Animate is a poetry prompt that focuses on speaking as if we are a particular object. This time, we’re speaking as diametrically different Lions & Lambs.
Prompt Guidelines and Options
1. Speak in the first person.
2. Be specific. Think nouns instead of adjectives.
3. Consider where you—a lion or a lamb—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 lion or lamb 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 the contrasting and beautiful—lions & lambs.
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Featured Poem
Here is a recent poem from Laura we enjoyed:
Hand-me-down Jacket
Hand-me down jacket
cinnamon brown
embroidered placket
all the way down
thin pearly buttons
crushed velvet skin
makes me feel
like a mandolin
—by Laura Lynn Brown
Photo by Edge Earth. 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
Christos Victor says
March
mountain lion stalks lax lambs
rams guard with horns and hooves
sheep flock as roaring sounds
on cold windswept steppes Shepherd’s
slingshot winds, rocks fly
and find their mark this lion dies
lambs run and leap with glee
in meadows filled with blossoms hues
Heather Eure says
Thanks for sharing your poem with us, Christos!
lynn says
Hi Heather,
Interesting LION/LAMB prompt! I wrote free verse poem that fits passion week:
https://madhatterpoetry.com/2018/03/18/lamb-that-roars/