February Poetry Project: Week 1 Prompts
Welcome to my 9th Annual February Daily Poem Project.For several years — in order to practice writing in community — my blog hosted a poetry project. We moved to Facebook in 2017 to accommodate the number of poets and writers who wanted to participate.2021 Theme: BodiesIn this time of a global pandemic, has your attention turned to the body? Across the world, our human bodies are under attack by a powerful virus. Perhaps, as we all social distance, you have had more time to walk, take your body outside, exercise. Or maybe you have turned inward with meditation or begun a creative practice with your body's hands. As a poet, has your body of work been affected by the year's events? Let's spend this month focusing on the beauty, vulnerability, and vast complexity of bodies -- human and otherwise.
Beginning January 31, a group member will post a prompt related to our theme. I hope to share many of those prompts here on my blog, for those who'd like to follow along with the project.When coming up with writing prompts, we interpret the topic loosely.
Bodies:
· are made up of systems
· can be human bodies, animal bodies, bodies of work, bodies of water
· are where we feel emotions and senses
· look snazzy in jazzy clothes
· are the source of dysphoria and joyetc.
Your daily task is to write a poem based on that day’s body-inspired prompt.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR PROJECT NEWBIES: The point of this exercise is to practice the habit of writing regularly, even if it’s just for one month.
For those of you following along, the first week's prompts are in this post. Feel free to post your poetic responses in the comments.
Are you thinking, "What is this poetry project of which you speak, Laura?" Read about this year's project here. And there is background on this project -- now in its ninth year! -- at this post.
Let's do this!
DAY 1: Monday, February 1, 2021Prompt from Laura Shovan
*Bodies Dance*
Choose one of these three routines or a favorite of your own. Write a poem.Option 1: All girl dance crew covers the K-Pop boy group BTS's "Not Today."
Option 2: Christopher Walken in Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice."
DAY 2: Tuesday, February 2, 2021
Prompt from Tricia Stohr-Hunt (Shared with permission)On a high school trip to NYC, my sister took me to have my palm read. I've been fascinated by hands ever since. I am inspired by all that hands can do, from magic and slight of hand, to communicating with the deaf, to creating art in its myriad forms, to making beautiful music, and so much more. I also know that hands have a darker side. They can wield weapons, choke, hit, pinch, stab, and hurt.You might be inspired by Margaret Atwood and this excerpt (pictured here) from the poem
"You Begin."Or you might be inspired by the translated poem Hands at the link below.
What thoughts do you have about hands? What kind of poem will they inspire?
DAY 3: Wednesday, February 3, 2021Prompt from Ruth Lehrer (Shared with permission.)
This magical woman lives down the road from me.
Visit sculptor Andrew Devries' Facebook page to see the image. He describes it as "Nimue, Lady of the lake looking more like the snow queen!"
DAY 4: Thursday, February 4, 2021
Prompt from Scott Rhoades (Shared with permission.)This is a fungus known as Dead Man's Fingers.
DAY 5: Friday, February 5, 2021Prompt from Marilyn R. Garcia (Shared with permission)
Today we think about skin or whatever this prompt brings to mind! I have linked a page with the song lyrics in case you are more inclined to written words versus music and visuals. Enjoy. 
Read the lyrics here: http://www.songlyrics.com/lizzo/my-skin-lyrics/
DAY 6: Saturday, February 6, 2021Photographic prompt by Jone Rush MacCulloch. (Posted with permission. Photograph may be shared only if credit is given to Jone Rush MacCulloch.)
Day 7: Sunday, February 7, 2021Prompt from Linda Baie (Shared with permission)
I’m used to casual and friendly conversation with my usual store checkers. Yet I already know, the other kind of conversation, the one where you talk with someone over the apples at the grocery appears gone. Earlier this week I spoke with a middle-school teacher who lamented he was struggling with reading his students’ faces and body language while teaching “in” school. Then this from this NY Times article by an artist who shares: “I think of the human face as a theater that performs the actor inside, in flickers and puckers and pulls of 42 tiny muscles, in the rise and fall of blood that swirls with our emotions.”