2025 Poetry Prompts

Here are the prompts from the 2025 National Poetry Month Poetry Prompt Challenge.

Submissions for poems written in response to these prompts opened June 1, 2025. 

Send 1-2 previously unpublished poems inspired by any prompt posted during National Poetry Month April, 2025 in the body of an email to ZingaraPoet(at)gmail.com with the NAME OF THE PROMPT included in the subject line. 

Please include a few sentences about your writing process (how you got from prompt to final draft) in your email, including any of the revision prompts that helped you along the way (if you used one). I want to know about why you made the choices you made. If even one line, image, or theme from your original draft appears in the final version, it qualifies for this challenge.

• April 1: Journal Mining (due Aug. 31, 2025)
• April 2: Protection (due Aug. 31, 2025)
• April 3: Beginnings (due Aug. 31, 2025)
• April 4: Whispers of Work (due Aug. 31, 2025)
• April 5: Absences Unfolded (due Aug. 31, 2025)
• April 6: Transformation (due Aug. 31, 2025)
• April 7: Humor in Public Spaces (due Sept. 30, 2025)
• April 8: Utterance (due Sept. 30, 2025)
• April 9: Contradictions (due Sept. 30, 2025)
• April 10: Game On (due Sept. 30, 2025)
• April 11: Collect, Remix, Repeat (due Sept. 30, 2025)
• April 12: Pro-prose-al (due Sept. 30, 2025)
• April 13: What You Leave Behind (due Oct. 31, 2025)
• April 14: The Thin Veil (due Oct. 31, 2025)
• April 15: Eyesore (due Oct. 31, 2025)
• April 16: Apocryphal (due Oct. 31, 2025)
• April 17: Seventeen Syllables (due Oct. 31, 2025)
• April 18: Elemental (due Oct. 31, 2025)
• April 19: Chance It (due Nov. 30, 2025)
• April 20: Temp-orality (due Nov. 30, 2025)
• April 21: Focus Prompt (due Nov. 30, 2025)
• April 22: Intangible Inheritance (due Nov. 30, 2025)
• April 23: By Any Other Name (due Nov. 30, 2025)
• April 24: Hands On (due Nov. 30, 2025)
• April 25: In Tune (due Dec. 31, 2025)
• April 26: Not the Kind You Flip (due Dec. 31, 2025)
• April 27: Top of the Morning (due Dec. 31, 2025)
• April 28: Child’s Play (due Dec. 31, 2025)
• April 29: Endings that Shape Us (due Dec. 31, 2025)
• April 30: Course and Method (due Dec. 31, 2025)

Revision Prompts (due December 31, 2025)

Be Kind, Rewind

Stanza Is Another Name for Room

Find Your Rhythm

Submission Guidelines

2026 Editorial Calendar

Prompt	Due Date	Pub Date Range
April 1: Journal Mining	Aug. 31	Jan. 1-11
April 2: Protection	Aug. 31	Jan. 12-23
April 3: Beginnings	Aug. 31	Jan. 24-Feb 4
April 4: Whispers of Work	Aug. 31	Feb. 5-16
April 5: Absences Unfolded	Aug. 31	Feb. 17-28
April 6: Transformation	Aug. 31	Mar. 1-11
April 7: Humor	Sept. 30	Mar. 12-23
April 8: Utterance	Sept. 30	Mar. 24-Apr. 4
April 9: Contradictions	Sept. 30	Apr. 4-16
April 10: Game On	Sept. 30	Apr. 17-28
April 11: Collect, Remix, Repeat	Sept. 30	Apr. 29-May 10
April 12: Pro-prose-al	Sept. 30	May 11-22
April 13: What You Leave Behind	Oct. 31	May 23-Jun 3
April 14: The Thin Veil	Oct. 31	Jun 4-15
April 15: Eyesore	Oct. 31	Jun 16-27
April 16: Apocryphal	Oct. 31	Jun 28-July 9
April 17: 17 Syllables	Oct. 31	July 10-21
April 18: Elemental	Oct. 31	July 22-July 31
April 19: Chance It	Nov. 31	Aug. 1-11
April 20: Temp-orality	Nov. 31	Aug. 12-23
April 21: Focus Prompt	Nov. 31	Aug. 24-Sept. 4
April 22: Intangible Inheritance	Nov. 31	Sept. 5-16
April 23: By Any Other Name	Nov. 31	Sept. 17-28
April 24: Hands On	Nov. 31	Sept. 29-Oct. 10
April 25: In Tune	Nov. 31	Oct. 11-22
April 26: Not the Kind You Flip	Dec. 31	Oct. 23-31
April 27: Top of the Morning	Dec. 31	Nov. 1-11
April 28: Child’s Play	Dec. 31	Nov. 11-22
April 29: Endings that Shape Us	Dec. 31	Nov. 23-Dec. 3
April 30: Course and Method	Dec. 31	Dec. 3-14
Revision Prompts	Dec. 31	Dec. 15-31