The Crooked Treehouse
  • Tips From The Bar
  • Honest Conversation Is Overrated
  • Popcorn Culture
  • Comically Obsessed
  • Justify Your Bookshelves
  • Storefront
  
Tips From The Bar
 
 
Almost every week, I give a prompt for poets.
Many of the  2011/2012 blog post titles are from the brain of Simone Beaubien.
Photo by Marshall Goff.

In Abs-Cento

9/30/2015

0 Comments

 
For the last few months, I've returned to my habit of writing poems at the bar during the open mic. This is extra challenging because I work behind the bar and, thus, have to frequently stop writing to get people their drinks.

This past week, I was in the middle of writing a poem when I came up with a line that I thought would make a great title. The problem? I have no idea what I'm going to write under that title.

This week's prompt is to write a poem made up entirely of titles of poems that you wish you could write but don't have any ideas for.

This is a variation on the form poem The Cento.
0 Comments

Woah Dude. If You're Not From California, You Don't Get To Say "Hella". That's Our Word.

9/23/2015

0 Comments

 
Cultural Appropriation is a serious issue. There are certain words you shouldn't say, certain items of clothing you shouldn't wear, certain songs you can listen to but probably shouldn't sing at karaoke.

I've heard some good poems about not being culturally appropriative over the years. But let's take a low grade risk and try something fun. Write about a minor appropriation issue that affects you and how it's your own thing that other people can't use.

For example, maybe nobody outside of your family is allowed to call you Junior. Perhaps only the people who are also born on February 29th are allowed to make fun of you for having your tenth birthday when all your other friends born that year are turning forty.

Remember this is about SMALL group appropriation of things that aren't serious. If your idea is about race, gender, sexuality, or ethnicity, you're not actually using this prompt. If you're doing it about a nationality, you'd best be from that country and your issue should probably not be based on an actual stereotype. Oh, and if you're 1/96th Navajo, and you're not involved in any actual tribe or nation meetings, you'd probably better write your poem about how only people who wear Converse All Stars are allowed to call them Chucks or something.
Picture
Only Gothamites are allowed to wear Batman on their kicks, brah.
0 Comments

How To Take Up Less That Three Seats Even Though You Have A Massive Penis

9/16/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Ok, so the prompt isn't necessarily about manspreading on public transportation, but after Valerie Loveland read her guide for how to read books on the T, it got me thinking. There should be hundreds of different guides for proper behavior on public transportation.

Write a guide for bus or train etiquette that you wish existed. Bonus points if you manage to get the MBTA to print it up and hand it out in stations.

0 Comments

Sculpted Conversations

9/9/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Not all statues are creepy, soul sucking monsters but most of them are. Find a place with multiple humanoid statues. If there isn't one near you, do a happy dance, and then look for groups of statues online.

If these people-like-things are trapped in these positions forever and ever, what are they saying to one another?

Write about their conversation either from the perspective of a voyeur (possibly you) or from one statue to another.

Please try and refrain from writing about fountains of little boys peeing...or abusing turtles.
0 Comments

Today Is The Last First For The Rest Of Your Life

9/2/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Local poet, workshop facilitator, and Emily Dickinson impersonator, Tom Daley, is well known for his poems in the voice of his mother. He also wrote a series of poems using aphorisms that I really enjoy. Create your own poem of aphorisms (a terse saying, expressing a general truth, principle, or astute observation, and spoken or written in a laconic and memorable form) or else deconstruct an existing aphorism and make it your own (as I have done with the title of this post).

Pictured left: The other queer artist named Tom Daley.

0 Comments

    Links
    Write Or Die

    Scott Woods's Twitter Prompts

    ​Rachel Mckibbens' Prompt Blog

    The 30/30 Prompt Blog

    Asterisk And Sidebar Prompts

    Archives

    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    December 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

All work on the Crooked Treehouse is ©Adam Stone, except where indicated, and may not be reproduced without his permission. If you enjoy it, please consider giving to my Patreon account.
  • Tips From The Bar
  • Honest Conversation Is Overrated
  • Popcorn Culture
  • Comically Obsessed
  • Justify Your Bookshelves
  • Storefront