This is the first in the series of prompts for creative projects that you might want to submit to the anthology of hope.

Full list next post

I love acrostic poems as those of you who have read my poems in ‘Sectioned‘ and ‘Behind Hospital Doors’ have probably spotted! To create one you start by choosing something you want to write about and writing the word vertically down your page like this:

H

O

P

E

Then you need to find something to say about your word that begins with the first letter like this:

Holding out though it seems pointless

O

P

E

Then keep going with a line for each letter like this:

Holding out though it seems pointless

Over and over keeping on

Pain ebbs and flows as joy and warmth do

Each day is different from all that have gone

and there is an acrostic poem on your theme!

You can also have your theme word running down the middle of the page and place your lines so that the right letter is in place like this:

A light in your Heart to see by

A door opening Out of your cell

A quest too imPortant to run from

A story so Epic to tell

You can do some really interesting things by writing a poem in which someone seems to behave strangely and using the acrostic word to show the emotion that is really driving them like this

They thought sHe would be disappointed

Things just don’t wOrk out like that

They promised to helP if she’d drop it

She seemEd stubborn unrealistic

What about you? Can you create an acrostic poem about hope or something that gives you hope?

Other things I’ve done with acrostic poems include creating ones for people’s names to use as thank you presents and making acrostic poems using a acronyms such as the ones used for some psychiatric diagnoses such as PTSD.

If you would like your poem to be part of the hope anthology then you can find more details on how to submit it at

https://hilarycoveney.com/anthology-of-hope

This is the second in the series of prompts for creative projects that you might want to submit to the anthology of hope.

full list next post