Poetry Prompts Day 21 - OctPoWriMo 2016

Let's get right to it...

Photo by Morgan Dragonwillow

Day 21 Prompt: Nature's Calling

Possibilities:

When was the last time you were out in nature? A nature walk? Lake, ocean, river? If you are able, get outside for a little while today, smell the air, listen to the birds, see what animals are nearby and then sit down to write. If you aren't able to get out for whatever reason, free write for ten minutes about the last time you were out in nature.

Suggested poetry type: Terzanelle (I'm feeling the t's this week.)

Word Prompts:

rocks

water

birds

trail

sand

For your Muse:

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, where you find inspiration for your poetry is up to you.

During OctPoWriMo, if you want to make sure that we know you have written something new, comment in that day's post with your link to your blog and/or share your link on Twitter with the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo.

If you would like to leave an active link in the comments:

<a href = "your link">your title</a>

You have to put the link to your post (same link you would put in the comment section) in the, "your link" space within the quotations and the title to your post in the, your title, space.

Our link would look like this:

<a href="https://poetsonthepage.blogspot.com/">OctPoWriMo</a>

Once you hit publish on your comment it would look like this (only with the name of your post):

OctPoWriMo

I hope that helps. You don't have to do this, it is only if you would like to make your link an active link.

Remember to visit two or more OctPoWriMo participants and leave encouraging and supportive words along the way.

Peace,
Morgan Dragonwillow
Read, Dance, Write, Repeat.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a writing rebel, foodie, urban gardener, recovering perfectionist, facilitator of magical circles and poet who (mostly) doesn't let her fears get in the way of her passion for writing and creating. When she isn't working with clients, writing or dancing, you can find her encouraging and supporting her writing community at @StoryDam, #OctPoWriMo, #PoetsonthePage, and  Playing with Words on her blog.

Yes she is on Google+ too!

Make sure you sign up to receive our updates, tips and prompts to share in all the poetry fun!

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

OctPoWriMo's (and Your) Poetic Family Tree

For those who have been around my blog for a while, you know I have a passion for “literary grannies” – the women writers who went before us who may or may not have gotten noticed for the words they have written. I try to get the word out about them so women who write today may have a sense of literary lineage.

Then along came a prompt from BlogHer.

This leaf of one family tree is courtesy of Happy Via on Flickr  via Creative Commons License

It wanted to know about my family tree!


Naturally this makes me want to make a literary family tree.

Perhaps now, I will. 

Who would I count in my direct line?

I would certainly memoirists, poets, activists and letter writers.

I would count Charlotte Perkins Gilman, writer of the paradigm shifting The Yellow Wallpaper among other poems, essays, speeches and other things. She was also mother to a Katharine.

I would count Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Diarist, Novelist, early Aviator, Poet and Mother who lived through a lot of her very public life in a very veiled fashion. Her words are absolutely beautiful and she was perpetually standing up for women having the space to write, not unlike another in my direct line: Virginia Woolf.

Somewhere out there is Laura Ingalls Wilder, a childhood favorite and well known Granny, and also Margaret Fuller, whose home I visited not long ago. A couple other Massachusetts literary Aunties: Louisa May Alcott and Emily Dickinson come to mind.

I absolutely must have Edna St. Vincent Millay in my lineage. Yesterday a friend of mine quoted her to me - without even knowing she was quoting her - and it was as if Vincent herself was speaking with me.

There was a time when I wasn't familiar at all with many past poets. I was not an English major and I wrote poetry but didn't spend much time reading poetry anthologies or collections.

What I will tell you is this: going to my local bookstore (and later, the library) and thumbing through unknown to me anthologies and then purchasing them and reading them changed my life as a poet and as a person.

My poetry improved, my life improved, and I felt forever connected to a world I

Writing on the steps of poet Gertrude Stein

didn't even know existed until then. If you don't have the resources to get to a bookstore or library, a visit to Poetry Magazine's website will suffice quite nicely.

Poetry Magazine is over 100 years old and was founded by Literary Granny Harriet Monroe, a woman who singlehandedly made the career of many once-unknown poets. She put her own taste aside to be present to the "happenings" in the world of poetry within that particular generation.

On the Poetry Foundation website is the entire archive of Poetry Magazine. Go there, now, even if you can get to a bookstore or a library. Read at least one poem a day there before OctPoWriMo. Read the poem several times a day and allow its language and style to sink into you. This WILL change your poetry and your life for the better.

Who is in your poetic family tree?

-- Julie Jordan Scott