This week: Prompted Responses Edited by: Fyn  
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Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words. ~~Robert Frost
Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. ~~Plato
Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility. ~~William Wordsworth
Reality only reveals itself when it is illuminated by a ray of poetry. ~~Georges Braque
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Some folks absolutely hate prompt-driven writing. They feel that it boxes them into a pigeonhole with mile-high walls encasing them. They feel that it forces them to go the 'same-old, same-old' route that everyone else will come up with, thereby limiting their creativity. On the other hand, there are folks who love or (in some cases) need prompts to spark an idea. Given the empty whiteboard or 'blank screen' staring them in the face washes out any sort of fresh idea, because that blankness covers up their thinking. It is like having too many roads to get from point A to point B. Something akin to writer's block in the worst way possible.
I used to be firmly planted in the camp that detested having to write to prompts mostly because back in my college days, professors who offered a prompt with a preconceived idea about exactly where a prompt should go, leaving the writer to follow blithely. Which, I tended not to do. In fact, I got to the point of figuring out all the avenues pointed to and would look for a secret alley to get around and through them without professors figuring that out. I did not want to write what I thought everyone else would write.
Sometimes, I'd fail miserably. When, at least until I managed to convince them that I was just taking 'a more creative path' or looking outside the box they'd boxed us in with, I'd either have to rewrite the paper playing their game or just get them mad at me. I have, let it be said, never been one to color inside the lines! If I figured that ninety per cent of them would take choice A, I'd opt for W. Then, one class I had a teacher who applauded my thinking 'above and beyond' - which as it turned out, was the whole point. I still ended up falling in the hole! Ticked me off big time! LOL.
On the prompt-given side of things, I've discovered (beyond the seeking to find the path less traveled,) that a prompt can, and often does, spark a poem that I hadn't been ruminating about or hadn't been stewing in my head. I'll have an 'Oh, this fits' to something I've recently experienced. It offers a jumping-off point. It may not be, in every case, what one person referred to as an 'important' poem. Perhaps not. Or perhaps so, because until you write it, you can't know. Some of my better poems which have struck folks as singularly meaningful, didn't start out to be anything of particular import, they just were poems and evolved along the way.
Many seem to be happier to have a prompt to nudge them along. Just depends on the writer at any given point in time, their mood at that moment, and any/every-thing else going on in their lives just then.
The important thing is, I think, is that one is writing. It is what we do, after all. *smile*
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Seabreeze  commented about some of last times 'editor's picks': Keeper of Absence and Carry On were both great selections. The first really pulled on me and kept my attention all the way through. The second, it brought back memories when I visited a battle ground in West Virginia. Love these both.
Glad you enjoyed them. Hopefully, you left them a review!
and Monty  agreed with the subject of my newsie. It is great to get feedback on our newsletters. Kind of makes us feel seen as we all put a lot of time into writing them week after week! :) |
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Poetry: July 02, 2025 Issue [#13220]
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