1…2… GO! PROMPTS FOR NATIONAL POETRY MONTH.
You have read from your favourite poets and now it’s time to use their work as inspiration.
WAYS TO DO THIS.
You can choose to:
– Pick a favourite line from any of the poems.
– Pick a Catchy title.
– Pick random catchy phrases.
-Random words too can do.
PICKING A FAVOURITE LINE.
Picking a line from Kathleen Mary Fletcher’s poem , Dementia Praecox
Let’s say the first line of the second stanza which reads, ‘The river is red with the blood that is lost’
The next line says, ‘The face that is not my face shows the scars of battle,…’
From these lines we can weave out inspiration for titles or lines.
Titles that can prop up can be
The Red River.
The Scars of Battle.
The Lost Blood or Bond.
You get it? Now, Get creative and try out with creative lines.
PICKING A CATCHY TITLE
You know the power that lurks within within using powerful titles. How they pull the reader in, how they build suspense and paint vivid pictures in the reader’s mind.
Titles like THE MISFIT by Richard Lewis,
NIGHT RAIN by John Pepper Clark, WHEN GODS MAKE LOVE TO MEN by Jide Badmus etc
If you pick ‘The Misfit’ your mind is already set on evoking emotions around social insecurities, self worth or esteem and stuffs like that. You can now paint pictures, say you decide to use a Rose in the midst of other green plants. The rose is a misfit in this scenario or stands out per say. A misfit may not always be a bad thing so play around with the concept.
PICKING RANDOM CATCHY PHRASES.
Have you ever been stunned by a catchy phrase? If yes you can revisit your poems archives to retrieve and use them as inspiration or scout for new ones.
Let’s twerk around one of Maya Angelou’s
‘…Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Floodwaters await in our avenues.
Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and gray and threatening…’
Phrases that you can find appealing can range from line one , ‘Thunder rumbles…’
through to the latter lines ‘Sky slips low and gray…’
Then finally,
USING RANDOM WORDS
Random words too can tickle out your creative lines. Some words weild power.
Words like Wandering can trigger a title The Wandering Ship or Survival can birth Survival Meeting, July can wiggle A july morning etc.
Now, your turn.
Share a poem.