Dustin Brookshire

Repeat As Needed Prompts

Craft new poems with these Repeat As Needed inspired prompts!

  1. Read Maureen Seaton’s “When I Was Straight.” If you identify as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, write a poem titled “When I Was Straight.” If you aren’t a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, substitute another word for “straight.” Maybe your poem title is “When I Was A Cartographer.” Then tell a story.

  2. Take a trip down memory lane to middle school. Pick a grade. Browse the catalogue of your mind for specific memories from your time in a science class. Write a poem about that memory.

  3. Pick a writer you want to collaborate with. Read “Nicole Wants To Write A Poem With Maureen.” Use the title but replace “Nicole” and “Maureen” with the authors’ names. The person who starts the collaboration should be the first name in the title. Write a collaborative prose poem on any topic that you choose. Each writer should write four sentences then alternate to the other. Keep up the correspondence until you feel you’ve finished.

  4. Read Maureen Seaton’s “Furious Cooking.” Pick a verb to replace “cooking.” Write that new title. Maybe you’re writing “Furious Washing” or “Furious Packing” or “Furious Jogging.” Write a poem worthy of your title’s subject.

  5. Read “Kinky,” “Buddhist Barbie,” or “Poem in which Barbie Qualifies for Medicare.” (You won’t regret reading all three.) Write a Barbie poem or a poem in which a Barbie cameo polishes the poem. You know what? Forget Barbie. Maybe you want to write a Midge or Allan poem.

  6. Pick a villanelle. Yes, any villanelle. Type the end word from each line in a document. Write to each end word creating a new poem. Once completed, you’ve written a contoured villanelle. (The contoured villanelle takes the end word from each line of an existing villanelle and then matches end words in the same order to construct a new villanelle.)

  7. Pick a piece of art you love and/or one that perplexes you. Write a poem inspired by the emotions and imagery of the piece before you. Bonus points if you select two pieces of art and write two poems.

  8. Read Megan Fernandes’s “White People Always Want to Tell Me They Grew up Poor.” Think about a time someone—or a group of people—has urged, requested, or persuaded you to consider. Or, think about a time someone or multiple people asked you something they had no business in asking you. Write a poem and set the record straight.


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