Book Review: Smash Poetry Journal

When I was teaching seventh grade English, most class days began with five minutes of writing. Students always had the option to write on a topic of their own choosing, but most preferred working with a prompt. I would brainstorm topics and then write them down so they could be used for other classes down the road. I was constantly looking for resources to save me time of drafting new topics every day.

I recently reviewed another volume of writing prompts -- geared towards fiction -- and was sorely disappointed in the quality of the text. So when I approached Smash Poetry Journal, I went in hoping for a successful execution but being level-headed after my recent disappointment. Author Robert Lee Brewer began a poetry blog in 2008; he began posting daily poetry prompts in hopes readers would share their poems to create interaction and accountability. This book grew from his practice of providing those prompts. I shouldn't have been anxious -- this book is excellent.

Poetry writing came more naturally to my mother and a couple of my siblings; when I sit down to do it, I enjoy the exercise, but it's not as fluid for me, and I don't have ideas bursting forth without concerted effort. I need to get alone and give myself time to think. Ideally, I've been steeping myself in poetry. Only then can I create an environment to write poetry, if I have inspiration.

As I was reading this book, I flagged the prompts that I wanted to return to in order to try my hand at some poetry again. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I bookmarked an astonishing 70 of the 125 prompts (I've bought knitting books for only one or two patterns in the entire volume before, so finding so much to employ in an idea book like this is no small accomplishment). These are written in ways that get my creative juices flowing and my fingers itching to write and I anticipate spending a quiet lunch hour seeing what I create.

I highly recommend Smash Poetry Journal. This book is a strong addition for a teacher who wants to foster a poetry-writing environment in her classroom, or for the average individual -- like me -- who enjoys creating poetry but sometimes gets hung up on generating a topic or theme.

(I received a digital ARC from F+W Media via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I've used Amazon Affiliate links here; should you purchase through these links, I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you.)