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

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I first heard one of these poems performed by Roy Bailey on his album ‘Why does it have to be me?’ That one begins:

Irritating Poem

I’m writing a poem without any rhymes
But I’ve had to redo it just dozens of goes.

In spite of my anger, my terrible rage
The lines just keep spilling right onto the sheet.

I love the way that most people reading it predict the word that would rhyme so end up with two versions of the poem in mind. I used the same technique in my poem Staying on Track (which appears in both ‘Behind Hospital Doors’ and ‘Sectioned’.) It seemed to describe really well how it feels to change habits. I wrote the rhyming poem about using my old unhealthy coping strategies in different situations. Then I substited more healthy ways to cope instead of the rhymes like this:

Anger explodes as I sit on the bed
And I feel the urge to bang my pillow Someone downstairs is playing cupid
I remember past mistakes and think I’m human

Could you write in the voice of a character who is used to assuming the worst but substituting more hopeful thoughts in an effort to move forward? What about a really hopeful and optimistic rhyming poem with the rhyming parts toned down to sound more realistic even though we all still guess the hopeful message? Maybe you could show someone becoming more hopeful by letting more of the hopeful rhymes underneath remain unaltered as the poem progresses?

I look forward to hearing what you create.

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

Previous next post full list.

You can find the details on how to submit work to the anthology here.