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from the horse's mouth: writer's idea box prompt

Your paid subscription ($10 annually) gives you access to monthly writing prompts (and more). You'll love it. I promise!

Photo by Eva Tomankova on Unsplash Welcome to the Writer’s Idea Box! Happy Writing. And remember to submit work written to this or other Writer’s Idea Box prompts here. from the horses mouth for fws Writers idea box 2 8 25Download

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New: Writer's Idea Box

Subscribe to receive a year's worth of writing prompts and to be eligible to submit to fws: writer's idea box.

Photo by Thom Milkovic on Unsplash Writing Prompts & Publication Here fws paid subscribers will find a year’s worth of writing prompts to be posted monthly or more often. These are prompts I have used to facilitate writing workshops with adults for the past decade. I’m calling these prompts, but they are more than that, as each includes a writing warm-up, writing samples that help you…

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Stranger Than Fiction: prompt

Subscribe to receive access to all of the writing prompts I've used in workshops with adult writers over the past decade. $10 annually.

Photo by Dan Parlante on Unsplash Write to this prompt then submit your work to fws: writer’s idea box for a chance to be published in a forthcoming edition! Stranger than fiction for fws Jan 28 2025Download

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gentle touch, d. ellis phelps

Thanks to poet Rosemary Wahtola Trommer for the prompt to write an inaugural poem since there will be no poem read at today's ceremony.

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boy stuff, d. ellis phelps

Photo by Krzysztof Kowalik on Unsplash boy stuff ~for Geneplease godsend me a baby --a brother or sisteri prayedi prayed this way nightlyuntil i was no longer a childuntil our mother —finally with childtold me~we stood by the back door in the denthe spotted dog looking in linoleum dark green on the floormy father and i had laid tile by tilethe pungent smell of adhesivethe black stickiness on my…

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new work: Our Loveliest Bruises, Okaji

new poetry by Robert Okaji in his debut collection: Our Loveliest Bruises

this from his publisher 3: A Taos Press By way of his unmatched precision, and reverence, Okaji navigates the darkness of loss to discover living within the vessel of himself—a reliquary to bear our loveliest bruises that attest to our most human griefs and joys—the light that is tantamount to being alive. A regular contributor to fws, Robert Okaji’s work is enigmatic, butter in the mouth, moth…

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call for submissions: solace

Please consider submitting work that uplifts, comforts, and consoles for the current issue of fws: solace. We are interested in reading your fun, funny work, your words of revelry in nature or joy in the present moment. We are not looking for directive or prescriptive writing, but writing that brings the reader into an immediate sense of the sublime, be it through beautiful imagery, humor, or…

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New poem up on Texas Poetry Assignment today

Photo by Yuliia Huzenko on Unsplash Every summer we have a family reunion. We eat hubby’s famous “King Daddy Grill Brisket” and have a romping good time with all of our kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, and great-nephews. Laurence Musgrove, Editor of Texas Poetry Assignment, has chosen my poem about all of that, “family reunion,” to represent the current edition of TPA: Texas Eats. I’m real…

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The Body as Religion by Andrea "Vocab" Sanderson

Sankofa Bird by Donna Lee Bolden Kerr (use pending permission of the artist) Sankofa is an African word from the Akan tribe in Ghana. The literal translation of the word and the symbol is “it is not taboo to fetch what is at risk of being left behind.” ~Berea College The Body as Religion Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson We grieve the absence of youth savoring sacraments of nostalgic seconds. We…

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Texas Poetry Assignment + Hunger Relief

Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash This is a reaaaalllly good idea! Laurence Musgrove, Editor of the Texas Poetry Assignment, offers frequent prompts with publication upon acceptance (so really fast turnaround!) and a monthly or bi-monthly zoom reading platform for contributors. He does all of this as a fund-raiser toward Texas Hunger Relief. You can see all of the “assignments”…

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The Ancient Book of Magic Secrets, Rohn Bayes

I love this book: I read it in a few sittings. It is one I will read and to which I will refer again and again. So, I offered the author the opportunity to answer a few interview questions from me and to do a reading from the book for us. He said YES! Those gems are below, but first, here is my Goodreads review of The Ancient Book of Magic Secrets: An exploration into being human: Writing part…

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Straight Into Me, lyrics & melody, (c) d. ellis phelps

Introducing me: the songwriter! Don't you love it? Do you believe in finding just the right one for you? This is a song about just that.

photo credit: Jefferson Santos via unsplash dot com Introducing me the songwriter! If you like it, show me some love and give the song a “heart” like in SoundCloud and share from SoundCloud! More later! Namaste Y’all!

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remains of the day, d. ellis phelps

photo courtesy of Barry Weatherall via unsplash.com remains of the day d. ellis phelps Seven thousand Baby Boomers born between 1946 and 1964 are dying every day.—The Baptist Standard, May 21, 2024 when the show is overand the curtain is downthere is a long round of applauseand then nothingthe ushers sweep upthe remains of the daythe crew disassembles the setrelegates this and that to the…

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A New Era of Good in Just One Hour

Photo by Mark Harpur on Unsplash If you are like me, you are wondering and wanting. Wanting to “do something” for Good. For the good of humanity. Something that matters. Something sustainable and immediate. Something that will move the hearts of human beings and feed our aching souls. Maybe you think contributing to a certain political campaign will help. Maybe you think giving to organizations…

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The Snail Tapper by Charles Darnell

Photo by Krzysztof Niewolny on Unsplash The Snail Trapper Charles Darnell To walk the Leon Creek TrailIs a muggy slog today. The clouds press down,Mist hangs in the air,Sweat clings already To the hair on my neck.I think of life as more preciousKnowing my own is on the back end.I do my best to avoid injury To even the smallest of creatures,Believing their lives as meaningfulAs mine.I find…

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eucharist of sky, d. ellis phelps

a poem for spring: the cranes have arrived!

Photo by Joshua Torres on Unsplash I wrote the first draft of this poem during a stint as a guest writer for Tupelo Press’s 30/30 project some years ago (March 2015? maybe?), a fundraiser for the press that features poets who write 30 poems in 30 days. Thanks to Kirsten Miles for choosing me to help with that project! It was a very productive time for me and I much appreciated the…

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standing up, d. ellis phelps

Cover of program for the National American Woman Suffrage Association procession, showing woman, in elaborate attire, with cape, blowing long horn, from which is draped a “votes for women” banner, on decorated horse, with U.S. Capitol in background. standing up ~for DP who says too many good people are silentnot a short memberof the ku klux klanstanding by the garbage canalongside the roadbut a…