persona
Alyce Wilson is the editor of
Wild Violet and in her copious spare time writes humor, non-fiction, fiction and poetry and infrequently keeps
an online journal. Her first chapbook,
Picturebook of the Martyrs; her e-book/pamphlet,
Stay Out of the Bin! An Editor's Tips on Getting Published in Lit Mags ; her book of essays and columns,
The Art of Life; her humorous nonfiction ebook,
Dedicated Idiocy: How Monty Python Fandom Changed My Life, and her newest poetry collection,
Owning the Ghosts, can all be ordered from her Web site,
AlyceWilson.com. In late 2019, she published a volume of poetry by her third great-grandfather,
Reading's Physician Poet: Poems by Dr. James Meredith Mathews, which also contains genealogical information about the Mathews family. She lives with her husband and son in the Philadelphia area and takes far too many photos of her handsome, creative son, nicknamed Kung Fu Panda.