Poetry Link Up: Waiting

Image by PEN_at_work

Share a link to your poem here!

Writing Prompt: What are you waiting for? Are you tired of waiting? There are even special rooms that are designated as "waiting rooms".  Feel free to use one of the events mentioned above or to share an event in your own life that involved waiting - a wedding, a pregnancy, or perhaps even the end of life. Try to capture the emotions that are connected to waiting or anticipating something.

Word Prompt:  Waiting or Anticipation

Poetry Prompt: Waiting

Image by George Hodan

This time of year often brings with it a sense of anticipation. This has been made even more pronounced in my family as I watched my 14-year-old son's excitement building for the 50th anniversary simulcast of the BBC series Dr. Who occurring on the same weekend as the premier of the second movie in the Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire.

Now we're waiting for the annual gathering of extended family to celebrate the American tradition of Thanksgiving. The next day, many in our consumer culture will be waiting in long lines on "Black Friday" to buy holiday gifts for family and friends. My Jewish friends are anticipating the lighting of the menorah in celebration of Hanukkah. And the Christian season of Advent begins where we anticipate the coming of the holy infant Jesus. 

Writing Prompt: What are you waiting for? Are you tired of waiting? There are even special rooms that are designated as "waiting rooms".  Feel free to use one of the events mentioned above or to share an event in your own life that involved waiting - a wedding, a pregnancy, or perhaps even the end of life. Try to capture the emotions that are connected to waiting or anticipating something.

Word Prompt:  Waiting or Anticipation

Suggested Poetry Form: Alliterisen **The suggested forms are entirely optional. This one appears to be a very complex poetic form. Are you up for the challenge? What are you waiting for? Go for it!

Even though Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, the link up will still be here and available for up to a week afterward. Please come back and share a link to your poem and take a few minutes to read the poems of others. Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Hanukkah!

~ Amy McGrath

Poetry Link Up: Thankful

Monday's prompt is about being thankful: 

Writing Prompt: Tell us what you are thankful for or how you are thankful. Or both. You can do this in list form, story form - however you choose. Let us celebrate the season and the spirit of giving thanks through the beauty of poetry.

I'm thankful for all the wonderful poetry I know you'll come up with! Thanks for linking up.

Link Up! 

Poetry Prompt: Thankful

Norman Rockwell 

It's Thanksgiving time. What are you thankful for?  This is a wonderful time to express your gratitude through prose. 

Writing Prompt: Tell us what you are thankful for or how you are thankful. Or both. You can do this in list form, story form - however you choose. Let us celebrate the season and the spirit of giving thanks through the beauty of poetry.

Be sure to return on Thursday to link up your posts. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all! 

Mini Poetry Prompt - Sacred Truth

Poetry Prompt: 

What is your sacred truth, something you know without a doubt to be true or believe with all of your heart. This can be spiritual, family, life etc.

Playing with form, from Shadow Poetry - Line Messaging

Monday's Challenge - Write a poem about your journey this week of exploring poetry.

It is time to draw this to a close

look at how you dove in head first

to make sense of what captures your heart

and turning it inside out and upside down

has your words spilling onto the page

~Morgan Dragonwillow

We will continue our regularly scheduled weekly poetry prompts on Monday and link up on Thursday. Hope you had fun this week taking it deeper and exploring one of your favorite poems. Join us next month, Monday, Dec. 9th for our second week long challenge. Hope to see you there!

Mini Poetry Prompt - Holding In

Poetry Prompt: 

What are you holding in? Isn't it time you let it out?

Playing with form - from Shadow Poetry, CinqTroisDecaLa Rhyme

Monday's Challenge, choose one word that symbolizes the poem you chose or the poem you created from it and do an Acrostic poem.

Mini Poetry Prompt - Going deeper

Continuing the week long mini poetry challenge here is your next poetry prompt.

Poetry Prompt:

Write a poem rich with feeling, using as many feeling words as you are able.

Playing with form - from Shadow Poetry, The Pictorial

Monday's Challenge: Do a little research on the poet that wrote the poem you chose and tell us about them. Write a poem to the poet.

Mini Poetry Prompt - Forever Loved

The poetry prompts for the rest of the week long poetry challenge are going to be short and possibly sweet.

Poetry Prompt: 

What old piece of clothing or shoes do you absolutely refuse to get rid of because of, where you got it (or who gave it to you), where you wore it, or they were just your absolute favorite etc. Tell us in your poetry about that over loved or heart wrenching treasured clothing/shoes.

Playing with a poetry type from Shadow Poetry, Inverted Refrain

Remember these are only suggestions and you can choose to write your poetry in any form inspired by whatever inspires you.

Monday's Challenge - If the poem that you chose had a flavor, what flavor would it be?

Poetry Challenge Week - Exploring a Poem

Today we start the first mini poetry challenge that we will have once a month beginning on the second Monday. The beginning of this poetry challenge is for you to choose a poem and tell us why or rather what it is about it that you love. Is it the topic, the flow, the rhythm, the rhyming, or is it more than one thing you love about it? What is it that draws you into it and why it is important to you?

This isn't about tearing something apart; this is about understanding what it is that draws you in so that you can understand your own poetry better and in doing so adding breadth and depth to it.

Different Ways to Explore

Read it out loud.
Read it backwards (line by line not word for word)
Write down your feelings about it.
Is the topic one that you find yourself drawn to again and again?

There is no wrong way to do this, just tell us all you can about the poem that you choose.

In future challenges we will be choosing one specific poet or poem to explore but I thought it would be nice for everyone to choose one of their own to start with.

Now if you are one that has stayed away from other poetry for whatever reason, (I did until I started understanding why and what poetry I actually like to read and explore) don't worry, this is your chance to find poetry that you enjoy.

If you do not have any poetry books, go to Amazon online and you can take a look at their free poetry ebooks to explore as well as other poetry ebooks. I would recommend choosing one that you can download onto your Kindle app (whether on a Kindle, other tablet, or on your computer) so that you can read it and do this exploration now instead of in a week or two or three when a book in print would arrive. Although you could also go to your local book store and choose a book there as well to have it in hand today. You have options, just find a poem that draws you in and has you wanting to explore more about it.

Yes you can even go to the library.

Thanks to Amy McGrath for sharing this website for finding poems, Poem Hunter, for another place to discover poetry.

After you have accomplished the above write a poem in the same style as the poem you explored and put it at the bottom of the post with the information above.

Let the poem itself inspire your poem.

Take your time with this; the link will be open until Sunday, Nov. 17th. Come back tomorrow for a mini poetry prompt.

Poetry Link Up - Deep

Once a week you will find a poetry prompt on Monday and then come back and link up on Thursday. Have you been writing for the Poetry Prompt - Deep? Did you write one poem or more than one? Now is the time to share your poetry that you have been working on this week, whether it was for the prompt or not, and link up below.

Autumn Smiling - Photo from Public Domain Pictures

Remember next week will be our first week long challenge. Come back this coming Monday to discover what we have in-store for you!

Poetry Prompt - Deep

This is later than it normally will be. I am getting used to this new schedule. This is your chance to take your time with the poetry prompt or to write more than one for it. It is your choice but you won't have to link up until Thursday in a separate post. We will be going at a slower speed than we did for OctPoWriMo except during the second week of the month when we do our challenge that will help you take your poetry even deeper.

Sea Cave - Photo from Public Domain Pictures. 

Poetry Prompt: Deep is the ocean, deep are relationships. Free write for ten minutes about what deep means to you.

Word Prompt: Deep

Exploring Poetry Types: Every week you will have an opportunity to explore a different poetry type from Shadow Poetry. This week it is a traditional form, Nonet.

Feel free to choose to write your poetry in whatever form you choose, all of the prompts are only suggestions to help inspire and motivate you to write your poetry on the page.

Remember to come back on Thursday to link up and share your poems.

~Morgan Dragonwillow