Creative Writing Prompts for Poetry

The prompts and ideas on this website intentionally open-ended. Each prompt can be approached in many different ways. Whether you are a traditional poet or an experimental one; whether your poetry is lyrical, humorous, or dark; you can make these prompts work for you.

The open-ended design of these prompts also means that you can return to the same prompt again and again, producing a different poem each time.

Ready to write some poems?

Creative Writing Prompts

1) Write a poem about one or all of the four seasons. (Some ideas for brainstorming: What does the season look, feel, smell like? What memories do you associate with that season?).

2) Write a poem using three of the following words: expensive, lampshade, bruise, convincing.

3) Write a poem about something that happened to someone you know. Write about it as if it had happened to you.

4) Write a poem about your shadow. (Some ideas for brainstorming: How does it change when you move? What does it look like in different kinds of light, in different situations? What would happen if you lost it? Does it have a secret life?)

5) Write a poem using all of the following words: smooth, soothe, work, dark.

6) Write a poem based on a dream you had. Try to reproduce the sensations of the dream.

7) Write a poem based on your belief about life after death... or about what you WISH you believed.

8) Write a poem using all of the following words: snake, honey, thaw.

9) Write a poem from the perspective of a character in a fairy tale.

10) Write a poem using all of the following words: moth, angle, cloth, tangle.

11) Write a poem that tells the story of a specific love affair or marriage.

12) Write a poem in the form of a message or letter to your future self.

13) Write a poem about the color red or another color. (Some ideas for brainstorming: How does the color make you feel? What things do you associate with that color?)

14) Write a poem about a place that frightens you or a place where you feel happy. Tryto recreate the feeling of the place.

15) Write a poem using all of the following words: exquisite, visit, glisten.

16) Write a poem about something or someone you lost.

17) Write a poem using all of the following words: dim, hinge, dingy.

19) Write a poem in the form of a lullaby.

20) Write a poem about yourself in which nothing is true.

So Many More Creative Writing Prompts...

Click here for more poem starters. Then if that's not enough for you...

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