In the Spring 2023 semester at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, I had the immense privilege of working as the teaching assistant to the award-winning poet Judy Jordan. For her Intermediate Poetry class, I devised three major writing prompts to help her students compose clear, organized, and developed poems with visceral images. Below are the prompts I gave to Jordan’s lovely students. Depending on the skill level of one’s students, the prompts can be rescaled easily. Students can develop their prompt responses as poems for future workshops or informal journal entries for classroom discussion.
- Describing an Action. In a lyric poem, describe a seemingly mundane or commonplace action (e.g., singing, planting azaleas, climbing a ladder). Title your poem that action. In your notes, compile 10-15 images associated with that action. Try to incorporate different senses (e.g., sight and smell). The poem should emphasize the action, not the speaker—but the speaker may play a key role in the poem. Arrange the best images in a logical sequence: (1) introduce the action in the first few lines, (2) layer your images in the next 8-10 lines, and then (3) end the poem with drama or tension (e.g., use a shocking image, rhetorical question, simile, or metaphor). Make sure every line uses assonance, consonance, or alliteration. Add at least one appositive. This poem should be a single stanza, 12-14 lines long. (Sample Poem: “Moss-Gathering” by Theodore Roethke)
- Depicting You Doing Something Significant. In a narrative poem, describe you doing something personally significant (e.g., learning how to drive, climbing Mount Everest, breaking up with a significant other). Title your poem that action. In your notes, compile 10-15 images associated with that action. Try to incorporate different senses (e.g., sight and smell). The poem should emphasize you performing that action, so include relevant background information concerning you, the action, or both. Use the best images to tell a story in order: (1) set the scene in the first few lines, (2) layer your images in at least one developed scene, and then (3) end the poem with drama or tension (e.g., use a shocking image, rhetorical question, simile, or metaphor). Use assonance, consonance, or alliteration. Add at least one appositive. This poem should be over 1 page long. (Sample Poem: “Diving into the Wreck” by Adrienne Rich)
- Rendering a Thing. In a thing poem, describe a specific living or nonliving thing (e.g., cicadas, harp, electric guitars, pencil sharpener, the Golden Gate Bridge, hyenas). Title your poem that thing. In your notes, compile 10-15 images associated with that thing. Try to incorporate different senses (e.g., sight and smell). The poem should illustrate that thing in detail. Describe and comment on your thing: (1) introduce the thing in the first line, (2) add your images, and then (3) end the poem with a striking image. Use assonance, consonance, and alliteration throughout the poem. Include at least one appositive and two similes or metaphors. (Sample Poem: “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop)
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Jacob Butlett is a Pushcart Prize-nominated author. He has been published in many journals, including the Colorado Review, The Hollins Critic, and Into the Void. In 2023 he received an honorable mention for the Academy of American Poets Prize (Graduate Prize). He teaches first-year composition at Minnesota State University, Mankato.