Invitation to Write is a project by Jennifer Bartell Boykin, the Poet Laureate of the City of Columbia, South Carolina. To stay up to date on the prompts and to view a video, visit and follow https://bit.ly/colapoetFB.

More poetry information: https://poets.org/national-poetry-month

Visit https://www.napowrimo.net/ for more prompts.

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I welcome you to April and National Poetry Month. One of the most common ways to celebrate this month is by writing a poem each day of the month. Each day this month you will have a different writing prompt. If you are practicing poet or secret poet or a I haven’t written a poem in years person, this is for you! 

Try to write something each day, but know that it’s okay if you can’t write every single day. These prompts will be waiting for you when you are reading. 

I want you to focus on just committing words to paper or to a screen. Don’t sensor yourself. 

I’ll always try to give you different options each day. Choose the one that speaks to you. 

April 1

Today’s prompt is for April Fool’s Day.

Video of prompt: https://fb.watch/jDXBjlMZIk/ Text of prompt with links below.

-Write a limerick (https://poets.org/glossary/limerick). A limerick is a short five line poem that’s usually short or nonsensical. Visit the link above for more information about limericks.

OR

-Write a poem that contains a joke, prank, or riddle. 

April 2

Today is World Autism Awareness Day:

• Write a poem for someone you know or love who has autism. (https://www.autismspeaks.org/world-autism-awareness-day) 

OR

• Write a poem describing the impact of an act of kindness (https://act.autismspeaks.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=kindness_campaign)  

April 3

Today we celebrate flowers:

• The April birth flowers are the sweet pea and daisy. Columbia is full of azaleas and other beautiful flowers. Write a poem that mentions at least one type of flower (doesn’t need to be one of the ones I mentioned above). 

OR

• Explore the language of flowers. Use this website as a guide: https://www.almanac.com/flower-meanings-language-flowers. Write a poem that uses the language of flowers. 

April 4

Welcome to Day 4 of your Invitation to Write. Some of your prompts will be specific to the City of Columbia and will encourage you to explore our great city.

Today is about where you are in Columbia, your neighborhood, and we have several wonderful ones in Columbia. I encourage you to get out today in your neighborhood: Take a stroll, walk around and really engage with your senses as you walk around. What do you see, hear, smell, feel? 

• While you are walking around, take notice of the images/sounds/smells around you. Write a poem where you describe what you experienced on your walk and connect it to a feeling or emotion. 

OR

• Write a poem where you describe your neighborhood from the perspective of something not human like a dog, squirrel, tree, ant, etc.

April 5

Welcome to Day 5 of your Invitation to Write. 

We spend years and years of our lives in school. If you are not in school right now, I want you to think about when you were in school. This can be K-12 or college, public or private. 

Today is:

• Think about a memory from school. This can be a good, bad, embarrassing, or hopeful moment. Write a poem based on the experience. 

OR

• Who was one person from your school experience who had a positive impact on your life? Use 1 simile and 1 metaphor in a poem where you write about the person and what they did/how they made you feel.

April 6

Welcome to Day 6 of your Invitation to Write. We are celebrating libraries.

Today is National Library Day:

Go visit one of the many branches of Richland Library. Browse some displays and write down the titles of the books you encounter. Write a poem based on one of the titles. (Can’t visit your library? Try Hoopla! https://www.richlandlibrary.com/databases/hoopla)

OR

Write a poem in appreciation of your favorite librarian. Bonus: Share the poem with the librarian if possible!

OR

Write a poem describing what libraries mean to you.

April 7

Welcome to Day 7 of your Invitation to Write. How did your writing go yesterday? Let me know in the comments. 

Today is Girl, Me Too Day https://www.girlmetoo.com/national-day: 

• Write a poem where each line begins with the words “Girl, Me Too.”

OR

Write a letter to yourself from five years ago or ten years ago. What will you tell yourself? What encouragement will you give? What advice?

April 8

Welcome to Day 8 of your Invitation to Write Today’s prompt is connected to a Poetry Writing Contest you can enter! Writing Contest Submission link: https://bit.ly/3mf1udP.

The Empowering Justice Foundation is sponsoring this Contest. Monifa Lemons is judging. Visit https://www.empoweringjustice.org for more information on Empowering Justice. 

The theme for the contest is Courage:

• Write a poem in which courage is personified. Pretend courage is a person performing acts in the world.

OR

• Write a poem where the words “Courage is” are repeated.

OR

• Write a poem describing a situation where you had courage or wished you had courage.

April 9

Welcome to Day 9 of your Invitation to Write. Today’s prompts are celebrating Spring.

Here are your prompts:

• Write a poem where you describe your favorite thing about the Spring season.  

OR

• Write a poem describing your favorite Spring activity or holiday. 

April 10

Welcome to Day 10 of your Invitation to Write. Today is National Siblings Day:https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-siblings-day-april-10/. 

Here are your prompts:

• Write a poem where you recount a specific memory with one or more of your siblings.  

OR

• If you are an only child, write a poem about your experience not having any siblings. If you have “adopted” siblings, you can write about them as well. 

April 11

Welcome to Day 11 of your Invitation to Write. Today’s focus is the history of Columbia. Explore the Historic Columbia or Columbia SC 63 website (https://www.historiccolumbia.org/ or https://www.columbiasc63.com/history/) or go visit historic markers around the city. 

Here are your prompts:

• Write a poem about a historic place in the city. Go visit the site in person or virtually. Somehow connect the place to our present.   

OR

• Write a poem where all of the lines are historical facts about Columbia. 

April 12

Welcome to Day 12 of your Invitation to Write. Today’s focus is love. Today is my anniversary with my wonderful husband Lester Boykin

Here are your prompts:

• Write a sonnet where you profess your love for someone. This does not have to be romantic love. It can be love between friends and/or family.  

OR

• Write a poem describing what love looks like to you.

April 13

Welcome to Day 13 of your Invitation to Write. Today’s focus is the Respect the Mic Anthology. For this prompt, you will need to visit the website to listen to poems and see the prompts. Here’s the link: https://spokenword.oprfhs.org/respect-the-mic-anthology. 

Here is your prompt:

• Browse the poems and prompts on the Respect the Mic website. Find three prompts you really like. Write a poem based on one prompt and save the other prompts for later.

April 14

Welcome to Day 14 of your Invitation to Write. Today’s focus is The GLSEN LGBTQ Day of Silence: https://www.glsen.org/dayofsilence 

Here are your prompts:

• Write a poem that includes silences. The silence can be represented by punctuation like em dashes, periods, etc. Or the poem can be spaced out on the page with the white spaces between words representing silence. Or you can feature silence as a theme in the poem. 

OR

• Write a poem where you speak out about social justice issues related to LGBTQ+ youth.

April 15

Welcome to Day 15 of your Invitation to Write. It’s the weekend! And what better way to celebrate than going to Soda City Market? Today’s prompts are based on experiences at Soda City Market https://sodacitysc.com/. 

Here are your prompts:

• Write a poem where you write about what you see, hear, and/or taste at Soda City.

OR

• Write a poem in praise of your favorite vendor at Soda City.

April 16

Welcome to Day 16 of your Invitation to Write. Today’s focus is our beautiful City Parks of Columbia.

Here are your prompts:

• Go visit the city park closest to you, or travel to a park you haven’t visited before. Walk around. Write a poem where you describe what you see and hear during your time in the park. Consider how you felt when you were walking around this park. https://parksandrec.columbiasc.gov/

OR

• Research the history of one of our city parks. Write a poem where you share something about the history and how that history influences our present and future.

April 17

Welcome to Day 17 of your Invitation to Write. Today is International Haiku Day https://thehaikufoundation.org/events/international-haiku-poetry-day/! Haiku is a Japanese poetic form of three lines with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second line, and 5 syllables in the third line. They usually include images from nature. 

More on haiku: https://poets.org/glossary/haiku 

Here are your prompts:

• Write a haiku.

OR

• Write a haiku that focuses on a sound or smell from nature.

ORMore prompts: https://www.napowrimo.net/

April 18

Welcome to Day 18 of your Invitation to Write. Today’s focus is restaurants around Columbia. We have an abundance of amazing restaurants here, so our prompts today pay tribute to them. 

Here are your prompts:

• Write a poem about your favorite restaurant in Columbia. Be sure to include lots of imagery that includes sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. Make sure the last line of the poem mentions the name of the restaurant. 

OR

• Write an poem to your favorite dish at your favorite restaurant in Columbia.

April 19

Welcome to Day 19 of your Invitation to Write. Today’s focus is the neighborhood in Columbia where you live. We have several historical neighborhoods and newer subdivisions. It’s time to represent! 

Here are your prompts:

• Write a poem about your neighborhood where you describe what you love about the place. 

OR

• Write a poem where you describe a problem in your neighborhood you wish you could solve or change. 

April 20

April 20

Welcome to Day 20 of your Invitation to Write. Today’s focus is the SC Read-In & #ReadAcrossSC events

Here are your prompts:

• Write a poem praising your favorite banned book. https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks  

OR

• Write a poem describing how important reading is to you. 

April 21

Welcome to Day 21 of your Invitation to Write. Today’s focus is historic people of Columbia. We focused on places previously this month. Explore the Historic Columbia or Columbia SC 63 website (https://www.historiccolumbia.org/ or https://www.columbiasc63.com/history/) and choose one individual to do deep dive on. 

Here are your prompts:

• Whose one historic figure from Columbia who is not well known? Write a poem honoring that person. 

OR

• Write a poem where all of the lines are historical facts about Columbia.

April 22

Welcome to Day 22 of your Invitation to Write. How did your writing go yesterday? Let me know in the comments. 

Today is Earth Day https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2023/:  

• Write a poem that is a letter to Mother Earth. This can be a love letter, it can be a letter full of complaints or fears or anything else. 

OR

• Write a poem that has instructions on how to protect the environment. Be sure to visit the link above for ideas.

April 23

Welcome to Day 23 of your Invitation to Write. Today’s focus is Columbia’s colleges and universities. I encourage you to visit one, or if you are a graduate of one, think of your favorite memories of the college/university. 

Here are your prompts:

• Write a poem where you celebrate one of our colleges/universities. Highlight your favorite experience there and some of the most treasured traditions. 

OR

• Write a poem from the perspective of the mascot of one of our colleges/universities.

April 24

Welcome to Day 24 of your Invitation to Write. Today’s focus is ekphrasis, or a poem about art. I encourage you to visit The Columbia Museum of Art in person or virtually. https://www.columbiamuseum.org/ 

Here are your prompts:

• Browse art at the Columbia Museum of Art. Choose one piece of art and write a poem inspired by that art piece. Consider these questions: What do you see in the art? What does it mean? How does it make you feel? What other connections can you make between this art and yourself? 

OR

• Write a poem where you only describe the work of art you have chosen.

April 25

Welcome to Day 25 of your Invitation to Write. Today’s focus is inspired by the poem “Hey” by Jose Hernadez Diaz. Read the poem here: https://poets.org/poem/hey?mc_cid=ef0ae9d752&mc_eid=fc20a4b3e7. The poem was inspired by  the “Hey Tweets” trend. 

Here are your prompts:

• Write a poem where you use a Tweet or Twitter trend as the basis for a poem. 

OR

• Write a poem based on your favorite meme or gif.

April 26

Welcome to Day 26 of your Invitation to Write. Today’s focus is epistolary poetry. This is simply a poem that is a letter to someone/something. More about epistolary: https://poets.org/glossary/epistolary-poem 

Here are your prompts:

• Write a poem that is a letter to someone who is no longer living. If you could write to a lost loved one, what would you say? Write what you would say to the person and how you would update them on your life right now.

OR

• Write a poem that is a letter to a place or thing.

April 27

Welcome to Day 27 of your Invitation to Write. Today is National Poem in Your Pocket Day! You can share poems online or read poems to other people. Our prompts today celebrate it by writing tiny poems we can put in our pockets and share with others. https://poets.org/national-poetry-month/poem-your-pocket-day 

Here are your prompts:

• Write a short poem that is one sentence long that gives encouragement to others.  

OR

• Write a short poem that gives one important life lesson you want to share with others.

April 28

Welcome to Day 28 of your Invitation to Write. Today’s focus is South Carolina State Museum: I encourage you to visit the Museum, or learn more about the museum here: https://www.scmuseum.org/explore/exhibits/

Here are your prompts:

• Write a poem about an artifact in the State Museum

OR

• Write a poem from the perspective of one of the artifacts in the State Museum.

April 29

Welcome to Day 29 of your Invitation to Write. Today’s prompts are inspired by our Inaugural Poet Laureate Ed Madden’s latest collection of poetry, A pooka in Arkansas. https://allgoodbooks.com/events/25625 

Here are your prompts:

• Write a poem that is the retelling of a fairy tale. You can modernize the fairy tale or change the characters, setting, etc.

OR

• Write a poem about a mythical creature. Think about or research mythical creatures from various cultures and choose one to write a poem about.

April 30

Welcome to Day 30 of your Invitation to Write. This is our last day! Thank you for writing with me. We are ending the month with a type of poem called Ars Poetica. It is basically a poem about writing poetry or the poet’s relationship to the poem. More here: https://poets.org/glossary/ars-poetica. 

Here are your prompts:

• Write a poem where you describe how you write your poems

OR

• Write a poem where you repeat the phrase “A poem is…”