We’ve made it through from the beginning of the month to the end (and some have been here an extra 10 days on top of that). And for that, I am thankful. Here’s to another day, another month, and another year of poeming together!

For today’s prompt, write a praise poem. Praise your health or the taste of chocolate cake. Pen an ode to normalcy (whatever that is) or expound on the wonders of your favorite pen (for me, it’s either the Pilot G-2 or Pilot Precise V5). Have a favorite song? A favorite saying? Today is a perfect day to sing its praises.

Remember: These prompts are just springboards; you have the freedom to jump in any direction you want. In other words, it’s more important to write a new poem than to stick to the prompt.

Get your poem on with these poetic forms!

In The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Writer’s Digest’s resident poetry expert and former Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere Robert Lee Brewer showcases more than 100 poetic forms to serve as both an informative resource and inspiration for new writing!

After all, poetic forms are essentially poetic games with rules and guidelines that can help focus poets on how to get from line one to line done. This guide includes those guidelines with an example to help writers visualize how to write their own.

Plus, it offers an incredible mix of the old favorites—like the sestina, villanelle, and pantoum—with more contemporary forms—like the fib, golden shovel, and hay(na)ku.

Click to continue.

Here’s my attempt at a Praise Poem:

“Covet”

In the end, we have to celebrate ourselves,
because there are no guarantees in this life
that others will. We hope they will, but still,
we have to believe it. We have to feel it

deep down in ourselves, those electrons
swirling without ever touching, our DNA
reaching into the past and yearning for
a future. We have to feel it deep down

that we are special, that there’s a reason
even if it’s just that one moment in winter
alone in a park beneath a full moon
looking over the city and feeling fully alive.

The post 2020 April PAD Challenge: Day 30 by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.

We’re almost there. Let’s do this.

For today’s prompt, take the phrase “Total (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles could include: “Total Madness,” “Total Victory,” “Totally Awesome,” and/or “Total Cereal.”

Remember: These prompts are just springboards; you have the freedom to jump in any direction you want. In other words, it’s more important to write a new poem than to stick to the prompt.

Get your poem on with these poetic forms!

In The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Writer’s Digest’s resident poetry expert and former Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere Robert Lee Brewer showcases more than 100 poetic forms to serve as both an informative resource and inspiration for new writing!

After all, poetic forms are essentially poetic games with rules and guidelines that can help focus poets on how to get from line one to line done. This guide includes those guidelines with an example to help writers visualize how to write their own.

Plus, it offers an incredible mix of the old favorites—like the sestina, villanelle, and pantoum—with more contemporary forms—like the fib, golden shovel, and hay(na)ku.

Click to continue.

Here’s my attempt at a Total Blank Poem:

“Total Distraction”

I’ve hit the wall
staring out windows
and losing track of time.

I’m distracted
and swerving one way
before darting the other

or another.
Ready to tackle
my next project or maybe

watch YouTube.

The post 2020 April PAD Challenge: Day 29 by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.

Here we are: The final “Two-for-Tuesday” day today. And after today, only two more prompts to go.

For today’s prompt:

1. Write a look back poem and/or…
2. Write a don’t look back poem. Because some folks just want to keep their eyes on the road ahead.

Remember: These prompts are just springboards; you have the freedom to jump in any direction you want. In other words, it’s more important to write a new poem than to stick to the prompt.

Get your poem on with these poetic forms!

In The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Writer’s Digest’s resident poetry expert and former Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere Robert Lee Brewer showcases more than 100 poetic forms to serve as both an informative resource and inspiration for new writing!

After all, poetic forms are essentially poetic games with rules and guidelines that can help focus poets on how to get from line one to line done. This guide includes those guidelines with an example to help writers visualize how to write their own.

Plus, it offers an incredible mix of the old favorites—like the sestina, villanelle, and pantoum—with more contemporary forms—like the fib, golden shovel, and hay(na)ku.

Click to continue.

Here’s my attempt at a Look Back and/or Don’t Look Back Poem:

“Nostalgia”

I am a sucker for songs that look back
and tell their audience to not look back.

It’s only fitting that I praise sitting
in an empty room taking a look back.

One sucker’s nostalgia is another
sucker’s blues song singing, “Don’t you look back.”

Some fools die of a heart attack, but I’m
not one to tell others when to look back.

There’s a guitar in the hall and a voice
cries out, “Robert Lee Brewer, don’t look back.”

The post 2020 April PAD Challenge: Day 28 by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.

After today’s poem, we’ll be only three days from the finish line for this year’s challenge. Let’s poem on!

For today’s prompt, write a massive poem. The poem itself could be massive in size and length. Or it could take on a massive problem, describe a supermassive black hole, or praise a massive bowl of ice cream covered in chocolate syrup and whipped cream. Whatever you write, I hope it’s a massive success.

Remember: These prompts are just springboards; you have the freedom to jump in any direction you want. In other words, it’s more important to write a new poem than to stick to the prompt.

Get your poem on with these poetic forms!

In The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Writer’s Digest’s resident poetry expert and former Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere Robert Lee Brewer showcases more than 100 poetic forms to serve as both an informative resource and inspiration for new writing!

After all, poetic forms are essentially poetic games with rules and guidelines that can help focus poets on how to get from line one to line done. This guide includes those guidelines with an example to help writers visualize how to write their own.

Plus, it offers an incredible mix of the old favorites—like the sestina, villanelle, and pantoum—with more contemporary forms—like the fib, golden shovel, and hay(na)ku.

Click to continue.

Here’s my attempt at a Massive Poem:

“Would You Rather”

Would you rather have a massive
amount of cash or happiness?
Choose one, and please, don’t be passive–
would you rather have a massive
headache or have a combative
child? One more or the other less?
Would you rather have a massive
amount of cash or happiness?

The post 2020 April PAD Challenge: Day 27 by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.

For today’s prompt, write a change poem. This could be a poem about something that has changed or something that will change. Changing tires, clothes, or perspectives. Change left over when paying for something with cash. Feel encouraged to change it up today.

Remember: These prompts are just springboards; you have the freedom to jump in any direction you want. In other words, it’s more important to write a new poem than to stick to the prompt.

Get your poem on with these poetic forms!

In The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Writer’s Digest’s resident poetry expert and former Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere Robert Lee Brewer showcases more than 100 poetic forms to serve as both an informative resource and inspiration for new writing!

After all, poetic forms are essentially poetic games with rules and guidelines that can help focus poets on how to get from line one to line done. This guide includes those guidelines with an example to help writers visualize how to write their own.

Plus, it offers an incredible mix of the old favorites—like the sestina, villanelle, and pantoum—with more contemporary forms—like the fib, golden shovel, and hay(na)ku.

Click to continue.

Here’s my attempt at a Change Poem:

“Never Change”

When she says she wants him to change,
he feels compelled to stay the same
and say that she must be deranged.
When she says she wants him to change,
it should not seem awfully strange
that he doesn’t want to play her game,
because he only wants to change
when she says she wants him the same.

The post 2020 April PAD Challenge: Day 26 by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.

For today’s prompt, write a remix poem. That is, take one (or more) of your poems from earlier this month and remix it. Make a free verse poem into a villanelle. Or condense a sestina into a haiku or senryu. Or forget form. Just completely jumble up the words…or respond to the original poem(s). As always, have fun with it.

Remember: These prompts are just springboards; you have the freedom to jump in any direction you want. In other words, it’s more important to write a new poem than to stick to the prompt.

Get your poem on with these poetic forms!

In The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Writer’s Digest’s resident poetry expert and former Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere Robert Lee Brewer showcases more than 100 poetic forms to serve as both an informative resource and inspiration for new writing!

After all, poetic forms are essentially poetic games with rules and guidelines that can help focus poets on how to get from line one to line done. This guide includes those guidelines with an example to help writers visualize how to write their own.

Plus, it offers an incredible mix of the old favorites—like the sestina, villanelle, and pantoum—with more contemporary forms—like the fib, golden shovel, and hay(na)ku.

Click to continue.

Here’s my attempt at a Remix Poem:

“Cento of the Stairs”

It’s not my nature to say no.
As long as I can remember,
I’ve always been a fool finding
myself unable to figure
out which way to go, breaking lines
night after night, thoughts rambling
and scrambled (lost in the forest
of no returns) before the doors
swing open and aliens crash
the party. It’s true I expect
the worst of the world, wishing I
could erase an entire day or
year, and I don’t know why I do.

If you find this note, I cannot
take for granted when we don’t say,
“I love you.” In the beginning,
when everyone already knew,
it was so easy it was bad luck.
I cannot escape that space is
relative to the light starting
to glow against the window’s blind
dogwoods blossoming before we
sheltered from the sun watching us
turn away like passengers in
lonely vessels of confinement
wandering through the windows of
our spaced out minds finding we are
both the fools who reap what we sow.

(Note on my remix: As the title suggests, I made a cento using lines and phrases from each of my previous 24 poems this month.)

The post 2020 April PAD Challenge: Day 25 by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.

With hindsight, this probably would’ve been a more natural prompt two days ago on Earth Day. Oh well, nobody’s perfect.

For today’s prompt, write a nature poem. Could be nature like trees, leaves, grass, birds, etc. Or your poem could tackle human nature. Another possibility is to look at the nature of technology or the interaction of planets around each other and the sun. Or well, the nature of poetry! When in doubt, just see what happens naturally.

Remember: These prompts are just springboards; you have the freedom to jump in any direction you want. In other words, it’s more important to write a new poem than to stick to the prompt.

Get your poem on with these poetic forms!

In The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Writer’s Digest’s resident poetry expert and former Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere Robert Lee Brewer showcases more than 100 poetic forms to serve as both an informative resource and inspiration for new writing!

After all, poetic forms are essentially poetic games with rules and guidelines that can help focus poets on how to get from line one to line done. This guide includes those guidelines with an example to help writers visualize how to write their own.

Plus, it offers an incredible mix of the old favorites—like the sestina, villanelle, and pantoum—with more contemporary forms—like the fib, golden shovel, and hay(na)ku.

Click to continue.

Here’s my attempt at a Nature Poem:

“Natural”

It is not in my nature
to say no, and it’s so
easy for me to nurture
every yes on the go.

So let me give an answer
that fits me like a glove;
ask me to be your dancer
filled with unyielding love.

The post 2020 April PAD Challenge: Day 24 by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.

We only have a week of this challenge remaining. Let’s make it count.

For today’s prompt, take the phrase “Social (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles could include: “Social Distancing at the Grocery Store,” “Social Media Trolls,” “Social Club,” and/or “Social Distortion.” Heck, flipping the script to come up with a title like “Ice Cream Social” would totally work too.

Remember: These prompts are just springboards; you have the freedom to jump in any direction you want. In other words, it’s more important to write a new poem than to stick to the prompt.

Get your poem on with these poetic forms!

In The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Writer’s Digest’s resident poetry expert and former Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere Robert Lee Brewer showcases more than 100 poetic forms to serve as both an informative resource and inspiration for new writing!

After all, poetic forms are essentially poetic games with rules and guidelines that can help focus poets on how to get from line one to line done. This guide includes those guidelines with an example to help writers visualize how to write their own.

Plus, it offers an incredible mix of the old favorites—like the sestina, villanelle, and pantoum—with more contemporary forms—like the fib, golden shovel, and hay(na)ku.

Click to continue.

Here’s my attempt at a Social Blank Poem:

“Social Anxiety”

When I was a child, so the story goes,
I would run up to strangers at Kings Island
and give them hugs. I don’t know when it began,
or why, but I now feel a pit of desperation
in my stomach when I have to interact
with strangers and even friends. It’s like
wanting to jump into the water but fearing
the fall, the temperature, and what may be
hidden beneath the water’s surface. Or like
when I was a child needing to relieve myself
at a family reunion, so the story goes,
and they told me to go behind the tree,
which I circled multiple times before asking,
“Which side is the behind side of the tree?”
And they circle that story like a tree, and I find
myself still unable to figure out which way to go.

The post 2020 April PAD Challenge: Day 23 by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.

(Note: This post had a bit of a Spartan look earlier this morning, because my internet was down. I’ve fixed it since. Sort of appropriate for today’s prompt, I suppose.)

For today’s prompt, write a quirk poem. The quirk could be a personal or human quality. Or it could be a quirk of fate.

Remember: These prompts are just springboards; you have the freedom to jump in any direction you want. In other words, it’s more important to write a new poem than to stick to the prompt.

Get your poem on with these poetic forms!

In The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Writer’s Digest’s resident poetry expert and former Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere Robert Lee Brewer showcases more than 100 poetic forms to serve as both an informative resource and inspiration for new writing!

After all, poetic forms are essentially poetic games with rules and guidelines that can help focus poets on how to get from line one to line done. This guide includes those guidelines with an example to help writers visualize how to write their own.

Plus, it offers an incredible mix of the old favorites—like the sestina, villanelle, and pantoum—with more contemporary forms—like the fib, golden shovel, and hay(na)ku.

Click to continue.

Here’s my attempt at a Quirk Poem:

“Patting My Belly”

As long as I can remember,
I’ve played my belly like a drum
from the spring until December.
I don’t know where that quirk comes from.

Perhaps as a small boy, I was
removed from a traveling band
in which I played the maracas
or tambourine in my right hand.

Regardless of what reason–
maybe born beneath a bad sign–
my tum’s a drum in all seasons,
and that’s always suited me fine.

The post 2020 April PAD Challenge: Day 22 by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.

We’re three weeks into the challenge now, which means “Two-for-Tuesday” day today. This is the one I break out every challenge (alumni know which one I’m talking about).

For today’s prompt:

1. Write a love poem and/or…
2. Write an anti-love poem. Because some folks just aren’t that into love poems.

Remember: These prompts are just springboards; you have the freedom to jump in any direction you want. In other words, it’s more important to write a new poem than to stick to the prompt.

Get your poem on with these poetic forms!

In The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Writer’s Digest’s resident poetry expert and former Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere Robert Lee Brewer showcases more than 100 poetic forms to serve as both an informative resource and inspiration for new writing!

After all, poetic forms are essentially poetic games with rules and guidelines that can help focus poets on how to get from line one to line done. This guide includes those guidelines with an example to help writers visualize how to write their own.

Plus, it offers an incredible mix of the old favorites—like the sestina, villanelle, and pantoum—with more contemporary forms—like the fib, golden shovel, and hay(na)ku.

Click to continue.

Here’s my attempt at a Love and/or Anti-love Poem:

“Unspoken”

Sometimes we don’t say, “I love you,”
or, “Sorry,” after we fight. Instead,
we storm off to our separate corners
and load the dishwasher or fold
the laundry. Then, we meet on the couch
where you ask what I want to watch,
and I hand you the remote and say,
“You pick,” and you select something
we both like, and then, I reach over
to hold your hand, and we both smile.

The post 2020 April PAD Challenge: Day 21 by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.