Do you ever get stuck for words? Or ideas? I know I do. All the time! That's where writer's prompts come in super handy. Pretty much every writing class I've ever done was structured around a series of writing prompts to get my imagination firing and creativity flowing. 

Think of a prompt such as 'What lies beyond the stars?' or 'Write about your day from the point of view of your shoe' or 'Where is home?' I just made all those up but it took me a while to figure them out. The brilliant thing about writer's prompts is someone else has already done the hard work of figuring out the prompt for you so all you have to do is to respond to it.

So far I have added the prompt packs to my collection: The Writer's Toolbox, Writer Emergency Pack and The Writing Deck: 52 Prompts for Putting Pen to Paper. These kits are aimed at storytelling and writing fiction but you can easily use them to write poetry as well. Especially if you're interested in writing narrative poems.

On a slightly more poetic note comes Poems to Share II from Red Room Poetry. Red Room Poetry are a great Australian organisation that promotes and supports poetry through programs for schools as well as the publication of poetry on its website. the Poems to Share II prompt cards are brilliant. On one side is a short poem and on the other a prompt inspired by the poem. The deck comes with instructions on how to use the cards as well as a description of different poetic techniques.

What happens when you add dice and metaphors? Well you get metaphor dice of course! Taylor Mali is a genius and this idea is amazing. Roll three dice, get your metaphor and then expand it to create a poem. Brilliant!

I'm hoping there are more prompt decks for writing poetry out there. Drop me a line if you know of any!