If the last two years of National Poetry Writing Month have taught me anything, it’s that I’m more likely to write something if I have some kind of prompt to work from. Otherwise, I write only when I feel like it, or when a noteworthy phrase pops into my thoughts. So, I borrowed The Daily Poet: Day-By-Day Prompts For Your Writing Practice, by Kelli Russell Agodon & Martha Silano, from the Kindle Owners Lending Library on Amazon.

The prompt for May 4 involves making a list of rules about writing poetry—either ones you’ve been taught, or ones that you’ve come up with yourself—then writing a poem that breaks at least four of them. Since there aren’t any rules I can think of (I certainly don’t have such a list anywhere), I did a Google search, and worked against the Poetry Writing Tips at YourDictionary. (The line about sex acts comes from the Useless Facts web site.)

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