Calling all budding poets, musicians, and lyricists! Our National Poetry Month lyric-writing contest is coming to a close next Wednesday - have you submitted your entry yet? If you're a poetry writer, you can be a lyricist. Take a look at your inventory of poems (even fiction or creative nonfiction). What lines stand out? What... Continue Reading →
Creative Writing Prompt #23 The Dog Ate My Poetry We've all told little white lies to get out of something, to avoid hurting someone's feelings, or to save our own butt. Today, write a poem made up entirely of excuses. This can be a list-like poem. But the title should be leading, an allusion to... Continue Reading →
Calling all poets, budding poets, dabblers in verse! This is your last reminder to enter the Novel Novice Poetry Contest. All submissions are due to libby.novelnovice@live.com by 5pm on Tuesday, April 27. Use this last weekend of the month to get outside and draw in inspiration from nature, or stay inside and write about why... Continue Reading →
We celebrated the first two weeks of National Poetry Month by featuring the well-known poets T.S. Eliot and Sylvia Plath. This week, we honed in on Allen Ginsberg. Here's a quick wrap-up of everything Ginsberg: Featured Poet: Allen Ginsberg Featured Collection: Selected Poems: 1947-1995 Featured Poem: "A Supermarket in California" Creative Writing Prompt: Ginsberg's Ends... Continue Reading →
Creative Writing Prompt #22 Who? What? Where? Why? Write a poem composed entirely of directions. "Directions" can be broadly interpreted to mean anything from Mapquest directions to a recipe, a class project description or how to put together a piece of furniture. Don't take this too literally. How can you explore the various possibilities of... Continue Reading →
Back in the days of artists and vagrants, Parisians used to get together in cafes, sip on some absinthe, and write about all manner of things in order to create an Exquisite Corpse poem. Have you contributed to Novel Novice's Exquisite Corpse collaboration yet? Get all the details here to lay down your lines. See... Continue Reading →
National Poem In Your Pocket Day is a traditional part of the National Poetry Month celebration! Here's the scoop: choose a poem that you love, then carry it with you in your pocket (or purse, or wallet, or backpack, or notebook) to share with friends, family, teachers, or coworkers on April 29. Or just to... Continue Reading →
This week we're focusing on poet Allen Ginsberg. So, naturally, we offer up a Ginsberg-inspired creative writing prompt to get you in a beatnik, meditative, "chanty" state of mind. Note that Ginsberg was often wrapped up in the idea of "widening the area of consciousness." He did not shy away from radical elements but rather... Continue Reading →
Creative Writing Prompt #21 From Bad to Worse Sometimes our biggest inspirations come from some of the most unexpected places - bad movies, cruddy reality TV shows, or just the lazy parts of our brain that aren't working very hard at original imagery. So go with it. Write the worst poem you can possibly imagine.... Continue Reading →
Highlighting Allen Ginsberg's poem "A Supermarket in California" as this week's featured poem is kind of an indulgence for me. I find great humor in some of the lines: ... babies in the tomatoes!--and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons? But it's not all about fruits and vegetables and pork... Continue Reading →
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