Writing Articles

Poetic Inspiration or Lack Thereof

Writing prompts don’t always work well for me. Here are some of the things I use, when feeling “uninspired,” instead. Feel free to give them a try if you’re facing a bit of “writers block.” Or go out into the sunshine, paint a picture, work on a puzzle – do something el…

Poetry Forms Challenge 2026: “Quadrille”

Longer than a fortune cookie, shorter than an epic poem – try your hand at the Quadrille poetry form.

Another Poem Fished Out of the Moat

Somebody said, “You get all the best spam!” Sure. But that doesn’t mean I want or need more of it. Nor does it mean any of this made it through the spam filter. No link backs for you, Spammers!

Grant Wood's painting, "Young Corn," showing the rolling green and yellow hills and farmland of Iowa.

Heralding the Feast

A Dorsimbra poem inspired by the rolling hills and farms of Iowa and Grant Wood’s painting, “Young Corn.”

Midjourney

Midjourney

Don’t blame the AI if it’s got a personality disorder. It’s been watching US.

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Knead

Knead

Wartime poets. Bowls of Bread and Bombs. We could all do without this kind of inspiration.

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Joy

Joy

Today’s featured image is a collaboration with Midjourney. I fed it the entirety of today’s poem; it gave me this marvelous image of childhood joy! Sometimes, AI isn’t so bad.

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Gratitude

Gratitude

A reminder: it’s not just the big things that are worth noticing and appreciating.

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Ekphrastic

Ekphrastic

Ekphrastic poems are poets’ responses to art. But in this post, which came first – the poem, or the art? In fact, I used Midjourney AI to generate images based on the ideas expressed in the poem. 

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