As most of us poets & writers do, I occasionally need a prompt to get going on something new. I have several books that I go to for writing prompts, but sometimes I come up with one on my own.

Lately I’ve been struggling with a Scrabble addiction, specifically Scrabulous on Facebook. I’ve had 7 games going at once, and thank God some of my partners go long periods of time before taking their turns or else I might not get anything done. But something occurred to me while looking at the board after finishing one of my games. What about doing a poem prompt where you choose ten or twelve words that were used in a Scrabulous game, and then create a poem around them? The board I was looking at had some really good words on it, and even if one or two of them might have been a little abstract, one could use them as placeholders for more concrete substitutions upon revision.

I haven’t had any problems coming up with poems lately, but I think I’m going to try this exercise anyway, especially since I tend to write poems that are strongly narrative. Breaking out of my usual writing patterns helps me make greater imagistic and metaphorical leaps, and that’s always a Good Thing.

I love to hear if anyone takes a stab at this prompt, too. Let me know how it worked.