Pen & Page Prompt #19

This Week: Using routine as a doorway into meaning

Pen & Page: A Quiet Habit

A prompt about the small, often unnoticed rituals that shape our days.

Some of the most meaningful moments in a life happen quietly — in repetition, in routine, in the ordinary acts we return to again and again. These habits can feel insignificant at the time, yet they often hold memory, comfort, and change within them. Writing into them can reveal the deeper layers of meaning whether it is comfort, need, or even disguise.

Prompt #19: Small rituals carry the deep stories

Premise

In the acts we repeat — making, tending, walking, pausing — time gathers quietly. These habits hold memory, change, comfort, and sometimes grief, even when they seem ordinary on the surface.

Setup

Think of a habit you return to again and again. It may happen daily or weekly, in the morning or at night, without much thought.

It might be something simple:
making coffee, opening a window, watering a plant, walking the same path, sitting in a favorite chair, checking the sky, feeding an animal, writing a few lines before bed.

Let yourself notice it closely — the motions, the textures, the light, the pace.

Core Prompt

Begin by describing this quiet habit in concrete detail. Stay with the physical actions and sensory moments: what your hands do, what you see, hear, or feel as you move through it.

Then allow the writing to drift toward what the habit carries beneath the surface.

What has remained steady within it?
What has slowly changed over time?
What does this ritual hold — comfort, memory, longing, healing, anticipation?

Shape your piece as a poem or a brief lyric paragraph.

Craft Nudge

If it feels right, echo an image, phrase, or action from the beginning of the piece near the end, letting the habit return with new meaning.

Share

If you’d like to share, consider posting a line, an image, or a brief excerpt from your piece. You might also share what surprised you about writing from such a small, repeated moment.

Reflection

After writing, pause and notice:

Did this habit hold more meaning than you expected?
Did the act of slowing down change how you see it now?

You might jot a sentence or two about what this ritual has been quietly giving you.

Sometimes what we do quietly, again and again, tells the longest story. I hope this prompt offers a gentle doorway back into writing this week, especially if you’ve been in the part of the country that has been shoveling out from the storm. It’s time to cozy up and return to your familiar and comforting writing activities.

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And by the way, if you are on the lookout for a concise poetry workshop on Zoom that hits all of the important areas of editing your poems prior to submission, here is one to consider. I am teaching a 4-week workshop through River Heron Review called Poetry Boost: From Title to Publication. Each week, we will focus on one component for creating strength and meaning: titles, line endings, poem endings, and on the fourth week a look at the ins and outs of publication. It’s an all skills level class. I’d love for you to join me.

Stay warm, my cold-weather friends.

Write and thrive,
Robbin
10poetrynotebooks@gmail.com