OctPoWriMo Day 21: Poetry Prompt: "I was here...."

Where are your fingerprints?

I spent last weekend at Morro Bay along the Central California Coast. On both Saturday and Sunday morning I could be found nestled in the dunes along the beach, waiting to greet the new day.

On Sunday, I noticed I left a distinctive hand print in the sand.

As a creative person, you are aware how such a thing sparks the imagination. It got me to thinking where my fingerprints and handprints and footprints live on in places, with other people, in memory.

It birthed the image you see here (feel free to also use the image for inspiration and on your blogs) as well as this prompt.

Question Prompt:

Where are your fingerprints?

Where are your handprints?

Where are your footprints?

Sentence Starters

My fingerprints are...

My handprints are...

My footprints are...

I remember the fingerprints of...

I remember the handprints of...

I remember the footprints of....

Words for Inspiration

Hand

Foot

Sand

Impression

Memory

Beach

Ocean

Fingers

Share your poetry with us by linking up. Make sure you visit your neighbors one or two before and after. If you are last on the list go back to the beginning of the list. If you are the first few on the list please go back to the day before and visit the last on the list if you haven't already. Have fun!

-- Julie Jordan Scott 

Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist  whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people's creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming Fall and Winter, 2014 and beyond. 

Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot    

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© 2014

How Do You Do That?

In just FOUR days, we will begin OctPoWriMo 2014! The team here will be posting daily prompts (completely optional, of course!) to help spark ideas. So what do you do once you read the daily prompt? Some of the questions I've been asked are: "How do you start a poem?" "How do you write a poem?" "Does it have to rhyme?" 

Wikihow has a simple approach that is similar to what I do when I write poetry. The article "write a free verse poem" gives four simple steps that can lead to an excellent free verse poem. Another guide that I found is "how to write a free verse poem". 

“No verse is free for the man who wants to do a good job.” T. S. Eliot

If you crave structure in your poems, we will often offer suggested forms to try. As always, you can attempt our suggestion, or you can branch out on your own. If you're not familiar with Shadow Poetry, it's an excellent resource that, when combined with Rhyme Zone, can help you generate any form of poetry you've ever heard of (and a few that perhaps you haven't!)

I'm getting excited about writing prompts and taking part in the daily poetry writing challenge right along with you! 

By the way, there's a worldwide poetry event taking place tomorrow (Saturday, September 27) sponsored by 100 Thousand Poets for Change. Check them out and take part in the event in your area! 

~Amy McGrath

Poetry is.... a collaborative poem-in-the-works with five days to go until OctPoWriMo begins!

In yesterday’s blogpost here at OctPoWriMo, MorganDragonwillow wrote brilliantly about how to write 31 poems in 31 days. Pure. Simple. Direct and heartfelt, her wisdom flowed off the page.

Today, five days from the beginning of OctPoWriMo, I thought it would be fun to dabble in some collaborative curiosity and actually write a poem about what poetry is right here in the comments section.

I’ll kick it off and then you, beloved poet friends, take the podium starting with… 

Poetry is…

Poetry is a moment in time, held, for as long as you want to - and shared with the world when you hit publish or post or send it off to be bound or made into a greeting card or post it on a coffee shop bulletin board.

Poetry is not a competitive sport, a task on the to-do list, an assignment you forgot to finish for the class you need to graduate. 

Poetry is an opportunity to finish what you started.

Poetry is….

Your turn - in the comments tell us your take on what poetry is… starting with…

Poetry is.....

~~Julie Jordan Scott

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Count Down: 5 Days until OctPoWriMo!

Time is going by quickly, are you ready for this poetry challenge, will you be sharing your poetry on your blog? Make sure if you are on Twitter that you share your poem posts with the hashtag #OctPoWriMo so that other participants can find you. You can also share and chat with us on Facebook in our Writing Poetry Group.

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How to Write Poetry Everyday - 31 Poems in 31 Days

Writing poetry everyday can be a challenge, which of course that is what OctPoWriMo is about. Well at least to some degree. It's about poetry and word awareness. It's about inspiring and sharing poetry with the world. It's about understanding that writing poetry really can be for everyone.

Poetry is emotions transferred to the page. We all have emotions, we all feel pain, love, loss, caring, and more.

Writing poetry can be a traditional form, a made up form, or free form. It can make sense, or not.

Gather your tools, your list of words, your magnets, your books, open to your senses, open to your feelings and give yourself permission to write a poem everyday.

Keep it simple.

What are you feeling?

What are you seeing?

To write poetry everyday, is to relax into the words, to not make it complicated, to allow yourself to write whatever comes up for you.

Come to the page at the same time everyday, or not.

Write in a notebook, on your blog, in Evernote, 750words.com, Yarny or even on Twitter as micropoetry in 140 characters or less.

There is no right or wrong way to participate in this challenge. You can write 31 poems in 31 days, we can do it together.

Count Down: 6 Days until OctPoWriMo!

Time is going by quickly, are you ready for this poetry challenge, will you be sharing your poetry on your blog? Make sure if you are on Twitter that you share your poem posts with the hashtag #OctPoWriMo so that other participants can find you. You can also share and chat with us on Facebook in our Writing Poetry Group.

Morgan Dragonwillow: Rebel dancing with words, intuitive cook, recovering perfectionist, poet & author that (mostly) doesn't let her fears get in the way of her passion for writing and creating. She is team leader at @StoryDam, creatrix of #OctPoWriMo, and you can find her at, A Poet's Kitchen, cooking up simply delicious meals. She lives in Marietta, Ga. with her loving and patient partner, their dog that thinks she's a princess, and the cat that reminds her that she isn't.
You can find her on Google+

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