The presence of birds on what were newly installed wires on Hydra, the Greek island
By Steven Brodsky
… inspired Leonard Cohen to pen the song “Bird on the Wire.”
Leonard Cohen observed those wire-perched birds through windows of his home.
Yes, potentially valuable writing prompts are sometimes visible through creative writers’ windows.
A bird on a wire in America
Photo by Steven Brodsky
Posted 4-29-26
On the first day of April 2026
By Steven Brodsky
A poem by Langston Hughes to soothingly welcome the arrival of April:
April rain, like the poem, can be salutary.
Creative writing activity that will take place before, during, and after rain that will fall this month may be salutary for some writers.
Posted 4-1-26
A less traveled road
By Steven Brodsky
Photo by Steven Brodsky
… can make “all the difference,” as can this well-known poem by Robert Frost: The Road Not Taken | The Poetry Foundation.
Sharing that observation in commemoration of Robert Frost’s upcoming birthday.
Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874.
Robert Frost’s poetry has made a significant difference in the lives of many readers; some of them have found that his poetry “made all the difference.”
Posted 3-23-26
‘April Come She Will,’ soon
By Steven Brodsky
… and many streams in the Northern Hemisphere will soon be “ripe and swelled with rain.”
When April arrives and streams will be full, an abundance of potentially valuable writing prompts may present themselves, especially to externally and internally observant writers who will have pens and paper on hand to promptly act upon prompts.
Photo by Steven Brodsky
Trout fishermen and fisherwomen need landing nets when fishing streams.
Streamside writers need pens and paper to properly “land” some better writing prompts.
Posted 3-20-26
March, actualized as a character
By Steven Brodsky
… appears in Emily Dickinson’s poem “Dear March—Come in—(1320).”
The poem will appear on your screen upon visiting this page: https://poets.org/poem/dear-march-come-1320.
March draws nigh, opportune for some readers of the Entertainment, Culture and More column to pen a March-related poem, short story, or song.
Readers who are sufficiently prompted by the Emily Dickinson poem (or their calendars) can soon be seeing new March-related writing of their own on their screens and/or writing pads.
Posted 2-25-26
If geographically situated to be able to ‘listen’ to the sounds of winter
By Steven Brodsky
… attentively “listening” to those sounds can be valuable.
Walt Whitman was a great listener of the sounds of winter: Sounds of the Winter by Walt Whitman – Poems | Academy of American Poets.
The linked poem will encourage some readers/writers to listen to the sounds of winter.
Posted 1-31-26
Writers who will be ‘stopping by woods on a snowy evening’
By Steven Brodsky
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening | The Poetry Foundation
… may wish that they could stay in those woods longer, and some of them will regret not bringing a pen and pencil to write while inspiration will still be warm.
Ink in a pen and inspiration can freeze on a snowy evening.
I’d better move on!
There are “promises to keep” and “miles to go before I sleep.”
Posted 1-18-26
The Jersey Shore
By Steven Brodsky
… is the setting for this poem by Walt Whitman: Patroling Barnegat by Walt Whitman | Poetry Foundation.
The Jersey Shore was accessible to Walt Whitman; he resided in Camden, New Jersey.
Accessible to us is the speaker of the poem’s unencumbered narrative centered on a stormy beach scene.
The narrative seems to reflect the poet’s having been in a heightened state of awareness at a beach during a storm. Mindfulness meditators might recognize that state as “choiceless awareness.”
The poem was originally published in 1880. Thankfully, we’re able to enjoy “Patroling Barnegat” in 2026.
Referencing and reading about the Jersey Shore brings Southside Johnny (John Lyon) to mind.
My best wishes go out to Southside Johnny on his retirement.
Posted 1-9-26
Profound communion with an animal
By Steven Brodsky
Photo by Steven Brodsky
… can compel rewrites, indeed: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=169&issue=5&page=4.
For ourselves and others, we want to capture such communion to whatever extent is possible in writing, don’t we?
Photo by Steven Brodsky
Posted 1-3-26
Resolute writers will ‘again’ be responding to ‘triple winds’ with defiance in January 2026.
By Steven Brodsky
… Take notice of the first word of “January,” by William Carlos Williams, and the entire 11-line poem: https://poets.org/poem/january-3.
I know writers who find it especially gratifying to write effectively every month despite (and sometimes because of) prevailing winds!
Posted 12-28-25
The speaker of Christina Rossetti’s poem ‘A Christmas Carol’ asks what she (the poem’s speaker) can give to Jesus
By Steven Brodsky
… The writing of this poem was an expression of Christina Rossetti’s having given her heart to Jesus.
And this Victorian Era poem is a gift to us.
Enjoy: A Christmas Carol | The Poetry Foundation.
Posted 12-25-25
At year’s end: three things that can serve writers well
By Steven Brodsky
… Listed here:
- Capture impressionable experiences on paper or screen while those experiences are still fresh.
- Mine conversations for potential writing prompts.
- Balance time participating in end-of-year social activities with time observing others engaging in those activities. (This can be problematic for writers who don’t want to risk being perceived as wallflowers.)
And a bonus: read writing that may prime your creativity pump by others.
Richard Wilbur’s poem “Year’s End”: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43052/years-end-56d221b9e6bd8.
Posted 12-20-25
A song character imprisoned on Christmas
By Steven Brodsky
… pens a letter in John Prine’s song “Christmas In Prison”:
If that song character experiences God-enabled breaking of shackles of sin (perhaps he already has experienced this), you may be able to envision what a letter about that might describe.
You probably can, if you have had that experience.
John 8:36: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
(Did you know that Paul wrote four epistles while imprisoned? Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon are Paul’s prison epistles.)
https://unshackled.org/on-demand/browse-all-programs/
Posted 12-13-25
On the ninth anniversary of the 2016 Nobel Prize ceremony wherein Bob Dylan (who wasn’t present at the ceremony) was honored as the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature recipient
By Steven Brodsky
… That ceremony took place on December 10, 2016.
It is especially opportune enjoy:
Posted 12-10-25
A delivery of writing prompts
By Steven Brodsky
… can arrive in the form of Christmas cards (those with and those without handwritten messages).
Potentially valuable writing prompts go unnoticed when holiday cards are mindlessly discarded with used gift wrapping paper, boxes, etc.
Writers/readers: will you apprehend those prompts or will they and the cards that contain them get away?
I’m pleased to deliver this link to Ted Kooser’s poem “Christmas Mail” to this page before December 25, 2025: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55886/christmas-mail.
Ted Kooser served as the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2004-2006. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 2005.
Posted 12-6-25
Writers encountering snow
By Steven Brodsky
Photo by Steven Brodsky
… may find the encounter to be serendipitous.
It seems quite possible that a particular encounter with snow served as a writing prompt for the well-known poet Frost. (Yes, it was fun to write snow and Frost in the preceding sentence.)
Dust of Snow | The Poetry Foundation
Posted 12-2-25
Epistolary writing
By Steven Brodsky
Dear readers/writers,
Have you considered epistolary writing as a form for your own work?
I’m thankful that Leonard Cohen had.
Had he not, we’d not have “Famous Blue Raincoat” (one of my favorite Leonard Cohen songs) as an example of very fine epistolary writing.
The song prompts me to fill screen and paper with epistolary writing of my own.
Perhaps it will similarly encourage you.
Sincerely,
S.Brodsky
Posted 11-21-25
This old bench
By Steven Brodsky
… had frequently been occupied by new and old friends (when it was much newer):
Photo by Steven Brodsky
The photo appears here as a writing prompt.
An old song about old friends:
The Simon & Garfunkel song is an old friend to some of this column’s readers.
Posted 11-6-25
