Day 3 prompts

I have a love/hate relationship with poetry prompts. There's the love aspect because of the challenge that they provide. Most workshop prompts are "out there" and very creative; if your mind is blank, a prompt forces you to have something about which to write. My hatred for prompts, or rather frustration, also stems from the challenge that prompts provide.

I am, however, fascinated with the various directions that writers take with the prompts. Even though everyone may be writing in response to the same prompt, there seems to be a limitless amount of ways in which writers will respond.

I definitely would like to incorporate some of these prompts with my students throughout the school year. Many students struggle with poetry writing because they think there is a certain "way" that a poem has to be written. They'll ask me questions such as "Do we have to use similes? Which point of view do we use? Can each line have capitals? Can there be sentences?" Prompts provide some kind of structure in which students can work (some students like that structure too), but then they also allow for plenty of freedom.

Overall, we received four prompts today. One prompt was to write something inspired by Ellen Bass' poem, "Remodeling the Bathroom." The poem surprises the reader by placing together the concept of one's last day of life with images of a bathroom renovation.

The next prompt involved creating several dream fragments that are also "wholly separate, independent narratives."

The third prompt was one from poet Renee Ashley. The prompt called for the writing of 10 lines with NO use of abstract nouns, a minimum of one concrete noun in each line, No narrative, and at least 3 sentence fragments.

The fourth prompt had the following guidelines:
1. Write about something in a room--it's moving---include it in the poem and keep it moving
2. Feature a seasonal piece of clothing in the poem
3. Include a recipe (brief description)
4. Include something Catholic