30 days of prompts: day 1

& round-up

Happy Monday!

For the month of May, I’ve decided to post a prompt-a-day—which will hopefully inspire you (and me!) to write some poems. & if you’re a fiction or nonfiction writer: maybe these simple prompts will inspire you to write some micro or flash pieces.

Here’s what I have for you today:

• The prompt

• Recommendations

• Quotations

• Tweets

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Day 1: Prompt

Write an ode.

An ode, as you likely know, is a poem of praise. Here are some of my favorites:

• “My Breasts,” Jeremy Radin

• “Ode to Fat,” Ellen Bass

• “Ode to a Nightingale,” John Keats

• “Ode to the Midwest,” Kevin Young

• “Scorpion Ode,” Amanda Auchter

• “Ode to the Pubic Hair Stuck in My Throat,” Hieu Minh Nguyen

For extra credit:

Write an ode about something that wouldn’t usually garner praise.

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Recommendations:

I have been enjoying some things lately. Here they are.

• This lavender syrup for your coffee (I use it everyday!)

• This is a very fun card game—especially for us word-nerds.

• These lil boys’ briefs actually fit so nicely. I’m a size 4/6 in Women’s, & size 16-18 in Boys fit perfectly.

• This is the best sunscreen for those of us who hate the feel of sunscreen. I can’t even tell you. It’s the best.

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Quotations:

I’ve been cleaning out my bookshelves and, in doing so, chose to review some of the books I loved—specifically Caramelo. If anyone wants to study simile/metaphor, you should read this novel. Sandra Cisneros is the king.

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To write is to ask questions.

-Sandra Cisneros, Caramelo

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My mind forgets. But my body always remembers.

-Sandra Cisneros

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The sea turns wild on us.

-Sandra Cisneros

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Sadness always arrives in greater doses after dark.

-Sandra Cisneros

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Sometimes my heart’s like a little canary in a cage, leaping back and forth, back and forth.

-Sandra Cisneros

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After all these years, I’m still trying to forget.

-Sandra Cisneros

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A dream is a poem the body writes.

-Sandra Cisneros

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Dust motes eavesdrop, pirouetting and somersaulting in the shafts of sunlight.

-Sandra Cisneros

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For a long time after, I’d just burst into tears if anyone even touched me. Sometimes it’s like that when somebody touches you and you haven’t been touched in a long time.

-Sandra Cisneros

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Sadness suits me. I savor it the way some people savor good food.

-Sandra Cisneros

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I hurt. But sometimes that’s the only way you know you’re alive. […] I feel like I’m soaked in sadness. Anyone comes near me, or just brushes me with their eyes, I know I’ll just fall apart. Like a book left in the rain.

-Sandra Cisneros

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Round-up

Posts from last month that you liked:

resources: a masterlist

on writing contests

on tracking your progress

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Tweets:

matt @mattxiv

straight people will be like there’s so many letters in LGBTQ i can’t keep track 😂😂😂 and then name their kid bryightnleigh

This is a good poem:

Katey Linskey @katey_linskey

v happy with my first publication in @The_West_Review this one is near & dear to me. https://t.co/LHgWqiBH2t

The West Review @The_West_Review

Next up is Katey Linskey, who's relatively new to submitting poetry—and we were lucky enough to be the first journal to showcase her work(!). "Sprinting on Sprained Ankles" reads: i'm trying to be more / than a vehicle / driven by desire. Read the rest: https://t.co/4B3uxG0omw

Devon Price @drdevonprice

most fidget toys do nothing for me. my sensory need is to destroy

cosima bee concordia @bimbotheory

People on here mad and on the defensive against queers for making jokes about straights using terms like "partner", like "I use partner because I am a good Ally™"...you know sometimes we make fun of you bc it's our God given right and not bc what you're doing is good or bad!! 😭

This is giving Phil Dunphy energy (proof):

pariah carey @carlivickery

go off alan

Despy Boutris @itsdbouts

i love it when journals reject u & then in the next sentence say "don't worry ! u can stay involved ! you can buy all these things from us !" like ok ballsy move, bro

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See you tomorrow with a new prompt!

& catch me here:

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Best,

-Despy Boutris