Pen & Page: Put It on the Line
Not the literal line, although that will also be a factor, but “take a chance,” “step out of the box,” or any of a number of phrases that indicate trying something without giving into your first negative inclination. So go ahead, try the new prompt. Allow its suggestions to entice you. Dig in and let “surprise” become the word of the hour. Live without hesitation—at least here where it is safe! There’s nothing you can “put on the line,” both literal and figurative, that cannot be redone.
So screw up your courage; leap into a few unfamiliar prompts. Discover what awaits.
Prompt #9: Small Repairs
Setup
List 10 small repairs you’ve done or avoided lately: glue the mug, stitch a cuff, update a link, oil a hinge, call someone back, water a wilting plant.
Core Prompt
Choose one repair and write a poem in which the speaker attempts it, falters, and tries again in a different way. Include:
one tool, named precisely,
one sound,
one smell,
a single instruction sentence in imperative voice,
a turn at two-thirds that reframes what’s really being fixed.
Craft Menu (choose 2–3)
Anaphora: Begin several lines with the same phrase (e.g., “Because…” or “Again…”).
Image Echo: Repeat the tool twice, each time altered.
Verb Heat: Replace “is/was” with verbs that move or change.
Specificity Test: Swap at least one abstract noun for a tactile detail.
Caesura: Use one em dash mid-line to score a breath.
Sound Thread: Carry one consonant/music strand through multiple lines.
Shape Options (pick one)
Instruction Poem: Short imperative lines (5–8 words), one blank line mid-way.
Prose Poem: A tight block of sentences/phrases.
List Poem: Numbered steps 1–5; the last step is not a step but a realization.
Fragment Field: 3–9 fragments; no punctuation until the final line.
Turbo Variations (optional constraints)
Timestamp: Start three lines with times (e.g., 7:12 a.m.).
Counterfactual: Include one “If I hadn’t…” sentence.
Bracketed Redaction: Hide one phrase in [ ] to imply the unsaid.
Second Try: Repeat the first line near the end, altered by one loaded word.
Quick Version
Write 12 lines, 4–8 words each. Include one smell, one instruction, and end on a noun.
Stretch / Expansion
Field Notes Walk: Find three “repairable” images outdoors (loose sign, split twig, tilted mailbox). Add a coda of 3 lines.
Found Language: Lift one phrase from a manual/label/receipt; set it in italics.
Title Play: Draft three titles—concrete (“Blue Thread, Bent Needle”), temporal (“After 9:30”), metaphor (“What Holds”).
Share Back
Post one favorite line and name two craft moves you used.
Optional Reflection
What changed between the first attempt and the second? Name the smallest fix that mattered.
#Stage Notes
Come hear prize-winning poems read by the winners of the River Heron Poetry Prize.
When: Tonight, Thursday, September 25
Time: 7-8 PM (ET)
Where: Zoom
How: Free registration on our website
Host: River Heron Review with Robbin Farr, Editor; Dawn Terpstra and Virginia Smith, Poetry Editors
#Field Notes
Congratulations to Arthur Sze, named the nation’s 25th U.S. Poet Laureate. He’ll open his term with an October 9 reading at the Library of Congress and plans to spotlight poetry in translation—fitting for a writer whose lyric vision bridges cultures and landscapes. Sze is a National Book Award winner for Sight Lines * and the first Asian American to hold the post.
A warm thank you to Ada Limón for her generous tenure (2022–2025), especially her signature project You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World *, which brought poems to readers and national parks across the country.
* links to Bookshop.org
It is, as always, truly my pleasure to bring you 10 poetry notebook posts. I hope these threads I weave together are generative and informative for you. If there is more you’d like to see, let me know. Let the dialogue begin.
Write and thrive,
Robbin