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Calliope, Muse of Eloquence |
You fail only if you stop writing.
•••Base a poem on a color: yellow? gold? silver? Or an animal, or an emotion, or... well, you get it. Hey—how about the MK Word of the Day?
•••Read, read, read, in print or online. Other poets can be great inspiration—either good poets or bad ones! Build on their ideas; contradict them; let them be some sort of springboard. And the same goes for attending readings. Take advantage of all the poetry in our community/world to kickstart your own Muse!
•••Consider a workshop, either on-going or a single event, formal or just a group of friends. If you can't find one you like, start one!—even with friends online.
•••Splurge and buy yourself the world's best thesaurus: Roget's Int'l Thesaurus from HarperCollins, ed. by Barbara Ann Kipfer; Rbt. L. Chapman, Consulting Ed. ISBN 0-06-018575-9. Or maybe ask Santa... Just leafing through a thesaurus, or looking at all the many synonyms for any word, is wonderful inspiration!
•••Poetic Left-overs (good ideas that didn’t quite fit into other poems)
•••Poems in the form of questions
•••Describe what the subject is without actually naming it
•••Mary Oliver quote: “Here you are—alive. Would you like to make a comment?”
•••Condense a famous poem into an epigram/couplet. What is this poem really saying?
•••Senyru by Sandoka: A lone figure/back turned/receding into the mist. Care to elaborate? Or "condense"?
•••Tell a story using just six words (five words, etc. One?)
―Susan Sontag
PAST MK SOWs: It's Never Too Late to Have At 'Em!
SOME SAMPLE EKPHRASTIC SUBJECTS (PHOTOS/ART):
abandoned stairs by Robin Gale Odam
abandoned barn
sketch of person in hammock by Steph Schaefer
“tired dog” photo from Steve Williams
eggs in nest
electric egg beater
keys on a ring
fire-watch station in the mountains
hat hanging on hatrack
stack of hats
acorn
sand castle
magic lantern
lighthouse
ice/heart/fire
knot
target
steps by Janet Pantoja
Magritte's Les Amants (The Lovers)
Statue of Liberty w/fireworks
woman with fan
PAST SOW TOPICS WE'VE USED IN MK OVER THE YEARS (Yes, I'm pretty sure this is every one of them! Every week I add the most recent one to the list.):
Abandonment
A car passes on a rainy street...
A Day Late, A Dollar Short
According to Science
Afraid of Sunflowers
After Labor Day
After Midnight
After the Fire
After the Rain
Air We Breathe, The
All Five Senses
All I Want For Christmas...
All Those Books
A New Day
Apples
A Shadow of Dread
A Burst of Crows
Amber Mornings
Angels
Antebellum Ladies' Nudist Society, The
April
Are We Going the Way of the Rapa Nui?
Are We There Yet?
Art of Listening, The
Art of Losing, The
Art of Swimming, The
Asleep at the Wheel
A Touch of Color
At the Bus Stop
At the Fair
At the Movies
At the Pawnshop
Autumn
Autumn/crows
Autumn Leaves
Autumn Sounds
Babies
Bacon and Eggs
Barns
Beachin'
Back to Work
Beauty in Unexpected Places
Before We Had Air-conditioning...
Behind Closed Doors
Best Friends
Best Gears of my Life
Best Gifts, The
Best Job Ever, The
Betrayal
Better Days
Beyond the Trappings
Birds and the Bees, The
Birdsong
Birthdays
Birthplace Revisited
Black Holes
Blessings of the Season
Blood Moon
Blue
Blue Silk
Blue Sky, White Clouds
Bravery Is...
Bridges
Broken
Broken Promises
Brotherhood
Bubbles
Burdens
Bus Ride to Hell
Butterfly From Cocoon
Buttons
By the Sea
Cages
Call It Sorrow
Candlelight
Candy Store
Catching My Breath
Cats
Caught by Surprise
Celebration!
Challenges of Breeding, The
Chaos
Cherry Blossom Time
Chocolate and Other Addictions
Christmas Bells
Circus
City of Trees
Cleaning Out My Closet
Cliffhangers
Clowns
Cobwebs and Candlewax
Coffee and Doughnuts
Colors of Autumn
Coming Home
Conjuring
Consulting the Oracle
Cool Mountain Lakes
Cosmic Kerfuffles
County Fair
Country Roads
Couples
Creation
Creekside
Curious Journeys
Dads
Daffodils
Dancing!
Danger! Explosives!
Dark Moments
Dark Shadows
Dawn Chorus
Dead End
Dear Diary
Death of Winter, The
December
Deep in the Woods
Detours
Diamonds in the Grass
Did Curiosity Kill the Cat?
Discoveries
Dogs
Down the Cellar Stairs
Down the Drain
Dragon's Breath
Dream of Being Elsewhere, The
Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde
Eagle's Cry, The
Early in the Morning
Edge of Night, The
Eggs
Empty Boxes
Empty Nests
Empty Room
Empty Suitcase, An
Endangered Species
End of Summer Dreams
Enemies
Enough
Essentials
Everyday Daemons
Expeditions
Experiments That Failed
Exploding Paint Cans
Eyes
Fair Winds and Following Seas
Falling
Family Album
Family Dinners
Fathers
Feathers
Finally, Spring
Fire!
First Rain
Firsts
Fish Pond in Moonlight
Fleeting Moments
Flowers in the Trash
Flowers Were Delivered To Me Today
Flying
Food
Forbidden Fruit
Forgotten Treasures
"Found" poem form
Freedom
Friendship
Friends Who've Lost Touch
Frontiers
Fruits of the Earth
Frustration
Games
Ghosts
Gifts
Gratitude
Great Escape
Green
Guardian Angels
Halloween
Ham-of-the-Month Club
Happy Holidays?
Hard Labor
Harvest
Hats
Heart Once Broken
Heat Wave
Hidden in Plain Sight
Home Cookin'
Hotter'n Hell
Household Pals
House of Cards
How We Met
I Burned My Life
Ice
If I could have just one thing...
If I could write a poem...
Indiscreet
In Gathering Shade
In My Dream
Insolence I Have Known
In the Back of the Closet...
In the Drawers of Old Desks
In the Flower Shoppe
In the Garden, In Her Bonnet
In the Hollow of Night
In This Brutal Heat...
Invisible
I Remember Rain
I saw in the news...
Isolation
It All Started…
Jack Frost
Jelly Beans
Junk Shop
Keepers of Secrets
Keepsakes
Key, The
Kindness
Laces of Fog
Lady Luck
La Golondrina
Language of Stones, The
Last Ghost of Summer, The
Last Rose, The
Leaves of Change
Letter You’ll Never Send
Liberty
Libraries
Light
Like a bad movie...
Like an Addiction
Little Cabin in the Woods
Little Monsters
Local Landscapes
Locks
Loneliness
Loss
Lost
Lost Hour, The
Lost in Joy
Lost Keys
Love
Love Week
Lunacy
Luscious
Marooned
Masks
Masks and Other Guises
May Day
Mementoes
Memories I Can't Shake
Mermaids
Message in a Bottle
Midnight
Midnight at the Oasis
Missing
Mix-Ups
Mom
Moms
Money
Monsters
Moon Gardens
More Than He Could Chew
Morning After the Night Before
Mothering, For Better or For Worse
Mountains and Molehills
Movin' On
Murmurous
Museum of My Life
Music
My Autobiography
My Camera Sees...
My Favorite Fish
My Favorite Painkiller
My Favorite Shirt
My Favorite Sin
My Favorite Sport
My Favorite Teachers
My Life as a Poet
My Misspent Youth
My Mother's Voice
My Secret Garden
Mysteries
Mysteries of December
Mysteries of Spring
My Tackle Box
My Three Follies
My Very First Broken Heart
Naked Truth, The
Nesting
New Beginnings
New Shoes
New Soil
Night is a Cup of Evil, The
Night Sounds
North Wind, The
No Tell Mo-Tel
November Treasures
Obsessions, Sweet and Otherwise
Odyssey
Off the Beaten Path
Oh, Those Appetites!
Old Anguish, The
Old Shoes
Ornery
One That Got Away
On the Road
On This Planet of Ours...
One Square Inch of Silence
One Step Ahead of the Sheriff
Open Doors
Opening the Window
Our Feathered Friends
Out of the Ashes
Out of Your Rut (Experimental)
Outrageous!
Overwhelmed
Painting
Pals
Paperwork
Parades
Paradise
Parched
Pawnshop
Payday
Peach
Perfect Gift, The
Perfect Storm, The
Pockets
Poems of the [Holiday] Season
Poem Starting With a Mustard Colored Car
Poetry
Poetry of the Overlooked
Poet's Tools, A
Politics
Poppies, Robins, and Other Signs of Spring
Porches
Quick Fixes
Quicksand
Quilt
Railroad Tracks
Rain
Rainbows
Rebirth
Reboot, Restore, Renew
Red
Regifting
Relentless
Remembering July 4
Renewal: Solvings, Turnings, Wakings
Rescue
RHS (Restless Heart Syndrome)
Rivers of Doubt
Roots
Roses in the Snow
Santa Cruz
Scents
Secret Admirer
Secret Gardens & Other Enchanted Places
Secrets in the Attic
Secrets in the Fog
Seeds
Seedy Motels
Self-Deceptions
Self-Portrait
Seven Deadly Virtues
Sex
Shadows of September
Shadows on a Summer's Eve
Sheer Poetry
Shelter
She's Nesting!
Shop 'Til You Drop
Shorter Days, Longer Nights
Siblings
Signs of Spring
Silence
Silk Stockings
Sisyphus
Six More Weeks of Winter
Skydiving Without a Parachute
Skyward
Sleep
Sleepless Nights
Slow Dawns and Early Sunsets
Small Joys
Smoke
So Mad I Could...
Something Like Contentment
Songs of the City
Sorcery
Sounds of Children, The
Spare Time
Speed Dating
Spells
Spring Chickens
Spring Fever
Squid
Starting Fresh
Still Water
Stolen Days
Strangers on a Train
Stress Relief
Stuck
Sudden Heat
Suddenly
Summer
Sure Signs of Spring
Surprise
Sweet Dreams
Telephone Rang, The
Tenderness
Thanksgiving
That Big Bear of a Man
That Special Gift
That Woman Selling Carnations
These Fragile Young
Thief, The
Things I Can't Stand
Things I Have Forgotten
Things We Keep, Things We Leave Behind
Things We’re Afraid to Write About
Things Without Names
This Fragile Earth
This Hallowed Earth
This Infernal Heat
This is Me...
This Murky Pond
Those Infernal Machines
Through the Back Door of the Castle
Through the Open Window...
Time
Tiny Moments of Great Joy
Tomorrow
Tongue-Twisters/Alliteration
Too Rushed For My Own Good
Topsy-Turvy
Toy Box, The
Traces
Traps
Trash to Treasure
Trees
Tricks, Treats and Treasures
Trikes and Bikes
Troll Who Lives Under My Desk, The
Trunk in the Attic, The
Tumble of Years, The
Turkeys
Turning of the Year, The
Turning the Key
Twilight
Under the Boardwalk
Under the Mighty Oak
Unexpected Joy
Unexpected Pleasures
Unwanted Guests
Voyages
Wages of Sin
Waiting
Waiting For Daylight
Walking Through Walls
Walls
Watchers, The
Watch Where You Swim
Water
Waves
Wearing the Pants
Weather Report
Weeds
What a Circus!
Whatever Suits Your Pen
What My Camera Sees
What Remains
When All Else Fails
When Cats Disappear
When Dad and I...
When the Fog Lifts
When the Muse Draws a Blank...
Where the Wild Goose Goes
Where There's Smoke...
White Cat in the Alley
White Page of Silence
Wildfire
Wild Horses
Wild Winds and Cheeky Breezes
Wilted White Chrysanthemums
Window Shopping
Wings
Winter in the Woods
Witchcraft
Wolf at the Door
Woman With a Cat
Women
Workshops
Worry
Wrong Decisions
Yellow
You Will Need the Witch's Cabin Key