Today’s writing prompt is based on the poem Li Po In “Li Po,” the poem looks back in history to a poet who sometimes wrote about tea. It then pairs the narrator of the poem with Li Po, saying “every morning I am Li Po.” Humankind has a long history with agriculture or the harvesting […]
Li Po
A poem about being a poet, based on Li Po and how he knew “the tea bushes flush with leaves, / sweet scent rising / from snow-petaled earth…”
Day 17: Reclamation
Today’s writing prompt is based on the poem Resort One philosophical standpoint about our environment is that we are simply part of it, and all that we build is basically like the things that all other species build; they are constructed according to our species’ knowledge, our latest technologies and stylistic preferences, and our needs […]
Day 16: The Deep-Downness
Today’s writing prompt is based on the poem Do the shells Today’s poem considers the deep-downness of things. What is retained within something, even when it is removed from its ordinary setting or becomes broken? Write a poem that explores some kind of deep-downness, whether it be in stardust or melting icebergs or even some […]
Do the shells
“Do the shells still hear the sea…” asks this poem about loss, memory, and being.
Day 15: You Are My Sun
Today’s writing prompt is based on the poem Papa is the sky Write a poem about your family, a group of friends, your co-workers, or even parts of your own self and roles that assigns some kind of natural phenomenon to each. In today’s poem, five-year-old Zoya very simply says that Papa is the sky, […]
Petit à Petit L’Oiseau Fait Son Nid
“I used to dream of living in a garden,” starts this richly colorful sestina about love and wishes.
Day 13: Working Out a Question
Today’s writing prompt is based on the poem Petit à Petit L’Oiseau Fait Son Nid Even if you’ve never written a sestina before, today might be the day to give it a try. Because of the particular way sestinas repeat end-of-line words, they’re a great form for dealing with something you’re trying to work out […]
Day 12: Influences
Who has influenced your stance towards our natural world? This creative writing exercise will give you a place to begin, in considering your earth care influences.
Day 11: Food as Love
Today’s writing prompt is based on the poem Awaiting Arrival Food is the center of hospitality in today’s poem, even though there is no particular guest expected on the horizon. Each improbable visit is anticipated even “after all these years of nothing coming down the road.” Like many of us, the people in the poem […]
Day 10: Look Up
Today’s writing prompt is based on the poem Drought on the Open Road Write a poem about ordinary needs that sometimes lead us to do or consume what is not natural or good for either us or our natural surroundings. Why don’t people “look up”? In other words, why do they almost blindly do things […]
Day 9: Beauty’s Price
Today’s writing prompt is based on the poem The Poetry of Money 2 Using natural images, write a poem about beauty’s price. How does beauty encourage us to take care of it, thus asking us to pay a cost for keeping it intact? Is it worth the price? Or, how does beauty take care of […]
