Diannely Antigua

Write a piece of ekphrasis (a poem inspired by a work of art  in a different medium, most of the time visual art). Consider going to local galleries to find a piece of artwork to write about. 

Write a poem as a letter, called an epistolary. The poem should directly address a friend, family member, beloved, dead or alive. Consider including nostalgic elements, both the positive and negative aspects, the mundane and the extraordinary. 

Write a love poem using imagery to describe/talk about the beloved, without using the word love. Consider the attention given to the simple things/mundane to represent that love. 

Write an ode to a medication—from anything as simple as aspirin, to complex as chemotherapy/psychiatric medications. Or explore the idea of an ode to something that is often overlooked or taken for granted. (ode: “a formal, often ceremonious lyric poem that addresses and often celebrates a person, place, thing, or idea.”—Poetry Foundation)

#1: Write a poem centered around the natural world of you. Search yourself for a unit of nature that means something in the telling of who you are. This does not need to be so grand as a waterfall. This is a prompt where we honor the everyday nature that we’ve let become ordinary. The mummified lady bug in the window sill. The pocket lint finch dusty and brown every season, for some reason. Explore the “vestigial”—the remnants of a former life. 

#2: Write a poem that uses anaphora which is the repetition of phrases or words at the beginning of a sentence. Use this to create momentum and urgency in the poem, to emphasize a very important image or idea.

Make a list of your small unspoken rituals or superstitions or observations and then write about them as fact. Treat your spiritual moments as you would the external objective. How do the two interact?

Write a poem that explores/answers the question, “How do you know you’re sinking?” Consider the story of Jonah in the Bible and recount something you may not have been able to handle but were expected to. 

#1: Write directly into your fears or shame. Put them through the “Grace Engine” (based on the title of Burton’s book). The hope is that after writing directly into these fears, shame, traumas, that we might be able to produce grace and healing on the other end.

#2: Write a poem that builds a narrative in a unique way, for instance through repetition that adds momentum as seen in “Mother and Daughter” by Hayan Charara

First, think of a memory and write it down. Then, list things you associate with that memory, which could be directly or indirectly related. Choose one of those associations, and write into that connection in relation to the memory. And lastly, “lean into softness.” Allow for tenderness, empathy, and gentle moments in the poem.

Write a poem that explores the body—the body of a lover, of the self, moving either towards acceptance or rejection, even exploration. Consider writing it as a love poem or as a way to honor the things that our bodies inherit from others. 

Write a poem in the style of Matt Miller’s “Next Time Through.” What would you do differently in your next life? How would you come back differently? Would you still be human? Consider using anaphora or a refrain. For example, “the next time through…” or “I was supposed to be…” Or similarly consider titling the poem “The _____ I Was Supposed to Be” and explore a life of having been someone/ or something else entirely like an animal, an object, etc.

Throughout the episode we reference a slideshow that is available here.

Start by freewriting a list of things you don’t know/want to know: “I don’t know_____” or “I want to know_____”. They can be very vague or personal statements. You can also start with a misunderstanding or misconception about something. Write while thinking through the idea and somewhere along the way encountering or discovering the facts or truth. If you are exploring the spontaneous synchronization of metronomes like Alexandria does, how can you relate it to a larger theme?

Consider paying attention to writing both order and chaos into a poem. Connect the two. Following the tenets of “yes and” in improv, if one thing is true then what else can be true?

#1: Inspired by Adrienne Raphel’s “Trebek No. 5,” think of objects, phrases, or words that you have a complicated relationship to and build questions much like those answered on Jeopardy as a way to build the poem

#2: Inspired by Sara Deniz Akant’s “And When It Rained,” listen to a conversation that you’ve had with either family or friends around a dinner table for example, one that you might have even had several times, and record the conversation without judgment. What “twin language” do you notice? (twin language referring to the words, phrases, etc. that we use when we are in conversation with people we know very well, a lot of the times including made up words). How can you develop a poem using this twin language as the basis of the poem?

Write an ars poetica, which is a poem about the poet's relationship to the art of writing poetry. Consider comparing it to something seemingly unrelated and see where the poem takes you.

#1: Give yourself a bank of words. On one side write down things that make you feel free, and on the other side of it, things that make you feel captured. Consider writing a ghazal with that bank of words. You can find more information on that form here.

#2: Choose a word or words that you have a complicated or beautiful relationship with. Consider writing into those definitions. Play with form. Perhaps make it feel like a multiple choice quiz like Safia Elhillo does in “Vocabulary.

#1: Write a dictionary poem inspired by Tiana Nobile’s poem “/ˈmīɡrənt/”. Using a word that you have a deep relationship with or want to explore, define it and write beyond just the definition. Let yourself go to places that you may not have imagined or that seem unrelated to the definition. See where you end up.

#2: Taking inspiration from Sarah Audsley’s poem “When My Mother Returns as X”. Write a list poem featuring natural elements, or seemingly unrelated things, and connect them to a greater meaning. Consider titling the poem the thing that ties them all together.

Like Earth, Wind, and Fire, the music of Doo-Wop contains three notable elements:

nonsense (syllabic) - wind (if you mean what you say)

simple tempo, simple words - earth (that you say what you need to say)

harmonic thread - fire (who you are when you say)

Write an amorous ode with any of the four seasons in mind that contains at least one haiku. Relocate your final declaration/line to the top of the poem until the heat circulates, or at least until the seasons seem to change. Thinking through each of those elements, consider the poem and its intuitive structure that prompts a return.

Write a poem in second person that explores home and memory. The poem should be steeped in at least ten concrete nouns. Consider engaging the poem in something outside of the poet, something in the world around you. Perhaps a historical, political, or community concern.

Write an ode or letter to a younger self/inner child, what would you want to say to them? Provide comfort and ease. Consider musing on what liberation looks like or what truth you could bestow.

Throughout the episode we reference a slideshow that is available here.

Write an allusion poem: An allusion is a reference to a person, event, or literary work outside the poem (and can be expanded to a cliche phrase). Carly Joy Miller’s “Adoration Fable” was inspired by the Rachel and Leah tale in Genesis, while Sandra Lim’s “Spinoza Says” rifts on the philosopher, Baruch/Benedict De Spinoza. Focus on building the poem through texture: How does the phrase, philosopher’s mind, or event impact the poem’s syntax? What images or memories are invoked when thinking about how you encountered the phrase, experience, etc.–or an experience that changed the phrase/thought for you? Try to place us within the mental energy–have us feel the momentum as you shift through the phrase and commit it to the page.

You can also take a lighter hand with this prompt: What if the allusion is small? What if you lead toward it at the end, or begin with it and then shift through other sensations? How does the moment move or change with the allusion’s quick mention vs. an entire poem dedicated to it?

Example of a quick allusion: Terrance Hayes’ “At Pegasus,” Paige Lewis’ “The Moment I Saw a Pelican Devour.” Emily Skaja’s “Girl Saints”

Other allusions: Katie Ford’s “Psalm 40,” Ross Gay’s “A Small Needful Fact”

Much like a lob pass in basketball (occurs when a player in possession of the basketball throws it into the air with a high arc, usually over at least one defender, to a teammate who could catch the ball and potentially score) use one of your favorite poems written by someone else as a point of departure. It can take the form of starting with one of their lines and writing from there, but also trying to incorporate as many elements of their poem into your own (like meter, line length, tone, form, number of syllables per line, etc.) without much thought or concern about influence and being derivative at least for the first draft. Then you come back later and if you want to erase their traces you can, but for now just allow the first poem to serve as the lob pass they're setting you up to score. Make sure to credit the poet by writing “after (name of poet) ” underneath the title.