I think poetry prompts are rather helpful. Thinking of an idea is always hard for me, so if the idea is given to me, things are so much easier! A lot of of the prompts on the Big Window page have to do with writing a poem based on what you see in a picture. Thats a great way to write poetry I think. You're taking what you see and bringing it to a whole other level by going beyond the picture into an unknown world. Here are a few of the prompts that I find to be quite great from Big Window:
http://theothermother.typepad.com/bigwindow/2008/10/open-34.html
Writing a poem about what you're doing can take you in so many directions. It can be very descriptive as well and it will never be boring. Even if what you're doing is just sitting on the couch, a good writer will find a way of making it captivating.
http://theothermother.typepad.com/bigwindow/2008/05/open-36.html
This prompt is awesome because you have to picture what could be behind in a door of many colors and different prints of cloth. The writer has to tell what is beyond the door and the journey that they'll go on. I did something like this is Intro to Creative Writing. We were supposed to have our class in the Science building but the door to our room was locked and needed a code to be unlocked. Professor Liu asked us to write a prose piece about what could be behind the door. The things that came out of that prompt were crazy!!
http://theothermother.typepad.com/bigwindow/2007/06/furniture_poems.html
Writing about a piece of furniture can seem kind of boring to some people, but bringing that piece of furniture to life is what makes writing exciting. Putting that piece of furniture into a different setting or personifying it can make that boring piece of furniture interesting and beyond what we know as furniture.
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Haha - I loved Liu namely becuase he was great at making something out of nothing; he seemed to be a very active thinker and I believe that's vital for a writer.
I like that, in your reviews of these prompts, you pull out exactly what was just mentioned - the active consideration of an object. It can't just be, "I see a chair. It's red. There's no one in it. This chair sucks and is boring." A writer will want to make details, to take the reader through an experience.
:) Good reaction post, I think.
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