Sharpening the Pen: Haifa! is participating in National (U.S.A.) Poetry Month. Each person is striving to write one poem daily throughout April, and you are welcome to join us!! Write about anything that comes to mind. And, if you need some ideas, you can check out the following writing prompts. There are 30 listed on spirituality and reflection. We will be meeting 15 April to share our most inspiring pieces so far…

“Know thou of a truth that the seeker must, at the beginning of his quest for God, enter the Garden of Search…. He must search after the truth to the utmost of his ability and exertion, that God may guide him in the paths of His favour and the ways of His mercy.” Write about your search for faith, however ‘God’ might apply to your life.

Make a list of three people: one family member, one person that you know of but don’t know personally, and one past or present love interest. Choose one from the list to be the subject of this poem. Write in the form of a letter to your subject, or telling the story of the conversation you would have with him/her/it.

Write taking a new perspective on a cliché (e.g. at the end of my rope)

List your three greatest weaknesses. Write about sharing a two bedroom apartment with a personification of one of those weaknesses.

Write about an event from the perspective of only one of your senses. 

Write from the perspective of a plant growing in a historic location.

Write involving some sort of repetition, be it in a structured form (such as a villanelle or a pantoum), or inventing your own pattern.

Write about a memory too difficult to talk about.

Research a late religious leader (an Apostle, Iman, Hand of the Cause, etc) and write a poem about his/her life’s story.

Write in the form of an editorial sharing some “good news”. 

Write about a major world event from the perspective of a child. 

Write from the perspective of the bird in “Ye are even as the bird which soareth, with the full force of its mighty wings and with complete and joyous confidence, through the immensity of the heavens, until, impelled to satisfy its hunger, it turneth longingly to the water and clay of the earth below it, and, having been entrapped in the mesh of its desire, findeth itself impotent to resume its flight to the realms whence it came.”

Write an ode to an object that is significant in your life.

Write a poem at least 50 words long using only one-syllable words.

Take one of your poems (preferably a long one) and edit it down to 99 words.

Write about one of your siblings (or childhood friend if you are an only child). Use an anecdote to describe his or her quirks, characteristics, or personality.

Reflect on the bounty of one a sacred experience you’ve had and write about it.

Write a poem inspired by the melody of your favorite song. Try to make the rhythm of the poem follow the overall rhythm of the song.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá says that the heart is a box and language is its key. Only by using the key can we unlock the box and observe the gems inside. Think of a person in your life–perhaps someone you have had a conflict with. Write a poem to unlock that box.

Write about a train.

Write as if you were back in school and the teacher made you write a phrase one-hundred times on a chalkboard. What would the phrase be? Perhaps think of a challenge you had to overcome as a child.

Write comparing one of your experiences to another performing art. How was the event like a ballet dancer’s recital, a trapeze artist’s first circus show, a painter’s street mural, etc.

Search through your Facebook friends (or your address book if you don’t have an account) and find a friend that went to high school with you. Try to recall a memory with that person and write on that.

Write explaining how your work (inside or outside of the World Centre) is worship. “Work done in the spirit of service is the highest form of worship” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Find the text of an advertisement, something really materialistic. Take the text and transform it into something beautiful and moving.

Write about the comfort of blankets, use similes, metaphors, and/or anthropomorphisms.

Write about the last words or thoughts of someone or something right before it dies.

Visual prompt! Keep a look out for pictures hanging on walls anywhere you go on this day. Write based on the picture that struck you the most.

Find your spirit animal for fun at http://www.jerismithready.com/quiz/. Then write about it.

Seek out a co-worker that you haven’t gotten to know well and ask them how they ended up working at your job. Write on that person’s story or the conversation you had with your co-worker.

Also check out the original, Sharpening the Pen: Portland! 

Write On!!! 

(Source: napowrimo.net)

some will deem this metamorphosis
of a supernatural power
as we breathe words like
droplets of water. midnight showers
soothing the coarse quaked memories that have forced these cracks beneath our surface

refashioned
we will wrap each other
in a soft armor of blankets. in this solid delicacy named skin

simply call this: states of matter.

(Source: facebook.com)

(Source: andreahope.org)

(Source: andreahope.org)