Poetry & wordplay
A model will happily tell you your poem is beautiful. That is useless. These prompts are written for the part of the work that actually takes time: finding the near-rhyme that does not sound forced, counting stresses in a line that reads wrong, hunting the one cliché you stopped noticing, and cutting forty lines down to twelve. Several of them explicitly forbid praise, ask for the weakest line by name, or demand a recommendation instead of a list of options. Use them on a draft you are stuck inside, not on a blank page.
36 prompts in 5 groups
Poetry & wordplay21 categories
Sound and metre
Rhymes, scansion, and the read-aloud passes that tell you why a line trips in the mouth.
- Near-rhymes grouped by vowel soundLongYou need a rhyme and the obvious ones are all wrong or already used.
- Scan this poem and mark where the metre breaksLongA line reads wrong aloud and you can't tell whether it's the metre.
- Find a word that means X and fits the metreLongThe right word is one syllable too long and you've been staring at it.
- Sound pass: alliteration, assonance, mouthfeelLongA late-stage read purely for how the poem sounds aloud.
- Read this back to me for rhythmLongYou've lost your ear on a draft you've read fifty times.
- Rhymes for this word, useful ones onlyShortYou need a rhyme and want the real options, not a dictionary dump.
- Near-rhymes only, no full rhymesShortThe full rhyme is too neat and you want the sound to slip.
- Does this line scan?ShortA line reads wrong aloud and you want the scansion before the rewrite.
- Where does a reader stumble?ShortYou have read the draft fifty times and lost your ear.
- A word that means this and fits the rhythmShortThe right word is one syllable too long and you have been staring at it.
- Sound pass on this draftMediumA late read purely for how the poem behaves in the mouth.
Getting a draft going
Forms, constraints, and raw material for when there is no poem on the page yet.
- Use a fixed form as a generator, not a cageLongYou have material and no shape, and want the form to make decisions for you.
- Turn this prose into verse without flattening itLongA journal entry or note has a poem in it somewhere.
- Mine a word for puns, doubles, and buried sensesLongBuilding a poem around a word that should be pulling double duty.
- Generate constraints to break a stuck draftLongStaring at the same draft for a week with nothing new arriving.
- Find the poem inside this proseMediumA journal entry or a note has something in it worth keeping.
Rewriting lines and stanzas
The line that is dead, the lineation that feels arbitrary, the verb that is doing nothing.
- Diagnose the line that isn't landingLongOne line is dead and you know which one but not why.
- Alternative line breaks for the same stanzaLongThe words are right but the lineation feels arbitrary.
- Rewrite this in a different registerLongTesting whether a poem's tone is a choice or a default.
- A stronger verb hereShortThe line is doing nothing and the verb is why.
- Six rewrites of the line that is not landingMediumOne line is dead, you know which one, and you want options rather than a verdict.
- Three ways to break this stanzaMediumThe words are right and the lineation feels arbitrary.
Honest critique
Reads that name the weakest line, the stale image, and what the poem is actually about.
- Critique this poem with no praise at allLongWhen you want an honest read and not a compliment sandwich.
- Find the clichés I've stopped noticingLongA read-through for stale images before you send a poem anywhere.
- Tell me what this poem is actually aboutLongWhen the draft is circling something you haven't admitted yet.
- Check which ambiguities are workingLongWhen you're not sure whether a line is rich or just unclear.
- Is this image a cliche?ShortChecking one image before you build a whole poem on it.
- What is this poem actually about?ShortThe draft is circling something you have not admitted yet.
- Fast critique, no praiseMediumYou want an honest read and not a compliment sandwich.
Finishing a poem
Cutting, ending, titling, and the last decisions before you call a draft done.
- Cut this poem to half its lengthLongYou suspect the poem is buried inside a longer draft.
- Break this form on purpose, in one placeLongA formal poem feels too neat and you want a deliberate fracture.
- Twenty titles for a finished poemLongThe poem is done and "Untitled" is not going to cut it.
- Stop the poem tying itself into a bowLongThe last two lines explain the poem instead of ending it.
- Ten titles for this poemShortThe poem is finished and Untitled will not do.
- Cut this poem in halfShortYou suspect a shorter poem is buried in the draft.
- Does this ending earn itself?MediumThe last few lines might be explaining the poem instead of ending it.
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