NaPoMo’25
Prompt-a-Day
April 30
This image suggests motion, blur, containment, vulnerability, and transformation. It feels at once watery and mechanical, intimate and surreal—a moment caught mid-disintegration or emergence. Explore themes such as identity, transformation, isolation, or the boundary between self and environment.
Consider playing with form: fragmented stanzas, inverted syntax, white space, or erasure to mirror the image’s motion and ambiguity.
Think about designing the poem to circle back on itself—end where it began, or nearly.
After writing, connect to the blog for leaving comments or snippets of your new poem. Link using the button below.
April 29
This image seems to layer space, time, and presence. The reflections suggest parallel realities: people seen, yet not quite present; water and sky both inside and out. Like the image does, let your poem blur boundaries: interior and exterior, consider real and imagined or even past and present. You might use repetition or mirror-like phrasing to echo the layered feeling of the image.
Two craft elements to stretch your style:
Write in the second person to give the poem an immersive or dreamlike tone.
Try enjambment or fragmented lines to mimic the image’s overlapping planes and ghostlike silhouettes.
After writing, connect to the blog for leaving comments or snippets of your new poem, link using the button below.
April 28
The photo captures more than a silhouette; it suggests a moment framed by nature’s own patterns. In the image, shadow and sunlight, person and palm, meet. Capture a single moment from this scene in a haiku or modern haiku. Focus on one vivid image or sensation from the scene—perhaps the coolness of the shadow, the warmth of sun, the sharp outline of palm fronds, or the stillness of the silhouette. Try to evoke mood, season, or a small insight.
Traditional haiku: 3 lines, 5-7-5 syllables, nature reference and a subtle juxtaposition.
Modern haiku: 3 short lines (no strict syllable count needed), use simple language and present tense, focus on immediacy and clarity.
After writing, connect to the blog for leaving comments or snippets of your new poem, link using the button below.
April 27
Let the scene—a softly lit room, a woman cradling a newborn, another figure standing nearby—unfold into a story in your mind. Write a narrative poem that tells the story behind this moment. Consider: Who are these people, and what brought them to this room? What is happening right now, and what happened just before this scene? What hopes, fears, or memories might they be experiencing?
Use vivid details to ground the reader in the setting. Allow dialogue, internal thoughts, or even imagined backstory to shape your poem. Let the image spark your imagination and take the story wherever it leads.
Focus on building a sense of character, time, and change*. How does this single moment reflect something larger in their lives?
How to craft a narrative poem?
Study the scene
Let the scene become a story in your mind/notes
Decide on POV
Set the scene
Develop the story
* Show change or realization: What shifts for the characters in this scene? What do they realize or experience?
Conclude with resonance
Optional: Dialogue will add intimacy to the scene
After writing, connect to the blog for leaving comments or snippets of your new poem, link using the button below.
April 26
Write an eco poem in which you explore the interconnectedness between these elk and their environment. Consider questions of belonging, survival, and the changing seasons. Let the poem include both the elk and the land: their inter-dependence, the threats they face, and what it means for wildness to persist. Let your poem serve as both witness and participant in this wild place.
An eco poem is a poem that centers the natural world—its beauty, its struggles, its relationship to humanity. Eco poetry often asks us to look closely at nature and our connection to it, and can be celebratory, mournful, or activist in tone. It might focus on a single plant, animal, or ecosystem, or grapple with larger themes like climate change, extinction, or the passage of time.
After writing, connect to the blog for leaving comments or snippets of your new poem, link using the button below.
April 25
Take a close look at the single brown leaf resting on the fabric. Write a poem that centers on an ordinary object—like this leaf—and explores the stories, memories, or emotions it might hold. Use vivid sensory detail and consider how stillness, solitude, or change is reflected in both the object and in your own life.
After writing, connect to the blog for leaving comments or snippets of your new poem, link using the button below.
April 24
This image captures two people in a moment of quiet connection through music. Write a poem that explores the unspoken connection between people when they create something together—whether it’s music, art, or even a moment of understanding.
Consider incorporating themes of rhythm, harmony, or silence. How do these elements shape the relationships in your poem?
As an extra layer of meaning, or just for the enjoyment, here is a song, “Western Wind,” by the Antonio Lopez Band (two members pictured in the image).
After writing, connect to the blog for leaving comments or snippets of your new poem, link using the button below.
April 23
The image can be seen to capture a moment of quiet anticipation and connection to nature. The flowing fabric, the delicate lace, the cattails grasped in her hand — all evoke a sense of transition, life, and resilience.
Write a poem that reflects on themes of expectation, transformation, or cycles in nature and life whether you connect it to the image or not. Let the image provide the initial inspiration, but allow your thoughts to expand from there.
Consider exploring the emotions tied to waiting, the interplay between fragility and strength, or the connection between human experience and the natural world. Employing nature metaphor will provide depth and nuance to your writing.
After writing, connect to the blog for leaving comments or snippets of your new poem, link using the button below.
April 22
Study the image of the weathered tiles, their intricate patterns marked by time, with boots standing still at the edge of the frame. The line "Ahead lay the unknown, behind, the familiar" serves as your guide. Write a poem that captures the tension between moving forward and staying rooted. Use the tiles as a metaphor—are they a path, a memory, or a barrier? Use vivid imagery and sensory details to bring the scene to life, creating interplay between the external landscape and the speaker’s emotions.
If you would like to connect to the blog for leaving comments or snippets of your new poem, link using the button below.
April 21
Look at the figure in the image: arms raised, silhouetted against the glow of sunlight reflecting on the water. This moment feels both personal and universal—an expression of freedom, gratitude, or perhaps surrender.
Draft a piece that intertwines the physical gesture with the intangible emotions it conveys. Let the image guide you into deeper reflection.
Aim to incorporate imagery of light, water, and shadow to bring the scene to life. Use repetition in your poem to echo the rhythm of waves or the reflective characteristic of the sunlight.
If you would like to connect to the blog for leaving comments or snippets of your new poem, link using the button below.
April 20
A child runs with a flower in her hand, her energy reaching towards a figure ahead on a dirt path, blurred as though just out of reach. The scene evokes a sense of movement, memory, and fleeting connection. Craft a poem, optionally a haibun*, that explores the theme of pursuit—whether it’s chasing a person, a memory, a feeling, or even time itself.
If you would like to connect to the blog for leaving comments or snippets of your new poem, link using the button below.
*A haibun is a traditional Japanese literary form that combines prose and haiku to create a rich and evocative narrative. It is about capturing the essence of a moment, weaving prose and haiku into a seamless narrative. It invites readers to pause, reflect, and connect with the subtle beauty of the world.
Structure of a Haibun:
Prose Section:
The prose is usually brief and poetic, often resembling a diary entry or a vignette.
It can describe a scene, recount a memory, or reflect on a moment. The tone is meditative or introspective.
Imagery and sensory details are central, with concise, evocative language.
Haiku Section:
The prose is followed by a haiku.
The haiku should complement or contrast with the prose, adding depth or offering a new perspective.
The haiku adheres to the traditional structure: 3 lines, with syllable counts of 5-7-5, though modern haikus may be more flexible.
Theme and Tone:
Haibun often explores themes of nature, travel, or fleeting emotions.
It focuses on simplicity, beauty, and the ephemerality of life (aligned with Zen philosophy).
April 19
Notice the intensity of the person's expression, the hands clasped in thought, and the monochromatic tones that evoke a sense of quiet emotion. Imagine the inner dialogue of this person. What might they be thinking, remembering, or wrestling with?
Write a poem that captures the tension between what is visible (their outward appearance) and what might remain hidden (their inner emotions or story). Use a format with purposeful placement of lines/stanzas/spacing/white space to emphasize this dichotomy.
Challenge: Incorporate a single vivid color as a symbol or counterpoint to the black-and-white expression of the photograph.
If you would like to connect to the blog for leaving comments or snippets of your new poem, link using the button below.
April 18
This person presses their hands together, eyes closed, their expression deeply introspective. Tattoos etched on their skin seem to carry their own silent stories. The moment might be a pause between thought and action, between silence and communication.
Write a poem that delves into themes of reflection, resilience, or the stories we carry with us—both visible and hidden. Experiment with layered imagery (read Mark Doty for his layering of images in “A Green Crab’s Shell” ) and sensory details (read Gregory Pardlo for his sensory language in “Double Dutch”) to create depth and evoke emotion.
If you would like to connect to the new blog for leaving comments or snippets of your new poem, link using the button below.
April 17
A solitary figure sits atop a red truck, framed by a moody sky, and a quiet expanse of land. The moment feels like a threshold—poised between the weight of the past and the possibility of what’s to come.
For this prompt, delve deeply into the intersection of mood, symbolism, and narrative. Consider:
How does the figure’s posture or placement against the landscape inform the emotional resonance of the scene?
Explore the truck as a vessel—what histories, journeys, or dreams might it carry?
Let the sky become a metaphor: does it brood with untold stories or stretch open with possibility?
Write a poem that evokes the tension between stillness and movement, solitude and connection, rootedness and wanderlust.
If you would like to connect to the new blog for leaving comments or snippets of your new poem, link using the button below.
April 16
Write a poem that captures the essence of motion, connection to nature, or the untamed spirit. Consider weaving in sensory details like the sound of hooves, the feel of the wind, or the sight of the distant hills. Explore what it means to be free.
Rhythm is an important component of a poem. Be aware of the rhythm you are creating with your accented and unaccented syllables. If you wish, write the poem in meter to mimic the beat of the horses’ hooves. If not meter, then repeat a pattern of accented syllables in each stanza. Choose your words to repeat the pattern…keep your ear “to the ground!”
April 15
Look closely at the image. Notice the intricate patterns on the sand, the broken shell, and the shadow it casts. What might the broken shell symbolize? Does it speak of fragility, transformation, or the end of something?
Write a poem that explores themes of impermanence, resilience, or the interplay between nature and time.
April 14
The image captures a moment of unity, resistance, and strength—fists raised, people gathered, a movement in motion. Let this scene inspire your poetry. Imagine yourself in the crowd: What do you hear? Feel? Smell? Write a poem from the perspective of someone experiencing this moment firsthand.
OR
Reflect on the collective power of a protest. How do individual voices come together to create change or hope?
April 13
Simply, write about a time when you experienced the emotions of fishing, of being in nature, of the wait and anticipation. Use water, sun, and/or tree-lined horizon imagery to add interest to your poem.
OR
Let this scene inspire you to write about waiting, patience, or the unexpected joys (or challenges) of life.
Imagine what lies beneath the water’s surface. Is it calm or restless? What might you catch—memories, dreams, or something unknown?
Explore the idea of "casting a line." It could represent reaching for a goal, searching for connection, or even letting go of something.
Use water imagery—ripples, reflections, or the feel of sunlight on the surface—to bring your poem to life.
April 12
Using the image of the Ferris wheel as inspiration, write a pantoum—a poetic form where lines are repeated—to mimic the cyclical motion of the wheel. Consider how the constant turning could symbolize life's repetitive patterns, cycles of emotion, or the interplay of change and constancy. Allow the repetition to emphasize the cyclical or meditative nature of the Ferris wheel.
Draw from the image. Think about the Ferris wheel's towering presence, the motion of its cabins, and the way it interacts with the sky and surroundings.
Reflect on themes such as nostalgia, progress, or the passage of time.
In the pantoum:
Lines 2 and 4 of each stanza become lines 1 and 3 of the next.
The second and fourth lines of the final stanza repeat the third and first lines of the first stanza.
April 11
For this image, focus on giving the wall a voice or personality and creating strong imagery.
Look closely at the image of this wall. Imagine it as an observer, a protector, or even a silent participant in the world around it.
Write a poem inspired by:
The textures, patterns, and imperfections of the wall—what stories do they suggest?
How the wall interacts with its surroundings (the sky, plants, or people who pass by).
What the wall might symbolize—strength, resilience, isolation, or something else entirely.
Optional: You may want to copy the image into a word doc or other application and enlarge it to see the many details close up. Do you see the moss, the dried stalks of plants, other objects? Can you read the inscriptions?
April 10
This image captures the intimate bond between a parent and child, a moment of vulnerability, strength, and connection. Think about the positioning, the hands, and the closeness—each tells a story. Write a poem that explores the physical and emotional imprints of parenthood. Consider the transformations of the body and spirit, the weight of nurturing, and the quiet power in these fleeting moments of touch. How does parenthood shape identity, resilience, or love? Let your words reflect the journey of care and connection.
OR
If you do not identify as a parent, consider writing from a child’s perspective. Imagine yourself as the child in this image. Write a poem exploring the sensations, thoughts, or emotions you might feel in this moment of closeness. What does this embrace mean to you? How do the textures, warmth, and presence of your parent shape your view of love, safety, or the world around you?
April 9
Look at this image as a field of design: a sea of soft floral repetition disrupted by a sweep of ornate geometry. Envision this visual is an abstraction, a conversation between two kinds of beauty—one wild, one disciplined.
Write a poem inspired by this interruption in pattern. Use the image as a metaphor or mood to explore contrast, transition, or transformation. What happens when two different forces meet? When order is imposed on the natural? Or when softness resists structure?
Use imagery rooted in texture, shape, and movement—think beyond objects.
Use repetition to create rhythm, then intentionally break that rhythm.
Introduce metaphor or symbolism from the image without directly describing it (e.g., “the stitched sky,” “a bloom inside a compass”).
April 8
Look closely at the photo. A child runs through a golden field, laughter lighting up her face, her hand held by someone unseen. The sun breaks through the mountains in the background, casting a soft, glowing light over everything.
Write a poem inspired by this captured moment. Consider these questions as you write:
Who are the people in this photo? What’s their relationship?
What emotions are hidden in the grasp of their hands?
How does the setting (the field, the mountains, the sunlight) reflect the feeling of the moment?
