Love, death, nature: these themes inspire poems every single day. But great poetry doesn’t have to stem from heartbreak or existential crises. Original, quirky, and random subjects can be just as fun to read and write about.
From light-hearted to deeply thought-provoking, here are five fresh, intriguing poetry prompts to spice up your verse.
1. Write a poem about something you know nothing about.
And don’t do any research! Whether it’s nuclear fission, why the sky is blue, or how the internet actually works, choose a topic about which you have zero knowledge and write a poem without consulting any sources (steer clear of anything that could be offensive, of course).
The inspiration for this prompt is a YouTube video in which people who have never read or seen Harry Potter try to explain the series. Spoiler alert: it’s pretty funny. Just like your poem will be to those who do understand the topic!
Beyond unleashing your humorous imagination, this prompt challenges you to concentrate on the form of your poem without worrying about the content. It proves that verse can be beautiful without being deeply meaningful — something Lewis Carroll taught us with Jabberwocky.
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
If you don’t understand these opening lines, that’s because you’re not supposed to. Half the words are nonsensical and the stanza as a whole has no decipherable meaning — yet we can nevertheless appreciate the sounds and rhythm as a form of art. No matter how nonsensical your content is, strive for a melodic verse that is pleasing to the ear.
2. Write a poem using only words from a recent receipt.
This prompt also focuses on the art of poetry rather than the message. By severely restricting your vocabulary, it forces you to express yourself creatively and explore themes you wouldn’t ordinarily choose.
These themes don’t have to be related to what you’ve bought. The average receipt features plenty of words outside the list of purchased items, such as:
| please | debit | account |
| with | total | shown |
| card | amount | verification |
| not | required | rate |
| sales | enter | survey |
| you | can | win |
| of | vouchers | approved |
You’re not going to see any particularly elegant vocabulary, though. The challenge of this prompt is to take something mundane and make it interesting.
3. Write a poem using as many clichés as possible.
Nothing’s more mundane than overused clichés. As writers, we’re generally told to avoid them at all costs, as they lack originality.
But poetry is constantly pushing boundaries. Even if it goes against your better instincts, I dare you to write a poem full of clichés — so many, in fact, that you bypass “unoriginal” and circle back around to “fresh and imaginative.”
One way to use clichés in an original way is to change their endings, subverting the reader’s expectations. The surprise twist in “The grass is always greener on Instagram” makes the reader pause, acknowledge the creativity, and realize there’s quite a bit of truth to this phrase.
Another way to keep things fresh is to combine clichés in innovative ways. For example:
I killed two birds with one stone
But failed to catch the worm
These lines serve as a reminder that the early bird can’t catch the worm if you’ve killed it. More abstractly, this combination of clichés might appeal to the reader to protect nature, and/or reflect that even if you achieve two objectives at once, it can be at the expense of a third.
There are tons of clichés and idioms at your disposal. Look for patterns or contradictions — and expose them to send a powerful message.
4. Write a poem that could appear in a museum in 150 years.
After three rather playful prompts, it’s time for something more profound. This prompt gets you thinking about a “big question”: what do we have now that won’t exist in 150 years’ time?
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Landlines
- Cash
- Diesel cars
- Bookstores?
- Harry Potter?
Once you’ve settled on a topic, you’ll also need to think about what makes a good museum exhibit. You don’t have to write like a historian, but anything too figurative may be unclear.
Here are two short poems about the social media app BeReal, which I’m confident will be all but forgotten by 2175.
| A sudden peal Two minutes to reveal What we normally conceal The real deal |
The moment is here The photo is now No time to fake The who, where, or how |
If you weren’t familiar with BeReal, the first poem would do little to enlighten you, since it doesn’t mention taking photos. The second poem captures the essence of BeReal more effectively — and would be more comprehensible to future museum visitors. Of course, even if you create a poem more similar to the first, it’s still one more poem than you would have written otherwise.
5. Write a poem to someone with whom you have lost touch.
If thinking about the future doesn’t appeal to you, why not look to the past? We all have friends we’ve lost touch with over time. Normally, it’s not a conscious decision — it just happens, and one day it’s too late to reconnect (or our anxiety tells us it’s too late).
Although it isn’t actually written to the friend, Charles Hanson Towne’s poem Around The Corner expresses some of the complex feelings of losing contact with a friend.
I’d encourage you to go one step further and use your poem as an opportunity to say all the things you wish you could say to your friend. What do you want them to know about you? What questions do you have for them? Bonus points if you do reach out and share your poem with the addressee.
Poetry thrives on experimentation. Use one (or two or five) of these prompts to step out of your comfort zone and discover new ways to express your creativity. I hope you enjoy the process!
Loretta Bushell writes for Reedsy, a marketplace that connects writers with freelance publishing professionals and provides resources on all things writing and publishing. Her poems were once published in a school magazine, but she now mainly writes poetry to outdo her partner in the romance department or win the next round of her family’s very own Taskmaster..
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