5-4-3-2-1 WRITE

This month’s creative prompt:

Grab your writing notebook and engage your senses. Write down:

5 things you can SEE

4 things you can HEAR

3 things you can FEEL

2 things you can SMELL

1 thing you can TASTE

Now read through your list and circle your favorite images. Grab a fresh sheet of paper and rearrange these lines in any order. You’ve got the first draft of a poem! As you revise, play with adding transition words, line spaces, or extra details.

Try this exercise a couple different ways: Write down everything you notice in the present moment, sitting at your desk or writing space. Or, call up the memory of an important event in the past and use your senses to explore the details. Or, put yourself in the mind of a fictional character and imagine everything they experience in a scene.

We love to publish poetry at Filament! (And novel excerpts, stories, nonfiction, and visual art, too.) Submit your work to Zinc’s World Mythology Contest or to our general submission pool. Deadline: February 1, 2024.