The Spring 2021 Call for Submissions is looking for poems about place, and speaking of place, here are ten prompts to jump-start some creativity. Flip through your phone or a book to get more ideas. Write about somewhere you’ve been, or somewhere you’ve always wanted to go. What would it be like? Is your dream destination a beach? The mountains? Somewhere in a busy city? A cabin in the woods with no people around? That’s…
Ah, love poems. February 14th is coming up fast. Perhaps you want to write a love poem to your significant other. Or maybe you need a love poem to yourself. Nothing wrong with that. A love poem to the furry presence in your life? No problem. Read it to your cat or dog and let them know how much they mean to you. There are no limits on love poetry. Well, one limit. Please don’t…
2021. Welcome. I keep checking out my window to make sure nothing is sneaking up on us, Mad Max style. It’s Day 1. So far, so good. Marking the New Year is supposed to be about resolutions. As writers, resolutions are easy to make and a bear to keep. The Muse is fickle, and despite our best intentions, likes to desert us just when we need inspiration the most. Knowing that makes beating her/him/they at…
One thing we see a lot of here at Gyroscope Review is a good poem—that suddenly goes wrong. In their haste to put a tidy bow at the end of the poem, the poet wraps it up with a cliché. Instead of ending strong and leaving the reader to marvel at the deft wording, the poet tries to evoke the emotion they want us to feel with a stock image/phrase. It doesn’t work. The reader…
