Gavin Bennett's Blog: 2015 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 19

William Carlos Williams is known for coining the phrase, “No ideas but in things.” So it’s sort of appropriate that today’s prompt comes a day after the idea prompt.

For today’s prompt, write a thing poem. The poem can be explicitly about an item (I once published a poem about the anatomy of a pencil), or the poem can just involve a thing or two. You decide; it’s your poem thing anyway.

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Re-create Your Poetry!

Revision doesn’t have to be a chore–something that should be done after the excitement of composing the first draft. Rather, it’s an extension of the creation process!

In the 48-minute tutorial video Re-creating Poetry: How to Revise Poems, poets will be inspired with several ways to re-create their poems with the help of seven revision filters that they can turn to again and again.

Click to continue.

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Here’s my attempt at a Thing poem:

“Tutorial”

There’s a thing or two a person can do to see if they
are at risk from vampires. First, there’s the frequent
unexplained disappearances of people and animals.
Second, the increased screams in the dead of night.

If such things occur, beware the stranger (or friend)
who specifically asks permission to enter your house:
They could be a vampire. Instead of granting permission,
hold aloft a mirror to see if he or she casts a reflection.

If nothing shows, be sure to close every door and
window until the sun shines again. Then, my friend,
stock up on holy water, crosses, wooden stakes,
and your faith. It will be needed, along with garlic,

to vanquish the fangtastic new threat to your town,
which won’t be safe until you take the vampire down.

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Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer’s Digest Writing Community and author of the poetry collection, Solving the World’s Problems (Press 53). He edits Poet’s Market and Writer’s Market, in addition to writing a free weekly WritersMarket.com newsletter and a poetry column for Writer’s Digest magazine.

This is his eighth year of hosting and participating in the November PAD (Poem-A-Day) Chapbook Challenge. He can’t wait to see what everyone creates this month–not only on a day-by-day basis, but when the chapbooks start arriving in December and January. Fun, fun, fun.

Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.

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