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Poetry Prompt For The Stalled Writer

Writer's picture: Nikki MurphyNikki Murphy

Ever feel like you should be writing, but everything that comes to mind is quite... basic? Well, I've got great [-ly obvious] news for you: writing prompts are game-changing! When I am not feeling naturally inspired or when find myself in a cycle of creating very similarly styled poems, a good prompt will spark renewed creativity. Here's a prompt that Elisabet Velasquez recently shared on Instagram:


1. Identify a verb.


2. Start each new sentence/phrase/thought with that same verb. The poem doesn’t have to have a continuous thread or theme but allow connections to happen if they do.


Bonus: End your poem using the sentence/phrase/thought you started the poem with but try to come up with a different meaning/context for it than what it was in the beginning.


Here's the poem I wrote using this prompt:


Take care. Take what you lack from me. Take the bad with the almost good. Take over. Take two tablets twice daily, with food. Take less than you give. Take back the things you said when I soured inside your sweet tooth. Take no prisoners. Take your sins to The Lord’s altar. Take it all. Take down the curtain. Take away one from seven and rest there. Take a trip to the mountain’s peak. Take in the ice-chilled air. Take flight.

Take care.


Will you try it? If you do, I'd love to hear how it went!




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Nikki Murphy
Nikki Murphy
Dec 23, 2020

I love it! Glad you jumped right in. The imagery made this very vivid. I totally appreciate the freedom of writing. Thank you for sharing.

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vflahert
Dec 22, 2020

Nikki, thanks for sharing this prompt. I read it, made note of it, and then moved to some other information about writing, when like magic I found myself writing, using your prompt (and setting myself free of some aspects of it - haha!) No coincidences, it's about writing!

Here it is:

Get free

Get free of what blocks you.

Get free by empowering yourself to share your truth – bare, basic, brutal honesty.

Get free of your inhibitions and doubts and imposter ideas or second thoughts.

Get free by letting what turns up percolate like coffee, deepening their color and flavor, their scent rising and inspiring.

Get free of structure, format, rules, protocols, what you think is correct or good…

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