#NaPoWriMo 2021 Prompts

For some reason, I ended up making the interesting decision at the end of March to create 30 prompts for 2021 and line them up to post them a day at a time on Allographic's social media. For the sake of accessibility, I’m going to post them here too:

On a white background, two-and-a-half lemons sit with a sprig of green leaf between them. They look very fresh and plump!

Day 1: Happy April! Your 1st Poetry Prompt is to follow the "Lemons" exercise (or any fruit of your choice). Let us know how you got on! 
Against a dark background, a hardback book is open to let random, glowing letters spill upwards from its blank, white pages.

Day 2: Your prompt is bibliomancy: pick the nearest (non-poetry) book off your shelf - the drier the better - and turn to page 37 (or try link); see where inspiration takes you and let us know how you get on! 
A rough, inverted triangle of black, capital letters in a slightly unsteady, old-fashioned font. Starting with the word ABRACADABRA, each line loses a letter until all that's left is the letter A.

Day 3: Your prompt is to attempt an Abracadabra, a simple, syllable-counting, concrete poem form. Details in the link and the Repeating Forms tool can help you write one. Let us know how you get on! 
A picture of a dolphin diving upwards from the sea, towards the viewer's right shoulder, as it were. The sun is bright and the sea is calm and very blue. Next to it is a leaping cow, with a cream face and russet coat. We have no explanation for this.

Day 4: Your prompt is to write something inspired by whichever interesting creature is spawned by this link. Let us know how you get on! 
Against the backdrop of late sunset on a flat, deserted beach, covered in a shallow stretch of water, is an white door and doorframe, sitting ajar and hovering above the ground, you can see the passing, multicoloured cloud through it.

Day 5: Your prompt is to go to Google Image Search and type in "dream imagery". Pick a picture (or get someone to pick one) and let us know how you get on! Alternatively, search Spotify for "dreamscape" or use this playlist
A head-and-shoulder picture of Carol Ann Duffy (broad-faced, white woman with shortish, unruly, dark-brown hair, in a pinstriped charcoal suit jacket over a charcoal top) gazing directly at the camera while leaning her head on one fist. Next to her is the quote “You can find poetry in your everyday life, your memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what's in your heart.” The picture is from AZ QUOTES.

Day 6: Your prompt is to listen to the linked Spotify playlist (courtesy of Beth Hartley for her EverydayPoetry Workshop), write something and let us know how you get on. Alternatively, do a Google Image search for "everyday images under a microscope".  
An image divided into roughly seven diagonal stripes which fracture across each other (hence the “roughly”), depicting various types of skies: variations on cloudy, sunny, dark, sunset, lightning, rain, etc. It almost looks like a rainbow, but not quite.

Day 7: Your prompt is to attempt a triolet about the weather today. Details of the short, repeating form in the link, and you can use the Repeating Forms tool for assistance. Let us know how you get on! 
A very old-fashioned, wooden calendar composed of a very weathered and worn holder with similarly ancient-looking large wooden blocks at the top for the black-printed numbers and a series of thin plaques for the months. The date depicted is 08 April.

Day 8: Your prompt is to pick a link from Wikipedia's 8th April entry and write inspired by what you find there. Let us know how you get on. :)
A smooth, grey path of concrete curves to the left away from the viewer, lined on the right with neat hedges and small, blue plant, and on the left with lawn, flowerbeds, and shrubs. In the background are tall trees. The daylight is difficult and the ground is wet - it looks like it's just finished raining in the nearest part and is bucketing down near the trees.

Day 9: Your prompt is to take a walk and let your senses wander. Inspired by the things you witness on the way, write about the senses and memories triggered by the experience. Where did the walk take you?
A pencil drawing of a dynamic-looking nonbinary person striding towards the viewer. Their short, floppy, jet-black hair (with side buzz, naturally) is interrupted by a dashing white lock, a pattern which is reflected by the doctor’s sharp monochrome suit. Their ensemble is completed with the psychedelic, rainbow-lapelled, rainbow-lined trench coat which billows dramatically behind them. Under their left eye is a black sigil, making it look like the Eye of Horus. Beneath the picture is the hand-drawn text “Doctor Endless”.

Day 10: Your prompt is to attempt a sonnet about your favourite superhero/ god/ saint. Sonnets can be tricky but the limits can help. See 28sonnetslater for some yearly examples and let us know how you get on! 
A photo of a metal grid bounded by dark wood. The grid appears to be filled with embossed metal squares with various reverse symbols on them. The caption says “0.2 inch composition punches for Ronaldson (typeface series number: 10)”

Day 11: Your prompt is to write a story poem inspired by the results of the Science Museum random object search and let us know how you get on! Alternatively, listen to this Infinite Monkey Cage podcast episode  
A simple line drawing of the prow of a sailing ship with a pennant peeks of the horizon of a circle with an arrow pointing down inside it and a curving, horizontal line drawn across the middle to indicate an equator. Around the circle, moving in a clockwise direction with the arrow are the following: ACT I SEPARATION 1. Ordinary World 2. Call to Adventure (Inciting incident) 3. Refusal of the Call 4. Meeting with the Mentor 5. Crossing the Threshold 6. Tests, Allies, Enemies 7. Approach ACT II DESCENT 8. Central Ordeal (Midpoint, Death, and Rebirth) ACT II B INITIATION 9. Reward 10. The Road Back 11. Resurrection (Climax) ACT III RETURN 12. Return with Elixir (Denoument)

Day 12: Your prompt is to write a 12 stage instruction guide to being happy (or being unhappy - whichever tickles your fancy!) and let us know how you get on! (Image from Booksoarus on the Hero's Journey.)
A series of unevenly placed letters in a graffiti stencil style on a pale, grey wall, spelling out “UNLUCKY13”. There is a faint, multicolour spray-stroke of paint across the “UN”.

Day 13: Your prompt is unlucky for some so, in honour of triskaidekaphobia, have a look at what random phobias come out of this link and write something in response. Let us know how you get on! 
Eros, Greek god of Romantic love. White stone sculpture of a little boy angel on a blurred background of what is clearly a sunny, autumn day.

Day 14: Your prompt is lovely - there's arguably nothing more strongly associated with poetry than the subject of love, so write an adoring tribute for someone or something, and let us know how you get on!
An oil painting. Against the background of a tumultuous sea, dashing itself against the rocks, the sunset-lit cliffs towering overhead, a number of people with blue trousers, white shirts, and light, floppy caps, shift bottles, crates, barrels, oilskin packages, and sacks to a small boat hidden in the lea of the rocks. Several of the smugglers are looking out to sea where a distant, tall, sailing boat shines a light as it rocks on the waves.

Day 15: Your prompt is stolen directly from a Lies Dreaming Podcast prompt from a few years ago: "smuggle an acrostic past everybody"; make of that what you will... 
The Japanese word 短歌 is written in letters shading from scarlet on the right to a golden shade of orange on the right. There is a faint shadow behind, as though the letters are lit from the bottom right.

Day 16: Your prompt is to write a tanka. Traditionally written in collaboration with another poet, feel free to use this as a chance to get inspired by/ work with someone else. Let us know how you get on! 
A 1940s Wartime US Department of Agriculture poster which urges readers “For Health... eat some food from each group... every day!” Below is a circle divided into seven segments. In the centre is a realistic cartoon of a stereotyped white man and woman with a boy and a girl walking proudly toward the camera with the slogan surrounding it: “U.S. NEEDS US STRONG EAT THE BASIC 7 EVERY DAY” At the bottom of the chart it says “IN ADDITION TO THE BASIC 7... EAT ANY OTHER FOOD YOU WANT” The wheel groups are illustrated with basic cartoon images as follows: “Group One; Green and Yellow Vegetables... some raw - some cooked, frozen, or canned.” “Group Two; Oranges, Tomatoes, Grapefruit... or raw cabbage or salad greens.” “Group Three; Potatoes and Other Vegetables and Fruit; raw, dried, cooked, frozen or canned” “Group Four; Milk and Milk Products... fluid, evaporated, dried milk, or cheese” “Group Five; Meat, Poultry, Fish, or Eggs... or dried beans, peas, nuts, or peanut butter” “Group Six; Bread, Flour, and Cereals... Natural whole grain - or enriched or restored” “Group Seven; Butter and Fortified Margarine (with added Vitamin A)”

Day 17: Your prompt is blatantly stolen from Joshua Seigal's workshop he delivered for us a few years ago: "Write an ode to your favourite food!" An ode can be dramatic, so feel free to go ham (heh) on this one! Let us know how it goes! 
An image of two nine-sided blobs with radiating, tear-shaped blobs from each corner. They look a little like circus tents seen from above, maybe, or stylised coronaviruses, which is more likely what they're meant to be. They are both different shades of red, with yellowish letters inside them in an old-fashioned all-caps computer typeface. From what I can tell they are bits of the Lorem Ipsum placeholder text and no power on earth is going to compel me to type them out; so sorry!

Day 18: Your prompt is another dive into chaos, courtesy of Language Is A Virus. Use their random word generator to pick out some words, attempt to fit as possible into your piece and let us know how it goes! 
A stylised pencil eraser wipes a blurred, white, diagonal line through a series of ones and zeroes printed on a page in various shades of blue.

Day 19: Your prompt is all about erasure poetry - literally taking another body of text (your own or another's, poetry or prose) and cutting chunks out of it to make a new piece. Let us know how it goes!
a photo of an okapi - a slender creature that looks halfway between a small horse and an antelope or muntjac deer, except that its body is dark brown with elegant and random-looking white, horizontal stripes on its legs. Its head is bent all the way down to look at its legs as if to say “Wow - those really are stripey!”

Day 20: Your prompt is shaped to fit - pick an animal (link to assist) and write a poem about them; arrange it on the page to resemble the animal itself and let us know how it goes!
A conventionally written stave of music (black on white) starts to warp and dissolve as the notes turn into clouds of colour across a spectrum.

Day 21: Your prompt is synaesthetic - pick a sensory experience and describe it in words to do with the other senses (e.g. a painting by smell, a tune by colours and textures) and let us know how you get on! [Article by Francesca Benson for Red Brick about synaesthesia, and it's honestly one of the best I've read about the phenomenon (I felt seen!).] 
A claw hammer is standing, leaning against the corner of a white-painted room. It has been bent so out of shape that it looks like a disconsolate person moping in a corner. Sad hammer is sad.

Day 22: Your prompt is stolen from Tina Sederholm after a workshop she delivered for us a few years ago - address someone as though they were an inanimate object. Use as many senses as possible, and let us know how it goes!
An ornate, scaly, gunmetal grey dragon sits with clawed paws outstretched in from of it, small but muscular wings spread either side of a cannon which faces upwards, around which hinges the dragon's tail is coiled in elaborate profusion. At the back of the sculpture is an incongrous dog in the same, dark grey material looking the opposite way. There's a great deal of Latin embossed on the plinth below the animals.

Day 23: Your prompt is counter to one of the popular associations of this date: find your favourite Dragons of London dragon and write a Mothra (see the Repeating Forms tool for guidance) in honour of it. 
A drawing which resembles sepia ink on parchment of the severed upper body of a batwinged woman with a mouthful of sharp little teeth. She looks fierce, her hands are enormous and clawed and honestly I wouldn't blame anyone for running. She's known as a Manananggal and she a very metal Phillipino monster.

Day 24: Your prompt is clawed and fanged, though maybe only on the inside. Tell us about your favourite monster, but you have to sacrifice a vowel to do so! Let us know how it went!
Blimey. Image description challenge! A table of numbers. Across the top the column headers: “Stanza I”, “new order”, “Stanza II, III, IV, V, VI”, then rows labelled “end word” and numbered 1-6. In row 1 the end word one becomes 2nd in new order and is translated to 6, 3, 5, 4, and 2 in the subsequent stanzas. And so on. It has a spiral in the middle of the new order column linking all the end-words together across the rows, but honestly it's an absolute nightmare and you're better reading the description in the Wikipedia page or just letting the spreadsheet do the heavy lifting for you!

Day 25: Your prompt is spiralling. Time to write a sestina, as taught to us by dear, departed friend, Caron Freeborn. The Repeating Forms tool can assist; let us know how it went.
A photo of a portion of an old-fashioned textbook - dictionary or encyclopaedia - too far away to discern any of the crammed words. There is a black and white picture of what appears to be a man measuring someone's head. The person who is being measured does not look happy at all, mouth open and staring at the viewer. The book is open on the ground at the edge of the pages that we can see has thumb holes for easy turning of portions of the pages, and it battered, grubby, and possibly singed!

Day 26: Your prompt is obscure. Take a leaf from the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows and either get inspired by one of their words, or make up your own and describe it in your poem. How did that go? 
A photo of a hand-drawn, black and white botanical textbook sample of a plant with small, pointed leaves, small, pale flowers, and tiny, dark, round berries. Beneath it, in an old-fashioned font is printed “Melia Adezarach”.

Day 27: Your prompt is a callback. Page 37 of Write-In favourite tome Daffodils Are Dangerous is the Chinaberry Tree (Melia Azedarach). Describe the plant (or any other you fancy) by what it ISN'T. How did the exercise feel? 
A dark, green, glassy circle. A mechanical iris in which a green light glows. It's looking at you. Probably.

Day 28: Your prompt is constrained. Literally: only using the letters of the word CONSTRAINED, create a piece. As a bonus, you can have "the" and "of" and any words that The Inspiro Bot throws at you. Let us know how it went! 
A rural cartoon scene of tree, pond, pond plants, grass, mountains, sky, in four iterations to show sunrise, noon, sunset, night. Never mind the fact that the sun rises and sets in the same place - I couldn't draw it half as well, so I'm going to let them have it!

Day 29: Your prompt is timely. Tell us about your favourite time of day - use as many senses as you can in the piece. How are you feeling now?
The sun sets just outside the left-hand side of the image of a flat beach at high tide, strewn with a variety of rocks which stretch into the right-hand corner of the shot. The sky is pale blue and cream, and the water shades off from golden sun colours to an impossibly dark blue as it gets closer to the viewer.

Day 30: Your prompt is here. Go to the Wikipedia entry on "Eschatology" and pick a topic from the list and write a poem inspired by that. And congratulations on finishing! How did the month go for you? 

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