Twenty-Five Words [or less]

The goal is to write a 25 word poem, but the poem matters more than the form, so if you have to make it 23 words, or 27 words, well, do that, but try to make the poem fit into 25 words.

The form is easy to remember:

3 words

4 words

5 words

6 words

7 words.

Here is one of my efforts:

I see this                                                 3

congregation of dew drops                        4

gathered on a spider’s web,                     5

still, waiting, as if the preacher                6

is late.  I think the spider is praying.        7

Write a dozen of these.

Stopping by Prompt

Prompt 1  rewrite the poem stopping by woods in free verse:

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Prompt 2  See if you can use this poem to bring your own story to life or perhaps just some moment in your memory to life.  If you are tempted to write something funny that parodies the poem then do that, but then try again and see if you can do something serious meaningful, something that really gives us insight into your life or into all life.  You can do this with our with the rhythm and rhyme

Sitting by the Fire on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost’s Cat (Henry Beard)

Whose chair this is by now I know.

He’s somewhere in the forest though;

He will not see me sitting here

A place I’m not supposed to go.

He really is a little queer

To leave his fire’s cozy cheer

And ride out by the frozen lake

The coldest evening of the year.

To love the snow it takes a flake:

The chill that makes your footpads ache,

The drifts too high to lurk or creep,

The icicles that drip and break.

His chair is comfy, soft and deep.

But I have got an urge to leap,

And mice to catch before I sleep,

And mice to catch before I sleep.

Write a Letter Poem

Write a letter poem

Write a poem-letter it could be to a dead relative or to some historic figure, or some figure living or dead that you admire, or hate. The letter can be formal or personal, that’s your choice.  You can be “best friends” or “respectful strangers”, howsoever you desire. So too the exact form of your letter; it might be more of a prose poem or simply a poem without the usual line breaks,  you could make each line of the poem have 10 syllables or less per line.  You can write in blank verse or free verse.  We’re not being fussy about the form; it’s your letter after all.

So what might you have to say to George Washington, Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan? It can be satire, humor, or filled with philosophy or pathos.  Perhaps you might want to write to another writer, even a poet perhaps. It could be a shopping list to Marco Polo? Maybe you’ve some advice for Amelia Earhart, or a few things to set right with Pontius Pilate? What topic would you broach with Jesus? That’s just to scratch at a few possibilities. Your letter might be down-to-earth or fanciful – again, your choice.

EXAMPLES OF LETTER POEMS:        

This is my letter to the world,  by Emily Dickinson

This is my letter to the world,
That never wrote to me,- 
The simple news that Nature told,
With tender majesty

Her message is committed
To hands I cannot see; 
For love of her, sweet countrymen,
Judge tenderly of me! 

A Letter in October by Ted Kooser

Dawn comes later and later now,   

and I, who only a month ago

could sit with coffee every morning   

watching the light walk down the hill   

to the edge of the pond and place   

a doe there, shyly drinking,

then see the light step out upon   

the water, sowing reflections   

to either side—a garden

of trees that grew as if by magic—

now see no more than my face,   

mirrored by darkness, pale and odd,

startled by time. While I slept,   

night in its thick winter jacket   

bridled the doe with a twist

of wet leaves and led her away,

then brought its black horse with harness   

that creaked like a cricket, and turned

the water garden under. I woke,   

and at the waiting window found   

the curtains open to my open face;   

beyond me, darkness. And I,

who only wished to keep looking out,   

must now keep looking in.

Ted Kooser, “A Letter in October” from Weather Central. Copyright © 1994 by Ted Kooser

Variation on the prompt Write a poem about a letter.

This could be your reaction to a letter.   Maybe you are reacting to a Dear John or Dear Jane letter.  It could be a letter rejecting you for a job, or a rejecting something you hoped would be published.  You don’t have to say what is in the letter, just how you feel about what was in the letter.

EXAMPLE:

Little Old Letter by Langston Hughes

It was yesterday morning

I looked in my box for mail.

The letter that I found there

Made me turn right pale.

Just a little old letter,

Wasn’t even one page long -

But it made me wish

I was in my grave and gone.

I turned it over,

Not a word writ on the back.

I never felt so lonesome

Since I was born black.

Just a pencil and paper,

You don’t need no gun nor knife -

A little old letter

Can take a person’s life.