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Tupelo Press

Poetry Project: Ardor Writing Prompts

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A selection of writing prompts from the dozen featured in the Reader’s Companion for Karen Ah-hwei Lee’s book Ardor. That guide can be downloaded for free here
  1. You are a well. Jing shui. What’s at the bottom? Write in the language of water.
  2. Create a rainstick or any musical instrument out of paper. Write a poem describing how to make rain or how to make paper.
  3. Write a poem about sweetness arising from bitter things or the reverse.
  4. Write synthetically. (It’s up to you to decide what that means.)
  5. Write down several ways to break a line in a poem, break a bone, and break news.
  6. Compose an aleatory (chance-based) poem using the dictionary, algebra, or any formula for data.
  7. Without using e-mail and the internet, find an economical way to share your poems as gifts or as forms of witness. Share with one hundred people.
  8. Research or invent a marginalized (rare) language. Write a poem in this language.
  9. Set up a typewriter in a place where there is a lot of foot traffic. Post a sign offering your Poem-Writing Service. Write poems for free. Explain the purpose of this service to people who ask.
What sorts of poems do people ask you to write?

Note: In addition to Ardor (Tupelo, 2008), Karen An-hwei Lee is the author of In Medias Res (Sarabande, 2004). She lives and teaches in California. She is also a novice harpist.