NaPoMo’25
Prompt-a-Day

April 17

A solitary figure sits atop a red truck, framed by a moody sky, and a quiet expanse of land. The moment feels like a threshold—poised between the weight of the past and the possibility of what’s to come.

For this prompt, delve deeply into the intersection of mood, symbolism, and narrative. Consider:

• How does the figure’s posture or placement against the landscape inform the emotional resonance of the scene?

• Explore the truck as a vessel—what histories, journeys, or dreams might it carry?

• Let the sky become a metaphor: does it brood with untold stories or stretch open with possibility?

Write a poem that evokes the tension between stillness and movement, solitude and connection, rootedness and wanderlust.

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April 16

Write a poem that captures the essence of motion, connection to nature, or the untamed spirit. Consider weaving in sensory details like the sound of hooves, the feel of the wind, or the sight of the distant hills. Explore what it means to be free.

Rhythm is an important component of a poem. Be aware of the rhythm you are creating with your accented and unaccented syllables. If you wish, write the poem in meter to mimic the beat of the horses’ hooves. If not meter, then repeat a pattern of accented syllables in each stanza. Choose your words to repeat the pattern…keep your ear “to the ground!”

April 15

Look closely at the image. Notice the intricate patterns on the sand, the broken shell, and the shadow it casts. What might the broken shell symbolize? Does it speak of fragility, transformation, or the end of something?

Write a poem that explores themes of impermanence, resilience, or the interplay between nature and time.

April 14

The image captures a moment of unity, resistance, and strength—fists raised, people gathered, a movement in motion. Let this scene inspire your poetry. Imagine yourself in the crowd: What do you hear? Feel? Smell? Write a poem from the perspective of someone experiencing this moment firsthand.

OR

Reflect on the collective power of a protest. How do individual voices come together to create change or hope?

April 13

Simply, write about a time when you experienced the emotions of fishing, of being in nature, of the wait and anticipation. Use water, sun, and/or tree-lined horizon imagery to add interest to your poem.

OR

Let this scene inspire you to write about waiting, patience, or the unexpected joys (or challenges) of life.

1. Imagine what lies beneath the water’s surface. Is it calm or restless? What might you catch—memories, dreams, or something unknown?

2. Explore the idea of "casting a line." It could represent reaching for a goal, searching for connection, or even letting go of something.

3. Use water imagery—ripples, reflections, or the feel of sunlight on the surface—to bring your poem to life.

April 12

Using the image of the Ferris wheel as inspiration, write a pantoum—a poetic form where lines are repeated—to mimic the cyclical motion of the wheel. Consider how the constant turning could symbolize life's repetitive patterns, cycles of emotion, or the interplay of change and constancy. Allow the repetition to emphasize the cyclical or meditative nature of the Ferris wheel.

Draw from the image. Think about the Ferris wheel's towering presence, the motion of its cabins, and the way it interacts with the sky and surroundings.

Reflect on themes such as nostalgia, progress, or the passage of time.

In the pantoum:

• Lines 2 and 4 of each stanza become lines 1 and 3 of the next.

• The second and fourth lines of the final stanza repeat the third and first lines of the first stanza.

April 11

For this image, focus on giving the wall a voice or personality and creating strong imagery.

Look closely at the image of this wall. Imagine it as an observer, a protector, or even a silent participant in the world around it.

Write a poem inspired by:

1. The textures, patterns, and imperfections of the wall—what stories do they suggest?

2. How the wall interacts with its surroundings (the sky, plants, or people who pass by).

3. What the wall might symbolize—strength, resilience, isolation, or something else entirely.

Optional: You may want to copy the image into a word doc or other application and enlarge it to see the many details close up. Do you see the moss, the dried stalks of plants, other objects? Can you read the inscriptions?

April 10

This image captures the intimate bond between a parent and child, a moment of vulnerability, strength, and connection. Think about the positioning, the hands, and the closeness—each tells a story. Write a poem that explores the physical and emotional imprints of parenthood. Consider the transformations of the body and spirit, the weight of nurturing, and the quiet power in these fleeting moments of touch. How does parenthood shape identity, resilience, or love? Let your words reflect the journey of care and connection.

OR

If you do not identify as a parent, consider writing from a child’s perspective. Imagine yourself as the child in this image. Write a poem exploring the sensations, thoughts, or emotions you might feel in this moment of closeness. What does this embrace mean to you? How do the textures, warmth, and presence of your parent shape your view of love, safety, or the world around you?

April 9

Look at this image as a field of design: a sea of soft floral repetition disrupted by a sweep of ornate geometry. Envision this visual is an abstraction, a conversation between two kinds of beauty—one wild, one disciplined.

Write a poem inspired by this interruption in pattern. Use the image as a metaphor or mood to explore contrast, transition, or transformation. What happens when two different forces meet? When order is imposed on the natural? Or when softness resists structure?

• Use imagery rooted in texture, shape, and movement—think beyond objects.

• Use repetition to create rhythm, then intentionally break that rhythm.

• Introduce metaphor or symbolism from the image without directly describing it (e.g., “the stitched sky,” “a bloom inside a compass”).

April 8

Look closely at the photo. A child runs through a golden field, laughter lighting up her face, her hand held by someone unseen. The sun breaks through the mountains in the background, casting a soft, glowing light over everything.

Write a poem inspired by this captured moment. Consider these questions as you write:

• Who are the people in this photo? What’s their relationship?

• What emotions are hidden in the grasp of their hands?

• How does the setting (the field, the mountains, the sunlight) reflect the feeling of the moment?

Use vivid imagery and sensory language to bring the scene to life. Your poem can be joyful, nostalgic, bittersweet, or even surreal—let the image take you wherever it leads.

April 7

Let this image be a portal to the past. Perhaps it’s the door to a childhood home, a long-gone friend’s cottage, or a place you once wandered in a dream. Write a reflective poem about what it meant to walk through that door once, and what it means to return.

If you prefer to do a little brainstorming before you create the poem, do it! This is a great prompt for some free-write time. Find your most resonant images and allow them to guide you to your poem’s opening.  

April 6

Write about the feeling of being alone, or the feeling of being empty, or of peacefulness, or of longing, or missing, or confinement. Or write about what feeling this image evokes. Consider the mood set by the lighting, the expression on her face, the juxtaposition of light and dark. When editing think about where and why you break your lines as you do. Each element of the poem should be accountable to the whole poem. The poem should hang as a whole. A woven tapestry of continual meaning and form.

April 5

What “swim at your own risk” behaviors do you harbor and perhaps enact? Consider those that go beyond crossing against the red types of infractions. If you play by the rules, what do you believe keeps you within boundaries?

OR

Let’s try a form poem for this prompt. Think about a particular time at the beach. What made it special and memorable? To create a memorable poem, use a “List Poem” format. See information on List Poems or Catalog Poems at https://poets.org/glossary/list-poem . Notice in the examples, the subtle change in language to the opening phrases. This shift works to keep the poem fresh and unexpected. Also, there is a progression or build-up of items that ultimately tells a story. Perhaps, the unexpected. The list poem has movement and a point.

Another fine example comes from Hayden Saunier, a poet living in my Pennsylvania county of Bucks. Notice how the careful crafting creates a story. http://www.ucityreview.com/25_Saunier_Hayden.html

April 4

Suppose that the person in the image is writing a letter of farewell. This might account for his contemplative posture and his pause in completing the letter. If you were to write a letter of farewell, not necessarily to someone (though it might be), but to something, some aspect of your life, what might that letter say? When preparing to write, imagine yourself in the image in place of the person seated there. Contemplate your mood (different than tone) in that moment. Project this onto the scene. Take your time with this step. Observe posture, pose, expression, lighting.

When writing, consider the tone you will adopt (your attitude toward the subject). When editing replace non-tonal (bland) words with other stronger words that support your tenor. A trick for emphasizing a particular tone is to list the tonal words you’ve used to see if they hint at a similar quality. If not, consider substituting them with synonyms.

April 3

Sitting at the center of its web, this spider can easily survey its world while waiting for its prey. The spider’s web, a masterpiece of engineering, is patiently created for a purpose, and while we may react, often with revulsion at the spider’s actions, its behavior is one of survival. Don’t we all create our own worlds, intricate yet purposeful? Create a word web with you, dear survivor, in the middle, and radiating from the center, insert words that describe your coping/survival strategies. When you have populated the word web sufficiently, free-write about your particular existence, referring to the word web for further revelation. How do you greet the morning? How do you survey your day? Interact? Defend? What mechanisms you have put into place to survive? What is the consequence?

The result may not be a poem (yet), but examine your free-write for resonant images, complex discoveries, unexpected turns, or words of striking beauty. Using these as momentum, now craft your poem.

Note: The use of a word web can prod the imagination by teasing out the components of a complex idea. Its uses are many: expansion of a poem, alternative language, titles, more.

April 2

Encompassed: /inˈkəmpəs,enˈkəmpəs/
verb
1. Surrounded and have or held within

 When was the last time you felt “held within” something or someone? Like the child’s hands surrounded with the adult’s, within another’s keeping, perhaps. It can mean so much more than the simple act of holding. One holds a pencil, a spoon, holds a cup of coffee, but to be “held within” or to “hold within” denotes the idea of being encompassed, of being surrounded. In this image, one might imagine the action as one of affection, to so fully love someone, one wishes to absorb the object of one’s affection. However, might it also be an action of restraint? The wish to hold under control? This action, in opposition to allowing to be free, denotes a different feeling altogether.

 Describe a time when you felt “encompassed” whether by another or by an emotion, whether the outcome was positive or negative. Consider the physical response as well as the emotional. Consider the cause as well as the effect. If feeling brave, meditate on these feelings for a moment to recreate them. Where are you?

April 1

Consider that this image, awash in golden tones, as one from a dream. What might it symbolize? Is the sun setting on the child or is the sun rising? And what does that mean? Is the child running toward youth, or is the child a symbol of where we return in the end? Ponder, for a moment or two, the many meanings this image may hold and when you have settled on a meaning (you will know because it will take a firm hold on you), write into the image. Write a dream sequence, a dream scene, a dream suddenly unfolding its secrets to you. When returning to your writing to edit your piece, pay especial attention to the title; let it convey some context of the piece, a morsel of its intention.