It’s been a glorious month of poetry.
We’ve cried salty tears, played in the water, written thank you poems, and peeked under the surface of the ocean.
Let’s write one more poem before we say goodbye to the #WaterPoemProject — 30 31 days of water-themed poetry prompts from your favorite children’s authors.
If you’re looking for National Poetry Month writing prompts, we’ve got you covered. Start with Day 1 and you’ll have poetry prompts from now through the end of April, plus an extra day for good luck!
New to this project? Please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
Middle grade author and poet Aida Salazar is here with our bonus prompt!
Aida’s prompt is: Goddess of the Ocean
Aida Salazar
Imagine you are the goddess of the ocean.
Write a poem about what you have to do during an ocean storm to keep all its creatures safe.
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I always feel a little sad on the last day of writing together, poets. I hope you’ve enjoyed writing in response to the amazing prompts our authors put together!
Write your goddess of the ocean poem by the end of the day tomorrow, Wednesday, April 22, 2020.
If you have been doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Aida Salazar is an arts activist and author of the middle grade verse novels, THE MOON WITHIN (International Latino Book Award winner) and LAND OF THE CRANES (9/15/20) and the forthcoming bio picture book, JOVITA WORE PANTS: THE STORY OF A REVOLUTIONARY FIGHTER. She lives in a teal house with her family of artists in Oakland, CA.
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#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Prompt 9: Kathryn Apel, Silly Solage
Prompt 10: Buffy Silverman, A Watery Home
Prompt 11: Kara Laughlin, Frozen Fog
Prompt 12: Debbie Levy, Jump into a Limerick
Prompt 13: Joy McCullough, What Are Water Bears?
Prompt 14: Linda Baie, Frozen Water Skinny
Prompt 15: Chris Baron, The Hidden World of Water
Prompt 16: Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Water Wordplay
Prompt 17: Susan Tan, The Sound of Water
Prompt 18: Mike Grosso, Waterplay!
Prompt 19: R. L. Toalson, Wishing Well
Prompt 20: Margarita Engle, Ode to the Shore
Prompt 21: Faye McCray, Poem in a Bubble
Prompt 22: Meg Eden, Surprising Connections
Prompt 23: Beth Ain, Water with Salt
Prompt 24: Kevin Hodgson, A Poem about Peepers
Prompt 25: Laura Purdie Salas, Be a Snow-Maker!
Prompt 26: Amanda Rawson Hill, Where Does Water Come From?
Prompt 27: Nikki Grimes, Word? Play!
Prompt 28: Heidi Mordhorst, Try a Definito!
Prompt 29: Lee Gjertsen Malone, Dirty Water
Prompt 30: Janet Wong, Write a Gift Poem
Prompt 31: Aida Salazar, Goddess of the Ocean
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
What a fantastic month of writing. Thank you for the entire project, Laura! What a gift to all of us.
I hope these prompts will stay up because I didn’t get to do them all. I met Aida at NCTE and had a wonderful conversation with her about her book. Goddess of the ocean, here I come!
Keep the peace,
Poseidon, keep
the peace
For while the Greeks conjured you
with stories of jealousy and lust,
an angry ocean god
with trident arms
I remained, forever,
a protector of the innocent
from such tirades,
your moods of spite
Neither whirlpool nor
tidal surge nor riptide
nor dead sea rising
shakes faith of possibility
Only poets know of me –
the poets, they dream of me –
the unspoken guardian
of the ocean deep, the seas
of belief
Keep the peace,
Poseidon, keep
the peace, or reckon
the world with me
What a huge undertaking, Laura! I so appreciated the consistency of posts and prompts and process. I wrote to *almost* every prompt (a few days I had commitments to other groups/prompts), and I’m so glad I did. I’m exhausted, but happy. Thank you for this project.