OctPoWriMo Day 31

Congratulations, you made it all the way to the end of OctPoWriMo 2020! You are a success for writing poetry whether you wrote one poem, 31 poems, or somewhere in between. I hope you have enjoyed the journey, learned things along the way, expanded your poetry practice, and plan on continuing writing poetry throughout the year. 

Photo by MDragonwillow

"Where there is light, there must be shadow,

 where there is shadow there must be light."

-Haruki Murakami

Poetry Prompts:

Here we go, the last prompts for OctPoWriMo 2020. Write for ten minutes about light, dark, and shadow. Our lives are filled with all three and you can't have one without the others. It is when we learn to embrace all three, that our voice grows strong and fills our words with heart. I haven't quite learned how to do this, but I'm working on it. Embrace all aspects of yourself, you are worthy, you are loved, and you are perfect in your imperfection.

Word Prompts:

Worthy

Embrace

Light

Dark

Shadow

Imperfections

Warrior

Poetry Type:

Parallelogram de Crystalline - Instead of writing to the beauty of a lover, write of the light, dark, and shadow compared to nature or to each other.

Or

Florette #2

Music and Dance:

I struggled to find the right song for this last prompt, but I finally found it.

Peace to you, 

Morgan Dragonwillow

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Please visit her Patreon page to discover more of her words, art, and prompts, including her uncensored self.

OctPoWriMo Day 30

Thursday I had fun creating characters for the story I'll be working on for NaNoWriMo in November. I'm hoping to have a breakthrough like I did a couple of years ago when I wrote that story in less than two weeks and went on to write eight more stories over the next several months. I had an amazing breakthrough during that time period and got to a point I was writing about twenty thousand words a day. I didn't even know that was possible, let alone that I'd ever be able to accomplish it myself. I'm excited to see what will happen this time.

Art by MDragonwillow

Poetry Prompts: 

We are almost at the end of OctPoWriMo. Those of you still here have worked really hard to keep going to the end. You've tried new forms and poured your heart onto the page. Today is all about you. Write for ten minutes beginning with, I am... and tell us who you are in any form you wish. Get expressive with it.

Poetry Type:

Anything you want. Some form you absolutely loved.

Word Prompts:

wild

spontaneous

bent

funny

crooked

weird

curvy

 Music and Dance:

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Please visit her Patreon page to discover more of her words, art, and prompts, including her uncensored self.

OctPoWriMo Day 29

  I have a thing for trains and railroad tracks. They always make me think of stories of hobos and the times as a child I wished I could jump on a train and ride away. 

Photo from PublicDomainPictures.net 
by Linda Thomas

Poetry Prompts: 

What stories do you have about railroad tracks from your childhood? Write for ten minutes exploring the tracks. 

Word Prompts:

traveling

vagabond

nomadic

wanderer

Poetry Types:

Puente

or

Octain Refrain

Music and Dance:

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Please visit her Patreon page 

to discover more of her words, art, and prompts, including her uncensored self.

OctPoWriMo Day 28

Today was a rollercoaster of emotions. Something happened this morning that made me so angry and it was difficult for me to come out of that. When I finally did it was like I crashed and then cried at the drop of a hat. Part of it is I'm tired, part is the stress and anxiety of everything going on right now in my life and in the world. This afternoon and evening was better. 

Photo by MDragonwillow

Poetry Prompts: 

Write for ten minutes about choices or a journey.

Word Prompts:

Journey

Path

Trail

Decision

Choices

Poetry Type:

Fable

Or

Lannet

Music and Dance:

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Please visit her Patreon page 

to discover more of her words, art, and prompts, including her uncensored self.

OctPoWriMo Day 27

I drew a blank for today so I decided to get some inspiration from one of my old favorites, Public Domain Pictures. Of course I chuckled when I discovered who did this photo, George Hodan. He is one of my favorites on their site. Nine times out of ten if I like a photo it ends up being his. This one I found to be quite magical.

Photo from PublicDomainPictures
by George Hodan 

Poetry Prompts:

Even though I have shared some prompts that were in the same line as magical, I didn't actually have a prompt with the main theme as magical/magic. I know not all of you celebrate Oct. 31st. So you can choose to write about whatever form of magic you choose or not. Write for ten minutes about Halloween, or Samhain, a special time in your life, a special costume/celebration/get together. What does the day mean to you? Do you believe it is when the veil between worlds is the thinnest and you can say goodbye to loved ones who have passed in the previous year? Do you think it is just a silly holiday that has been over commercialized? Do you believe it is to be avoided at all costs? Every belief is valid. Every belief matters.

Word Prompts:

Magic

Holidays/Holy Days

Ancestors

childhood

special

veil

between

Midnight

Poetry Type:

Terzanelle

Or

Decuain

Music and Dance:

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Please visit her Patreon page 

to discover more of her words, art, and prompts, including her uncensored self.

OctPoWriMo Day 26

I just realized that with the ending of October, NaNoWriMo is going to begin. And yes, I'm wanting to participate this year. Looks like my days just got even busier as I need to quickly begin planning what I'll be writing. 

Do you have plans for when OctPoWriMo is over, are there other poetry challenges you'll be participating in? 

Art by MDragonwillow

Poetry Prompts: 

When I was young, I was singled out because of my red hair. Back then I didn't like being different. All I wanted was to be normal. It didn't take long for me to realize I actually liked being different and I never wanted to be normal again. What in your life made you different or the same? Write for ten minutes about being different or the same. What is normal anyway?

Word Prompts:

Different

Same

Normal

Abnormal (I'm hearing Abby normal in my head. LOL!)

Music and Dance:

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Please visit her Patreon page 

to discover more of her words, art, and prompts, including her uncensored self.

OctPoWriMo Day 25

It has been an interesting day. I worked on posts for my Patreon and set some new goals for myself. I'm not going to let my car issues get me down. I'm tired of allowing set backs to get in the way of things I want in my life. If not now, when? 

Wow... we are in the last week of OctPoWriMo! You can do it!

Art by MDragonwillow

Poetry Prompts: 

You know I like to break the rules of poetry, yes it is wonderful to try new poetry types to expand what we know about words and how they fall to the page, but, it is time to create a poem type of your own. Write for ten minutes about breaking the rules, how does it make you feel about breaking rules, is it exciting or anxiety making? 

Word Prompts:

Stretch

Disorder

Chaos

Expand

Anarchy

Poetry Type:

Really, I hope you give it a shot and create your own poetry form.

Music and Dance:

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Please visit her Patreon page 

to discover more of her words, art, and prompts, including her uncensored self.

OctPoWriMo Day 24

 Sometimes we want to try something new but we put it off for tomorrow and tomorrow never comes.

Photo by MDragonwillow 

This is my cat Tia day before yesterday as she explored outside on leash for the first time. She is about a year and a half and I've wanted to train her to be on leash since I got her around four months old.

Poetry Prompts:

Write for ten minutes about something you've always wanted to do, but haven't allowed yourself to do it yet.

Word Prompts:

Daring

Try

Procrastination 

Why not

Poetry Type:

Joseph's Star - I have a special affinity for this form as I wrote a poem about my grandpa Joe using it. 

Or

LaJemme

Music and Dance:

Yo-Yo Ma - This Little Light of Mine

One of my favorite songs to dance to and feel good.

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Please visit her Patreon page 

to discover more of her words, art, and prompts, including her uncensored self.

OctPoWriMo Day 23

 Some days are good and some not so good. Today was not so good and I'll leave it at that. 

Art by MDragonwillow

Poetry Prompts:

In times like these finding something, anything, to be grateful for can help me pull myself out of a downward spiral and feeling like nothing is going right. Write for ten minutes about gratitude, what you are grateful for, how gratitude shows up for you. 

Word Prompts:

Hope

Dream

Anticipation

Thankful

Poetry Types:

Trolaan

Or

La'libertas

Music and Dance:

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Please visit her Patreon page 

to discover more of her words, art, and prompts, including her uncensored self.

OctPoWriMo Day 22

Something is stirring, deep in the belly, can you feel it?

Photo by MDragonwillow 

Poetry Prompts:

Turn on your favorite channel for music and choose a word or phrase that strikes your fancy and begin your poem there. 

Or

Randomly open one of your favorite books and the first word or phrase that pops out at you, begin there.

Word Prompts:

Inspiration 

Intuitive

Follow your gut

Surprise

Poetry Type:

If you choose a word you could do an Acrostic and you could create a story as I did in, LIPSTICK.

Or

Ottawa Rima - I'm not sure if I've posted this one before. I've kinda lost track. Feel free to choose whatever form feels right for your words.

Music and Dance:

The Hu - Song of Women feat Lzzy Hale of Halestorm

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Please visit her Patreon page 

to discover more of her words, art, and prompts, including her uncensored self.

OctPoWriMo Day 21

We are going through the senses and next up is taste. 

Photo by MDragonwillow 

Poetry Prompts: 

It's all about the taste. Can you remember the first time you tasted something sour? Sweet? Write for ten minutes about your favorite and least favorite flavors/meal/fruit/vegetable. Describe it as if we have never heard of it let alone tasted it. What is the texture, how does it feel on your tongue, is it subtle or does the flavor explode in your mouth? Yes, I'm a foodie, I love to cook and love to eat.

Word Prompts:

Delectable 

Tantalizing 

Explosive

Creamy

Bitter 

Sour

Poetry Type:

Free Verse - I know we've done this one before, but it felt like a good fit.

Or

Choose a more difficult one that you previously passed up.

Music and Dance:

Sleeping at Last "Taste"

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Please visit her Patreon page 

to discover more of her words, art, and prompts, including her uncensored self.

OctPoWriMo Day 20

Yesterday was all about sight, sound, and scents, today we're going to explore touch.

Photo by MDragonwillow 

Poetry Prompts:

Write for ten minutes exploring touch and how things feel. 

Word Prompts:

Plush

Furry

Coarse

Soft

Hard

Cold

Poetry Type:

Nove Otto

Or

Use one of your favorite forms.

Music and Dance:

Meghan Trainor - Better When I'm Dancin'

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Please visit her Patreon page 

to discover more of her words, art, and prompts, including her uncensored self.

OctPoWriMo Day 19

Do you feel a shift happening with your poetry since OctPoWriMo began? Are the words getting easier or harder to dance onto the page? Do you feel you're digging deeper?

Photo by MDragonwillow 

Poetry Prompts:

Todays prompts are about being in the present. Write for ten minutes about the sounds, sights, and scents around you. Dig deep and use words you don't regularly use.

Word Prompts:

Roar

Dripping

Rough

Smooth

Dark

Putrid

Sweet

Stale

Poetry Type:

Synchronicity 

Or

LaCharta

Music and Dance:

Disturbed - The Sound of Silence

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Please visit her Patreon page 

to discover more of her words, art, and prompts, including her uncensored self.

OctPoWriMo Day 18

Today I took time to rest and process feelings that were weighing heavy on me. Lately, the best way I know of processing my feelings is through painting. It is what works for me. 

I spent the afternoon and evening on this. I mostly used my fingers to paint and painted my hand and pressed down for the handprint. All of the hearts that I drew, reminded me that it always comes back to love and healing my heart. 

Art by MDragonwillow

Poetry Prompts:

How do you relax and process your feelings? Write for ten minutes about relaxing or processing your feelings. What does your favorite relaxing day look like? What would it look like to process your feelings?

Word Prompts:

Rejuvenate

Reboot

Breathe

Meditation

Process

Healing

Poetry Type: 

Diatelle

or 

Go back and look at poetry types you haven't tried and pick one.

Music and Dance:

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Please visit her Patreon page 

to discover more of her words, art, and prompts, including her uncensored self.

OctPoWriMo Day 17

 Sometimes life throws a little magic into your day and you want to dance under the stars.

Photo by MDragonwillow 

Poetry Prompts:

Write for ten minutes about your wild rhythm. 

Word Prompts:

Blood

Bones 

Breath

Heart

Belly

Poetry Type:

ABC Poem where every sentence starts with the next letter in the alphabet beginning with the letter A.

Or

Your favorite poetry type so far.

Music and Dance:

Does anyone listen to the music? 

Raylee - Wild

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Please visit her Patreon page 

to discover more of her words, art, and prompts, including her uncensored self.

OctPoWriMo Day 16

Welcome to the halfway point of OctPoWriMo. If you have made it this far, congratulations! If you are struggling, hang in there, you can do it!

Photo by MDragonwillow and edited with Pxlr.

Poetry Prompts:

 When we were kids we were told to color the objects the colors they are supposed to be; sky is blue, grass is green and so on. This prompt is about turning things inside out and upside down. Painting the sky purple, the grass pink and everything else any darn color you want. Allow yourself to get creative, paint a scene with your words, turn the world inside out. Write for ten minutes describing what your world looks like if it were inside out and upside down. 

Word Prompts: 

Indigo

Tangerine

Vermilion

Midnight

Dusk

Poetry Type: 

The Pictorial

or

Mirrored Refrain

Music and Dance:

Pink, Just Like Fire. From Alice Through the Looking Glass

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Please visit her Patreon page 

to discover more of her words, art, and prompts, including her uncensored self.

OctPoWriMo Day 15 - Change of perspective

 "Perhaps nothing is entirely true, not even this." ~ Multatuli

 

 

Art by A. van Son 

 

I remember reading this quote by Multatuli, a Dutch 19th century writer, for the first time and feeling like I was hit by lightning.
 

The prompt for today is change of perspective. We can get stuck in what we believe in, even though it might not be entirely true. Today's suggestion for the writing process is taken from my work as a coach. It might bring you unexpected views on a familiar subject. Or not. The idea that you HAVE to come up with something new is nothing more than a perspective...

 

Step 1 

Choose a subject that you find challenging in your life. It can be small (a daily detail) or big. Free write about that for at least 5 minutes. 

 

Step 2  

Make a list of things: 

• Write down three stages of moving through life (for example baby, toddler, teenager). Consider using words from your mother tongue. 
• List a book you’ve read, a film you’ve seen, a song you love.
• Name three parts of your body that are not your head or your heart. 

Step 3  

Explore three things from your list further, through one of these suggestions:

• free writing
• writing 10 lines per subject
• mind-mapping

Step 4 

Look at your chosen challenge through the lens of one or more of the explorations you did in step. This will bring new perspectives. Choose which perspective you want to write from.

An example:

1) Patience is a challenge I often face and fail

2) My list:

• baby, peuter, puber
• the goelag archipelago, ice age, moondance
• left foot, elbow, earlobe

4) If I look through patience through the lens of puberty, I get really angry. I want it, I want it now, and I’m not going to waste my life waiting for things I will not get.

If I look at patience through the lens of my left foot it starts tapping, the tapping slowly turns into exploring movement and I end up dancing.

I’m bored with the first perspective, it feels too familiar. I’m curious about the perspective of the left foot, so I’ll let that inform my poem.

Step 5 

Choose a form:

• any form you feel called to for this one.
• a diamante
• a prose poem 
  

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

 

Angela van Son has been an #OctPoWriMo participant since 2014. She is about to publish More than meets the I, an alloy of poetry and photography that brings beauty, depth and wonder. 

Angela's poems have been published in a number of online magazines, for example Cold Mountain Review, Auroras and Blossoms Poetry Journal, and Art Saves Lives International.  

As a coach Angela helps people change their life stories by getting things done, facing the rabbit holes of their choice and creating wonderful ever afters.

 

OctPoWriMo Day 14

 

Sometimes truth is the hardest thing to face, especially when you take a moment to examine YOUR truth. What you see or believe may be very different from what that means to another person, but that's the beauty of it all. Your truth makes you unique. It can give you strength or challenge you to face situations or beliefs which may be painful or filled with sorrow. It can bring great joy or supreme satisfaction. 

Poetry Prompt

Take some time to think about your truth. Where do your thoughts lead? Are there particular images or memories this truth conjures? Was it something you felt the need to defend or was it that something that fortified you in times of need? Your truth is a part of your being. Introduce us to him/her.

Word Prompts

absolute                            bravado                           reckoning

freedom                            peace                               flexible

fortitude                            independent                    reason

Poetry Type

Villanelle

     or

Cascade

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions, you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Michele Vecchitto is a writer and a former middle school teacher.  Her poetry has been published in literary journals and anthologies as well as in four self-published volumes. Michele was invited to read her poems at the Austin International Poetry Festival and was honored to be included in When Time and Space Conspire.  In addition, she published a young adult fantasy novel, Tales from Blarnach: The Chosen One. She continues to hone her craft simply to breathe life into the stories living in the corners of her mind. Please visit her blog, Reading, Writing, and Reflections to see more of her work.