read write prompt #40: be in the moment

The world can sometimes seem so full of distractions that we don’t notice what is around us. This week’s prompt offers an opportunity to sit still and focus, to be in the moment and to use that as inspiration for writing poetry.

Either sit in your usual writing place, focus on what is around you there and use that as inspiration. Or take a trip out to an inspiring place — whether that is your local park, a riverside walk or a crowded city square or nightclub — and write about what you find around you. Concentrate on what you see or hear or what you feel.

Many writers feel that Japanese forms such as haiku, senryu or tanka are ideal forms to use when you want to ‘be in the moment’ — so you can use these forms to repond to this prompt, but you don’t need to! You can just as well write a stream of consciousness piece or a prose poem, or whatever you want!

However you choose to write about your moment, remember to come back on Monday to share your link!

~Juliet.

1. A~Lotus - August 13, 2008

Yay!! Carpe Diem!

I’m going to see if I can find somewhere different and just write… :) That’ll be nice and dreamy.

I’ll definitely post this prompt since summer school will be over for me!

2. Jenn - August 13, 2008

Great prompt and great reminder to come back to the moment! Thanks Juliet!

3. Jack - August 13, 2008

A perfect use for identi.ca. Awesome.

4. writing in the moment : mygorgeoussomewhere.org - August 13, 2008

[...] Read the entire prompt at Read Write Poem. [...]

5. Moments, Fragments « Monkeyboy - August 13, 2008

[...] few senryu for this week’s ReadWritePoem’s prompt this [...]

6. Holly D - August 13, 2008

This is one I really like, and the GA State Botanical Gardens is a good place to write it!

Also…Just thought I’d tell you that I am just finishing up a collaborative poem with two other poets…it will be on my blog, as well as on theirs. It was a WONDERFUL opportunity, and we liked it so much we’re gonna start a collaborative blog where people can send us collaborative work to post on our site! We are quite excited about it…

7. Nathan - August 15, 2008

I guess we’re on the same track here Holly. I just left a link to the poem after the funnelcakes interview.

8. Monkey mind « Words that sing - August 16, 2008

[...] when I saw the prompt on readwritepoem, to write a poem about being in the moment, I wanted to find a way to convey this feeling. I’ve also tried my hand at a lune chain for [...]

9. Trinath - August 17, 2008

I gave it a try sitting in my room! and here’s the link
http://musingsbytrinath.blogspot.com/2008/08/distance.html

10. Sunday Morning in Five Parts « Raven’s Wing Poetry - August 17, 2008

[...] Morning in Five Parts This tanka chain was written for Read Write Poem Prompt #40: “Be in the Moment”. [...]

11. Paul - August 17, 2008

Hello, Juliet. Should I leave the link for my ‘in the moment’ poem here?
http://gingatao.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/not-all-men-are-dead/
It is called ‘not all men are dead’ and it is about an artist and his subject being united in a moment.

12. ...deb - August 17, 2008

Hey, Paul (I’m not Juliet, but can answer this one) and Trinath.

Leave your link in a comment to a post that goes up just after midnight Monday (CST). Folks won’t see it here (as easily).

It will say “get your poem on #40″. That’s where you do it. (Come back, both of you.)

13. Paul - August 18, 2008

Okeydokey, thankyou Deb.

14. Rio - August 22, 2008

I am happy I found this site. I gave this prompt a try with a glance at the parental challenge of letting go when school starts.
here is the link: http://thruchocolateeyes.com/?p=1335.
Thank you.


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