A Space for Practicing Poets
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Seems like, when it come to revision, my work becomes better when I keep the stakes low.
For today’s prompt, try revising a poem with the aim of making it worse.
Alternatively, revise a poem by un-poeming it. That is, take away its lyricism, imagery, meter, and figurative language.
When finished, pat yourself on the back for a job well done.
The Zingara Project posted a poetry prompt every day in April for National Poetry Month and now seeks submissions of poems written in response to those prompts for Zingara Poetry Review.
Please send 1-2 poems inspired by any prompt posted during National Poetry Month April, 2025 in the body of an email to ZingaraPoet(at)gmail.com.
Include NAME OF THE PROMPT in the subject line of your email.
Include a few sentences about your writing process (how you got from prompt to final draft) in your email. It’s not necessary to explain what your poem is about, rather I am interested in why you made the choices that you made. For instance, why did you chose couplets (or other stanza length)? How did you discover the imagery or metaphors used in your poem? How many revisions did you make? Not these exact questions, but questions like these can serve as your guide.
For a great example of a poet writing about their process, take a look at the most recent guest blog post at Marsh Hawk Press in which Ellen Bass explicates some of her work. You do not have to be anywhere as involved or detailed as this example, but it does exemplify the kind of approach I am looking for.
Poems may be overtly related to any of the prompts, or have only a thread of connection. If you wrote a poem in response to a prompt and threw out all but one line during revision, that counts. Surprising is preferred to the predictable.
Be sure to also mention if you happened to use any of the revision prompts posted during May and June in the process.
Include a brief professional biography of 50 words or fewer, also in the body of your email.
Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let ZPR know immediately if submitted work is accepted elsewhere.
If accepted work is later published elsewhere, please acknowledge that the piece first appeared in Zingara Poetry Review.
There are no fees to submit.
Zingara Poetry Review retains first digital rights, though rights revert back to the author upon publication.
Today’s revision exercise suggests you select several rough and unfinished poem drafts to remix or combine. Here are a few approaches for consideration:
More is More: Combine two (or more) poems into one longer poem. Feel free to rearrange stanzas or lines. Consider creating a sectioned poem or a poem with parts.
Half and Half: Cut two poems in half and switch them around so the first half of poem one is now the first half of poem two and the first half of poem two is now the first half of poem one. Try variations of this process using three poem draft, or even four.
Print and Cut: Print copies of your chosen poem drafts and cut them apart by lines, stanzas or words. Place these cutouts on a clean table top and move them around. Experiment with different layouts and ordering until you have a new poem — one that feels finished or one that could be finished with just a little more revision or editing. Alternatively, the process may trigger an entirely different poem.
Line Roulette: Write a new poem using random lines from several poem drafts. You can add order to the process by making your own rules, such as using first lines from four or more poems for the first stanza, second lines for the second stanza, and so on.
I’m never one to impose rigid patterning into or onto a poem, but if a rhythmic pattern exists, the poet may want to take advantage of it.
Scan several poems you wrote in April and determine if they have a natural rhythm and/or meter.
Did you serendipitously write a poem in iambic pentameter or some other meter?
Do your lines seem to consistently contain a certain number of syllables?
Whatever you discover about your poems’ rhythms, lean into those rhythms and make them more intentional, more deliberate.
Once you identify a poem’s pattern, interrupt it once or twice to create interest and tension.
For example, if your poem contain 8 syllables per line, revise or write a line or two that contains 7 or 9 syllables.
If your poems seems to utilize anapestic hexameter, throw a dactyl or a heptameter into the mix.
Remember to keep the rhythm as natural as possible to avoid slipping into sing-songi-ness or Yoda speak.
Below is a quick review of feet and meters for reference.
See what arises for you, but don’t feel compelled to force anything.
Feet in Poetry
Iamb: a metrical foot containing two syllables, the first of which is unstressed and the latter of which is stressed (e.g., “today”).
Trochee: a metrical foot containing two syllables, the first of which is stressed and the second of which is unstressed (e.g., “matter”).
Spondee: a less common metrical foot in which two consecutive syllables are stressed (e.g., “A.I.”).
Anapest: a metrical foot containing three syllables, the first two of which are unstressed and the last of which is stressed (e.g., “unaware”).
Dactyl: a metrical foot containing three syllables, the first stressed and the following two unstressed (e.g., “Waverly”).
Meter in Poetry
The length of poetic meter is described using Greek suffixes:
Monometer – one foot, one beat per line
Dimeter – two feet, two beats per line
Trimeter – three feet, three beats per line
Tetrameter – four feet, four beats per line
Pentameter – five feet, five beats per line
Hexameter – six feet, six beats per line
Heptameter – seven feet, seven beats per line
Octameter – eight feet, eight beats per line
Revise a poem by reorganizing its stanzas considering how each choice affects the poem’s structure, language, syntax, continuity, rhythm, chronology, and imagery as you work.
Some approaches worth exploring include:
As you might guess, the goal is to discover the poem’s “about-ness” through serious play and experimentation. Aim for process rather than product, change over predictability.
by
Once upon a time in the country of Japan there lived two frogs, one of whom made his home in a ditch near the town of Osak, on the sea coast, while the other dwelt in a clear little stream which ran through the city of Kioto. At such great distance apart, they had never even heard of each other; but, funnily enough, the idea came into both their heads at once that they should like to see a little of the world, and the frog who lived at Kioto wanted to visit Osaka, and the frog who lived at Osaka wished to go to Kioto, where the great Mikado had his palace.
So one fine morning in the spring they both set out along the road that led from Kioto to Osaka, one from one end and the other from the other. The journey was more tiering than they expect, for they did not know much about traveling, and half way between the two towns there arose a mountain which had to be climbed. It took them a long time and a great many hops to reach the top, but there they were at last, and what was the surprise of each to see another frog before him! They looked at each other for a moment without speaking, and then fell into conversation, explaining the cause of their meeting so far from their homes. It was delightful to find that they both felt the same wish — to learn a little more of their native country — and as there was no sort of hurry they stretched themselves out in a cool damp place, and agreed that they would have a good rest before they parted to go their ways.
“What a pity we are not bigger,” said the Osaka frog; “for then we could see both town from here, and tell if it is worth our while going on.”
“Oh that is easily managed,” returned the Kioto frog. “We have only got to stand up on our hind legs, and hold on to each other, and then we can each look at the town he is traveling to.”
The idea pleased the Osaka frog so much that he at once jumped up and put his fron paws on the shoulders of his friend, who had risen also. There they both stood, stretching themselves as high as they could, and holding each other tightly, so that they might not fall down. The Kioto frog turned his nose toward Osaka, and the Osaka frog turned his nose toward Kioto; but the foolish things forgot that when the stood up their great eyes lay in the backs of their head, and that though their noses might point to the placed to which they wanted to go their eyes beheld the places from which they had come.
“Dear me!” cried the Osaka frog, “Kioto is exactly like Osaka. It is certainly not worth such a long journey. I shall go home!”
“If I had had any idea that Osaka was only a copy of Kioto I should never have travelled all this way,” exclaimed the frog from Kioto, and as he spoke he took his hands from his friend’s shoulders, and they both fell down on the grass. Then they took a polite farewell of each other, and set off for home again, and to the end of their lives they believed that Osaka and Kioto, which are as different to look at as two towns can be, were as like as two peas.
From The Violet Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang
One of the earliest revision exercises I remember experimenting with in my early days of writing poetry was to write an existing poem in reverse, a tactic, it turns out, that has variety of approaches:
The point really is not to write perfectly reversed poem to show that you are able to follow instructions correctly, though that may be the end result, but to rearrange the ways we see and interpret the poem and how it works and to follow where new discoveries lead. To allow the poem to lead rather than to impose meaning on the poem.
Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers–Brain, Child treats motherhood as a subject worthy of literature. And in the best tradition of literature, it celebrates the diversity of mothers and their styles. Our essays and features address readers as thinking individuals, not just medicine- dispensing, food-fixing, boo-boo-kissing mommies. We think of it this way: When our mothers wanted to hash over the important stuff with their girlfriends, they’d say to us, “Honey, the grown-ups are talking.” Brain, Child is like that: the place where grown-ups are talking.
Literary Mama: Writing about the many faces of motherhood–We celebrate an inclusive understanding of motherhood as experienced through diverse lenses and bodies and welcome perspectives that challenge readers’ assumptions and values about motherhood. We’re excited to publish work that crosses boundaries of race, gender, sexuality, culture, religion, age, disability, and/or economic status and encourage contributions that build community.
Mom Egg Review publishes literary work on mothers, mothering, and motherhood, in an annual print and quarterly online issues of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art. We also present craft notes, interviews, features, and book reviews online at http://merliterary.com. We publish established and new writers whose work reflects diverse experiences and perspectives on motherhood, literature, and art. MER supports and promotes the work of mother writers and artists through publications, performances, workshops, and educational programs. MER is about being a mother, in its many varieties. It is also about being a daughter, worker, partner, artist, a member of cultures and communities, and explores how these identities can collide and coexist.
Mutha: We’re interested in reading nonfiction about all aspects of the journey to becoming a parent (or determining a different path). Trying to conceive, LGBTQ parenting, birth stories of all variety, experiencing loss, early days and later struggles, joy and tough times and hope and forgiveness, funny stuff and sexy stuff and stuff you didn’t think you could say out loud but just wrote it down. Politics and rants and sob stories and what you wish you had heard before you thought of it. Send it to us.
Raising Mothers: Since 2015, Raising Mothers has served as a digital literary platform that amplifies and provides a supportive and inclusive space for Black, Asian, Latine(x), Indigenous and other marginalized identities from the global majority to share their experiences and creative works, while also advocating for social justice and equity.
Raising Mothers publishes experimental and traditional fiction, micro and flash, creative nonfiction, interviews, book reviews, photo essays, and comic/graphic narratives.
Here is a recap of prompts and poems from the last half of April. Hoping they were, and continue to be, a source of creative inspiration.
Watch for weekly revision exercises through the month of May beginning Monday, May 5
Submissions for poems written as a result of following any posted prompt or revision exercise opens on June 1.
Poems to Inspire
“January haiku” by Frank Higgins
“A Modern Sonnet” by Cleopatra Lim
Poems to Inspire
“spring is a time of death” by J.C. Mari
Poem for Inspiration
“Emily Dickinson May Be Weary” by Rikki Santer
Poems to Inspire
“My Brother Julian’s Apple Core” by Alejandro Lucero
“Take the Apple” by Michelle Holland
Poems to Inspire
“How to Baptize a Child in Philadelphia, PA” by Mike Zimmerman
“How My Father Learned English” by Juan Morales
“Woodworking Lessons” by Mike Zimmerman
Poems to Inspire
“Living in Opryland” by Javy Awan
“Let it go on and on” by Kenneth Pobo
“Reverend Billy’s Boogie Woogie and Mom’s Gulbranson by Gianna Russo
Poems to Inspire
“Blackbird” by Yvette R. Murray
“The Lark Ascended” by Wayne Lee
“Bird, Tired Bird” by Sue Blaustein
Poems to Inspire
Predictable Patterns by Laurinda Lind
Poems to Inspire
“Directions Back to Childhood” by Judith Waller Carroll
“Elegy with Ice Cream” by Kathy Nelson
“When I Got My Ears Pierced” by Sophie Cohen
“On the Eve of Roberto Clemente’s Third Miracle” by Michael Brockley
Poems to Inspire
“Seas of Change” by Marc Janssen
“Manumission: A Codependent Romance” by KJ Hannah Greenberg
Poems to Inspire
“In Step With Desire” by Margaret Randall
“A Better Poem” by Thomas Zimmerman
“Eyes Fastened with Poems” by Lois Marie Harrod
“On the Occasion of 50 Years of Poems” by Alan Perry
“Listening To Poetry That I Don’t Understand” by John F. McMullen
As we near April 30th and the imminent conclusion to this year’s poem-a-day prompt, I can’t help but to think about endings.
For today’s prompt, make a list of endings from your life.
Your list could include things like the end of a day, or of the night, the end of a job, the end of a movie, the end of a pet’s tail, or any other creative interpretation you have for the concept of “endings.”
Chose an ending from your list that speaks to you right now—one that you feel would be fruitful for writing.
What would your inner young person rather be doing today?
Gosh. The choices are endless as they are individual.
For today’s poem, create a world for your inner child or teen to inhabit. What does it look like? Include sights, sounds, scents, texture, even taste in your descriptive treatment.
Feel free to use flashbacks, and language typical for the age group.
Here are a few poems to inspire:
“Directions Back to Childhood” by Judith Waller Carroll
“Elegy with Ice Cream” by Kathy Nelson
“When I Got My Ears Pierced” by Sophie Cohen
“On the Eve of Roberto Clemente’s Third Miracle” by Michael Brockley
Birds, I mean.
Yep. They show up in poems all the time.
Sometimes they are even the sole focus of entire collections and anthologies. This truth makes it challenging to write about birds in a way that feels original and surprising.
Doesn’t mean you can’t do it.
Write a poem that uses birds as its subject or as its image and metaphor. And–you guessed it–make it original and surprising.
This is a great opportunity to play with paradoxes and analogies.
Here are poems from Zingara Poetry Review for inspiration:
“Blackbird” by Yvette R. Murray
Use your memories, expertise, and personal knowledge around and about a specific musical artist, band, event, concert, or performance to create a vivid poem about the encounter.
While words cannot actually recreate an event, your poem should aim to render an immersive experience for the reader.
This is a great opportunity to incorporate onomatopoeia.
Poems for inspiration:
“Living in Opryland” by Javy Awan
“Let it go on and on” by Kenneth Pobo
“Reverend Billy’s Boogie Woogie and Mom’s Gulbranson by Gianna Russo
The Zingara Project 