Writing Prompt
Writings
Writings
POEM STARTER
Write a poem with the title 'Life Lessons from Death'.
Consider what Death might want to impart on those who can experience living, and the voice that Death might speak from.
Writings
There’s a joke that ends with — huh?
It’s the bomb saying here is your father.
Now here is your father inside
your lungs. Look how lighter
the earth is — afterward.
To even write father
is to carve a portion of the day
out of a bomb-bright page.
There’s enough light to drown in
but never enough to enter the bones
& stay. Don’t stay here, he said, my boy
broken by the name...
On the lee slope of the small coastal mountain
which conceals the sun the first hour after its rising,
in the dry, steep ravines, the live
mist of the heat is seething like dust
left over from an earlier world.
A crow with a swimmer's shoulders works
the air. And a little bird flies up into a
tree and closes its wings, like a blossom
folded up into a bud again.
In the distance is a very o...
Do not be bitter when I come for you,
For I must come like a cold December wind,
Dreaded, as is a winter’s day,
Nevertheless, I must descend.
Think not of me as malice, a thief in the night,
But as the hand that gathers fallen leaves,
Homecoming, a soldiers final fight.
A promise kept, a bittersweet release.
Though shadows lengthen with each step I take,
And fear May whisper tales of endless ...
I don’t have that much to say, so do not see me in this way.
I only have a list for you, I hope you’ll find it useful, too.
Read carefully, and please do heed these words that I give, indeed.
For all you need to know to rest is some words of advice from your friend, Death.
1. Think of me often. No, I’m not kidding, think of your coffin.
If you do, you’ll daily remember that January is a blink fr...
1. Don’t confide in her
She’ll just explode
2. Don’t hug her
She’ll feel embarrassed
3. Don’t express love
It’ll make her sad
4. Don’t cry
It’ll make her powerful
5. Don’t feel
It’ll make her uncomfortable
6. Don’t love
Even though you’re together
It’s too much feeling
7. Don’t express disliking
It’ll make her mad
Life lessons from someone who died for you
I loved you
I lived for you
And...
I've seen more lives than you could fathom
The immortal life of a stygian phantom
I've seen the strongest of man crumble,
And only I could make them humble.
I've seen the broken learn to survive,
Just to die before they thrive
Good or bad when your time has come,
Ill be there when you succumb.
I am not in the pursuit of life,
Nor to rid the world of strife.
My only job to steal your breath,
creat...
Desiccated husks
In soaking soil
Anemic leaves heave pitifully
Tucked in dim corners
Lifting yellowing branches to the light
I check for sticky puffs of pests
Dipping my index from pot to pot
I move from desert to tropics
I learn from the losing
The roots rotted and
The pots that slip from my hands
Flaccid stems, exhausted leaves sleep on willing soil
Over sunburnt leaves
I learn about sur...
Everything in life can be recycled
Everything exists to be used
and reused
and reused
by each other
transformed
and informed
and absorbed
by one another
From the earliest stars
to the bones beneath the earth,
eroded and scarred,
It's all the same.
It's all
a puzzle
dumped out of a box by an unruly child
and strewn about in pieces on the floor
You are simply the current way these pieces come to...
Some people come to me unexpectedly, suddenly and I’m not always prepared for them. It’s like when someone suggests that you hang out in an hour but your not ready yet and are caught off guard. Sometimes I’m not ready for certain people to finish the race, and I know they’re not either.
Unfortunately, I’ve had to come to the conclusion that sometimes life truly is just too short and sometimes l...
Similar writing prompts
POEM STARTER
Write a psalm about a particular place.
Although broadly associated with Christianity, Psalms as a poetic form intend to offer lessons and suggestions for how to live life. What advice might a landmark, building, or landscape give?
POEM STARTER
Write a poem with the title 'Season’s Greetings'.
While this phrase is usually applied to winter, consider other seasons (perhaps seasons of life) that you might want to greet!