Today, I challenge you to write a parody or satire based on a famous poem. It can be long or short, rhymed or not. But take a favorite (or unfavorite) poem of the past, and see if you can’t re-write it on humorous, mocking, or sharp-witted lines. You can use your poem to make fun of the original (in the vein of a parody), or turn the form and manner of the original into a vehicle for making points about something else (more of a satire – though the dividing lines get rather confused and thin at times).

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice,
I say neither in ice or fire,
My world ends by paying the price,
And succumb to my greatest desire,
My heart bleeds and cries,
For a wish left me in dire.

Parody from Ice and Fire by Robert Frost.

Today, I challenge you to write a poem that addresses itself or some aspect of its self (i.e., “Dear Poem,” or “what are my quatrains up to?”; “Couplet, come with me . . .”) This might seem a little “meta” at first, or even kind of cheesy. But it can be a great way of interrogating (or at least, asking polite questions) of your own writing process and the motivations you have for writing, and the motivations you ascribe to your readers.

Ah Ally, you come again today,
What kind of words playing inside your mind,
Is it sadness? Or confusion like always?
Or the uncertainty of life?

Or perhaps today is something visual?
Like the color of flowers,
The smell of the rain,
Or the comfort of sitting in a storm?

Maybe a little bit of sunshine today?
You know, the feeling of peace,
The curiosity of love in a soul,
And the urge to fulfill your desires,

What about writing about the words,
Lies in a song that you can’t let go,
The lyrics that touch your heart,
Or the music that stuck in your head,

I think it is clear what you want to write today,
The indecisiveness that bothers you,
The uncertainties in you,
I know, because this is the last stanza.

Now,  write a poem that takes as its starting point something overheard that made you laugh, or something someone told you once that struck you as funny.

The door opened,
Light steps crossing the beds,
The bathroom door opened,
The sound of running shower,
A long shower for an hour,

A shadowy figure walks to the side,
Turning on the electric kettle,
After a moment, the aroma of tea,
And the tempting smell of Maggi,
I’m tempted but decided to be in slumber,

The morning was silent,
Until my roommate confessed,
I was getting myself busy yesterday,
I said, I know, you were busy after you returned.

May or may not be from a real story.

Today’s daily prompt (optional, as always) again comes from our archives. I’m playing to my own strengths here, but I challenge you to write a sea shanty (or shantey, or chanty, or chantey — there’s a good deal of disagreement regarding the spelling!) Anyway, these are poems in the forms of songs, strongly rhymed and rhythmic, that sailors might sing while hauling on ropes and performing other sea-going labors. Probably the two most famous sea shanties (at least before TikTok gave us The Wellerman) are What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor? and Blow the Man Down. And what should your poem be about? Well, I suppose it could be about anything, although some nautical phrases tossed into the chorus would be good for keeping the sea in your shanty. Haul away, boys, haul away!

Hear the wind blows, hear the wind blows,

Many moons we have stranded,
Sailing through the lands intended,

We are in the land of bounty,
We’ll take everything for free,

Hear the wind blows, hear the wind blows,

Now raise the canvas fly,
Make our spirit high,

Return to our motherland,
We have the upper hand,

Hear the wind blows, hear the wind blows,

It’s all for the great, great glory,
And we will never falter and say sorry.

I’m not sure what is going on with this prompt. Sorry.

Today, we’d like to challenge you to write your own sonnet. Incorporate tradition as much or as little as you like – while keeping in general to the theme of “love.”

How I loathe writing about love today,
A distant taste I have long forgotten,
What about the love of a family?
Like an apple, but the core is rotten,

You must have tasted love from a lover,
Yes, like the Nepalese mad honey – sweet,
To be drowned by the promise – forever,
Now a stranger, gone in a heartbeat,

How does it feel to be an empty slate?
Monotonous like an overnight tea,
Endless tug-of-war, exhausting mind state,
To build the temple of love, or to flee,

All in all, I just need to take a step,
Take it slow or take another misstep.

The prompt is called the “Twenty Little Poetry Projects,” and was originally developed by Jim Simmerman. And here are the twenty little projects themselves — the challenge is to use them all in one poem:

1. Begin the poem with a metaphor.
2. Say something specific but utterly preposterous.
3. Use at least one image for each of the five senses, either in succession or scattered randomly throughout the poem.
4. Use one example of synesthesia (mixing the senses).
5. Use the proper name of a person and the proper name of a place.
6. Contradict something you said earlier in the poem.
7. Change direction or digress from the last thing you said.
8. Use a word (slang?) you’ve never seen in a poem.
9. Use an example of false cause-effect logic.
10. Use a piece of talk you’ve actually heard (preferably in dialect and/or which you don’t understand).
11. Create a metaphor using the following construction: “The (adjective) (concrete noun) of (abstract noun) . . .”
12. Use an image in such a way as to reverse its usual associative qualities.
13. Make the persona or character in the poem do something he or she could not do in “real life.”
14. Refer to yourself by nickname and in the third person.
15. Write in the future tense, such that part of the poem seems to be a prediction.
16. Modify a noun with an unlikely adjective.
17. Make a declarative assertion that sounds convincing but that finally makes no sense.
18. Use a phrase from a language other than English.
19. Make a non-human object say or do something human (personification).
20. Close the poem with a vivid image that makes no statement, but that “echoes” an image from earlier in the poem.

My heart filled with void and nothingness,
It is with no blood and veins, only emptiness,
I used my tongue to taste its vagueness,
Imagine a lingering tangy taste in darkness,
Living my name, Ally always in sadness,
Or too comfortable now, Ally in happiness,
No, I am always in sadness,
All the struggle trying to YEET this madness,
I am without a purpose so my life is meaningless,
I need a sun, so my life will be filled with brightness,
Not a sun, a gewe perhaps to add the liveliness,

The big hand of kindness
Is like the rain but it is not water, but blissfulness,
I want to take the knife to end all this craziness,
Ally could never do it, drowning himself in merriness,
He will find a purpose and live in fullness,
Like a burning lake overcoming its weakness,
And proved his worthiness to an unwilling goddess,
Ally, cukuplah mengejar sang bidadari,
The sun has spoken her verdict in great calmness,
I’m standing in between the void and the sun with all hopelessness.

Take a look around Poetry International for a poem in a language you don’t know. For example, I grabbed this one in Finnish by Olli Heikkonen. Now, read the poem to yourself, thinking about the sound and shape of the words, and the degree to which they remind you of words in your own language. Use those correspondences as the basis for a new poem.

Kicauan burung,
Meriuhkan pagiku,
Aku terlewat.

The birds are chirping,
Clamorous in the morning,
I am super late.

—

A haiku in Malay including the translation in English.