Poetry Prompt 1 in the Writing for Healing 30 Day Challenge
It's Day 1 of our #30PoetryChallenge - #WritingForHealing. Here is our first prompt.
Table of Contents:
Weekly Theme
Each week week of this challenge will have a theme related to the 12 Steps to Recovery or Overcoming Trauma. This week's theme for the #30DayPoetryChallenge, #WritingForHealing is: Acknowledgment & Trust.
To mentally prepare for the prompt, consider these questions:
What are the things you have no power over?
How do you embrace this lack of power without feeling defeated?
Now that you've thought over the answer to those questions, here is the Day One Poetry Prompt.
Poetry Prompt
Write a poem discussing the things you cannot control.
Then acknowledge the things you can control (they should be related or connected to the things you can't control).
Optional addition: explain how you avoid feeling defeated in the face of powerlessness.
Creative Reminder
We are writing prose poetry
Prose poetry simply gives or explains the [your] narrative.
This does not require rhyme schemes or line breaks.
But you can have multiple paragraphs, if you like.
A random rhyme is also okay.
Feel free to use alliteration, symbols, imagery, or rhythm, if you want.
Example Poem
Each time I give a prompt, I will also share my own response to the prompt.
My poetic response uses seasons, weather and their elements as a metaphor for things I can't control.
From a Colored Girl Who Once Cried Over the Rainbow She Didn't Own
by Alison M. Caddell
It rains and it pours without my consent, and I'm forced to accept the clouds. Resistance and denial won't make them disappear.
Then there are the times when the sun is shining, the clouds are gone, just when I got used to the storm. Seasons come and go without asking me first. And legend says a groundhog gets a say. But I never do.
It is so tempting to be frustrated, angry even, to realize...none of this is up to me. Then I remember.
I can choose my umbrella for rainy days. I can drive to the beach in spring and summer. I can stay inside for stormy weather, or fall asleep to the sound of thunder. And I can know that since I don't control the weather, I don't have to take the blame. But I can take credit for how I respond. My ability to choose what I can? It's a seemingly small power, but one that gives me strength.