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Inspiration July 19, 2019
Five resources you carry with you everyday to create a poetry prompt for yourself.
Often, the hardest part of writing poetry is getting started. For example, if you are asked rather than inspired to write a poem, it can be hard to think of a topic. There are plenty of sites to visit that will rattle off generic poetry prompts for you to choose from: one about love, about nature, about loss.
Unfortunately for us poets, those prompts are far overused. To stick out in the writing world, it is important to be authentic and unique. If we were to reuse the same poetry prompts every time we hit a writers block, we wouldn’t create any new content, right? Not necessarily.
If your source of inspiration is ever-changing, your poems will be too. Luckily, writers always have poetry prompts at our fingertips. Our five human senses serve as an effective place to find poetic subject matter. Keep in mind, having all five senses is a gift that not everyone gets to enjoy. The senses we can experience serve as great inspiration. Challenge yourself to write a poem so powerful, you could grant someone that gift.
Here are five ways to utilize your senses as poetry prompts:
First of our five senses is our ability to taste. Find the inspiration in that. Describe the way something tastes. Maybe it is a love poem about your favorite dish. Or a description of the food you hate the most. Make a list of all the adjectives you can think of to describe the taste. Reminisce on a memory you have involving that food. There are always new foods to try, therefore there are always new topics to write about. How would you describe your sense of taste to someone who could not taste for themselves?
Another human sense is touch: our ability to feel textures and temperatures through our skins. Let your mind explore with this one – what else do you feel externally? Hone-in on those feelings. Think about the connection the external sense of touch has with the internal sense of feeling. Conjure up the words to describe how something feels to touch. How can you describe the feeling to someone who has never touched the same thing?
Additionally, we have the sense of sight. The ability to see is something many people take for granted. At any given moment, someone with perfect vision has multiple objects within their view. What are some of your favorite things to look at? Can you think of something you wish you had the ability to un-see? Go somewhere you have never been and look around. Find something that inspires you. Maybe you can revisit a place from your past that will provoke a memory. Use that as poetic inspiration. How do you choose a favorite color? Think about the memories surrounding a color in your life. Often, we see things that are meant to resemble something else. Can your poem paint a picture for the blind?
Equally special is our sense of hearing. The best poetry prompts can come from listening to the world around you. For example, conversations you overhear in a public place. Or the phone call you inevitably only hear one side of. Record what you hear and develop it. Our ears are always listening, even in a quiet room. What do you hear right now? Write about it!
Lastly, is our sense of smell. You may not realize it day to day, but you are always smelling something. It could be your coworker’s deodorant, or your dinner burning in the oven. If we are breathing through our nose, we are smelling. What do you smell right now? Maybe you can step outside or into another room. What changes? If you really focus on your sense of smell, what can you identify? Have you ever thought about the fact that everyone prefers different scents? Try and express to someone who cannot smell a candle your purpose in choosing which one to light and when.
An important thing to remember when writing from a poetry prompt is that it is meant to get you started, not to make you feel stuck. If the poetry prompt you find leads your mind down a rabbit hole, just go with it! The goal is to get your creative mind flowing to create unique ideas that can develop into exceptional poetry. Your five senses of taste, touch, sight, sound and smell can be used as a poetry prompt at any time. They are the things you carry with you everyday so that you will always be prepared to be inspired!
