For November, I look to poem and book titles related to Thanksgiving and Fall for inspiration.  I fell in love with the title of Douglas Florian’s poetry collection Autumnblings, which beautifully captures this time of year and have chosen it for the name of November’s prompt challenge.

The poems and books that these prompts are drawn from represent many different voices and points of view.  I hope that you find them as evocative as I do and that you will be intrigued enough to learn more about them.

There is only one rule to my prompt challenge: the poem or book title should serve as the title of your piece OR all the words of the title should be integrated into your piece somehow.   

I LOVE posting your prompt responses on Brave & Reckless.  I welcome your poetry, prose, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, essay, and art.  I will accept responses to any of November’s prompts on any day, but will not start publishing them on Brave & Reckless until November 1st.

Email your prompt responses with a short bio and a suggested image to her.red.pen.wordsmithing@gmail.com.

You can also participate on Instagram by tagging your writing/art with:

• #AutumnblingsChallenge2021
• #dailyprompt
• @stitchypoet

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SONG FOR AUTUMN BY MARY OLIVER

Don’t you imagine the leaves dream now

how comfortable it will be to touch
the earth instead of the
nothingness of the air and the endless
freshets of wind? And don’t you think
the trees, especially those with
mossy hollows, are beginning to look for

the fires that will come—six, a dozen—to sleep
inside their bodies? And don’t you hear
the goldenrod whispering goodbye,
the everlasting being crowned with the first
tuffets of snow? The pond
stiffens and the white field over which
the fox runs so quickly brings out
its long blue shadows. The wind wags
its many tails. And in the evening
the piled firewood shifts a little,
longing to be on its way.

Originally published on BookRiot