Write a poem about colors without ever naming any colors in the poem.
Write a poem that tells a story.
Use the following words in a poem: under, thrust, harbor, wind, prance, fall.
Write a poem about the following image: an empty stadium with litter strewn about and one sneaker on the stadium stairs.
Write three haiku.
Write a poem about your first friend.
Write a poem that could be the lyrics to a song.
Use the following words in a poem: fire, spice, burn, chill, tangled.
Write a poem about the following image: an elderly couple lying in lawn chairs, looking at the stars from their backyard.
Write a poem in iambic pentameter (each line is five metrical feet, each foot consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM).
Write a poem about a wild animal.
Write a poem that contains dialogue.
Use the following words in a poem: waves, cliffs, dance, pound, rise.
Write a poem about the following image: a person kneeling at the edge of a lake, peering into the water.
Write a sonnet.
Write a poem about garbage (waste).
Write a poem that has a perfect rhyme at the end of each line.
Use the following words in a poem: dirt, squirm, fingers, sprout, shine.
Write a poem about the following image: an old, dilapidated barn with a caved-in roof and rotting walls.
Write a sestina.
Write a poem about the cosmos.
Write a poem that contains a surprising twist.
Use the following words in a poem: feet, bees, violet, moss, clunk.
Write a poem about the following image: a person (or animal) looking out a fogged-up window on a snowy day.
Write a blackout poem (start with a page of printed text and selectively black-out words; the remaining, unredacted text is the poem).
Write a poem about your country, city, or state.
Write a poem that contains no adverbs or adjectives.
Use the following words in a poem: hunger, curl, click, drill, run.
Write a poem about the following image: a ladder leaning against the side of a massive tree.
Write an ode (a tribute to someone or something).
Write a poem about your greatest accomplishment, personal or professional.
Write a poem that does not contain any rhymes.
Use the following words in a poem: cotton, float, foam, fizz, glam.
Write a poem about the following image: a bag of groceries sitting on the ground in a parking lot.
Write a palindrome poem.
Write a poem about your deepest fear, or write about courage.
Write a poem that contains six numbers but not the number six.
Use the following words in a poem: bow, shoulder, sprawl, whisper, brush.
Write a poem about the following image: a table piled with delicious food.
Write a tanka (five lines, with the following syllabic pattern: 5-7-5-7-7).
Write a poem about dancing.
Write a poem that engages each of the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.
Use the following words in a poem: spin, calculate, lie, march, retreat.
Write a poem about the following image: a phoenix rising from the ashes.
Write a rondel.
Write a poem about your future.
Write a poem that uses an ABABB rhyme scheme.
Use the following words in a poem: hail, port, send, kneel, salute.
Write a poem about the following image: a mountain range seen from a great distance.
Write an acrostic poem (the first letters of each line spell out a word).
Write a poem about the weather.
Write a poem that contains internal rhymes but no end rhymes.
Use the following words in a poem: meet, time, basket, neon, puddle.
Write a poem about the following image: a wild baby animal crouching in the brush, watching its mother from a distance.
Write a concrete (shape) poem (a poem that forms a shape on the page, which can be simple, abstract, or complex).
Write a poem about a momentous, life-changing event.
Write a poem that has exactly one hundred words.
Use the following words in a poem: book, carpet, stick, hide, wander.
Write a poem about the following image: an assembly line in a factory that produces home-assistant robots.
Write a poem that has at least four instances of repetition.
Write a poem about entertainment.
Write a poem that contains a running metaphor.
Use the following words in a poem: satellite, bunker, can, water, dig.
Write a poem about the following image: unusual footprints on a trail in the forest.
Write a ghazal.
Write a poem about childhood.
Write a poem that explores the concept of duality.
Use the following words in a poem: motherboard, lava, smolder, flow, sear.
Write a poem about the following image: gum, mirror, pen, speak, fan.
Write a list poem (for example, a poem that is also a grocery list).
Write a poem about the most thrilling experience you’ve ever had.
Write a poem that is set in a particular time and place.
Use the following words in a poem: lavender, horn, gold, hooves, trot.
Write a poem about the following image: a notebook that is partially burnt.
Write a prose poem (a poem written in paragraphs rather than in verse).
Write a poem about lacking something essential.
Write a poem that is abstract or open to interpretation.
Use the following words in a poem: barn, skyscraper, bicycle, climb, stack.
Write a poem about the following image: a crew of workers eating lunch.
Write a poem of three stanzas, each with three lines, and include the number “three” somewhere in the poem.
Write a poem about a journey.
Write a poem that includes onomatopoeia (words that sound like what they mean — for example, hiss).
Use the following words in a poem: drink, desire, switch, swell, relish.
Write a poem about the following image: a polar bear on a tropical island.
Write a rondelet.
Write a poem about an ordinary day.
Write a poem that includes at least three instances of alliteration, including one each of assonance and consonance.
Use the following words in a poem: buckle, bend, kick, pot, shift.
Write a poem about the following image: an empty raft floating down a river.
Write a limerick (five lines with rhyme scheme AABBA and a naughty attitude).
Write a poem about building something.
Write a poem that contains a pun.
Use the following words in a poem: squeeze, type, mission, gate, blast.
Write a poem about the following image: a bird soaring through sky.
Write a cinquain (five lines, with two syllables in the first line, four in the second, six in the third, eight in the fourth, and two syllables in the final line).
Write a poem about gaining something you’ve never had before.
Write a poem that is optimistic and hopeful.
Use the following words in a poem: airplane, jungle, needle, hike, signal.
Write a poem about the following image: a child exiting the library with a stack of books.
Write a magic 9 poem (nine lines with rhyme scheme ABACADABA).
