Animate is a poetry prompt that focuses on speaking as if we are a particular object. This time, we’re speaking as a thread.
Prompt Guidelines and Options
1. Speak in the first person.
2. Be specific. Think nouns instead of adjectives.
3. Consider where you—a thread—are located, or where you came from, or where you are going. Or, speak as if you have a special desire or concern: maybe you are hungry, missing something, afraid of a sight or sound, in love with another thread that is like you or not like you. Be creative. Any type of situation is fair game.
4. Consider doing a little research about the object you will speak as: its history, associated words, music, art, sculpture, architecture, fashion, science, and so on. Look for unusual details, so you can speak convincingly and intriguingly about yourself.
That’s it! We look forward to hearing you speak poetically, from the viewpoint of an object— a thread.
Click to get FREE 5-Prompt Mini-Series
Photo by Denis Labrecque, Creative Commons via Flickr.
Browse more writing prompts
Browse poetry teaching resources
How to Write a Poem uses images like the buzz, the switch, the wave—from the Billy Collins poem “Introduction to Poetry”—to guide writers into new ways of writing poems. Excellent teaching tool. Anthology and prompts included.
“How to Write a Poem is a classroom must-have.”
—Callie Feyen, English Teacher, Maryland
- Poetry Prompt: Misunderstood Lion - March 19, 2018
- Animate: Lions & Lambs Poetry Prompt - March 12, 2018
- Poetry Prompt: Behind the Velvet Rope - February 26, 2018
Donna Falcone says
My life is a strand of beads,
stringing through space and time,
in and out
of lives and longings,
gathering trinkets
along the way.
I thought treasure was
what the thread carried.
Now, I see….
it’s the thread.
Donna Falcone says
dang.
Nothing ruins the flow of words like a missing one.
I thought the treasure was
what the thread carried.
😉
Prasanta says
I love that the treasure was the thread- not what it carried. Lovely poem, Donna!
Donna Falcone says
Thank you! Some things take a lot of living to learn. 😉
Monica Sharman says
I do like that ending, Donna. It’s the thread — even though the thread is not always visible under the beads and trinkets.
Rick Maxson says
I liked this poem, Donna. Nothing ruined at all without “the.”
Donna Falcone says
Hmmm Thanks, Richard! Now that I look at it again… maybe it’s better with one fewer word. 😉
Heather Eure says
I agree with Rick, Donna. It works!
Donna Falcone says
Thanks… yes, I agree! I’ll keep it that way!
Monica Sharman says
Darning a Sock
I am a strand of Merino, that immigrant
wool from Spain settled in the Outback,
now intent on holding together
a sock, threadbare at the ball
of the foot where the wearer danced
on tiptoe, threadbare at the heel
where she turned one about-face
too many. I weave columns and rows
through the almost-hole where she ran
too thin. Keep the resolve from unraveling.
Begin again, darn it. Begin.
Donna Falcone says
Monica – I love this – the dancing – the repairing – the weaving…
and then… darn it! 🙂 Hee hee – loved that!
Heather Eure says
Love that ending.
Rick Maxson says
I
Am blue thread frayed
out of backyard games
from bows of Christmas boxes
a ribbon broken
by bindings breaking
a string that leads away
a streamer in the wind
at dusk in woods
of moonlit moss
swaying to whippoorwills
distant and lamenting
calling echoes
rings on dainty chains or
angora wrapped and brushed
off as love attends and goes
the unraveling of years
bicycles into cars
red lisle of tail lights wrapping
city stars rising in the night sky
fire fibers followed
from days end dissolving
at the edge of mountains
or imagined hissing of the sea
in the airs of hours’ end
the wrappings there
for the body of was
Heather Eure says
I really like the rhythm and flow of this poem.
Jayashree says
A fluffy white stuff inside a green pod
Grown out of a bright yellow flower
I swayed to the tunes of sun and rain
When a hand, picked me off my terrain.
Some roaring monsters then shred
My being, and rolled on bails and dyed
Parts of me coated in various colors
Went up the looms, as threads on spools.
There I was on a club’s banner,a kid’s dress
A shred of me on band costume pressed
On a flag fluttering high, and wedding dress
A part of me on the bobbin of a seamstress.
A plain white me, got painted in multi hue,
Blending with a million strands and sewn
Into a single fabric, I remain a part of whole,
The whole of me- a million parts on multi roles.
Sandra Heska King says
“The whole of me–a million parts on multi roles.” I like this.
Welcome, Jayashree. I don’t think I’ve seen you here. Hope you’ll visit again again soon. Have you checked out the February menu our virtual cafe?
https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/mischief-cafe/
Jayashree says
Thank You Sandra. I have been here before, wrote on another prompt earlier, about city lights at night.
The mischief cafe sure seems to hold some poetical mystery, will be there at one of the tables soon 🙂
Heather Eure says
What an adventure your thread has experienced! Thank you for sharing your poem with us.
Jayashree says
Haha! I am glad you noticed the adventure of that plain cotton thread.
Thanks for the prompt which helped it happen.
Katie says
Once again, this took me a while to get my poem from my notebook to my laptop!
Also, I wrote about two “virtual” threads as apposed to an actual thread, hoping to possibly prompt any one of us using social media to consider the impact of our words, by reflecting on whether we are making positive/negative comments.
Negative THREAD
Talking characters
Hurtful and harming
Reaching through cyberspace
Everyday, hour, minute
Adding ever more
Derision, division.
Positive THREAD
Typed encouragement
Helpful and healing
Really uplifting
Edifying words
A positive force
Doing some good.