It isn't the idea but how much you bring to it, explore and develop and polish...but if you're looking for somewhere to start, some grain to form your snowflake around...here are some starts.
Poets Online
Has monthly prompts of a subject or form with an example poems by expert
for example: poems by Robert Hass and, having read those, write about the conversations of couples in your own way
Friday Fives
set of words to spur or stir story, memory, flash fiction, poems.
for example: freckle, evade, peck, scoot, dash
One Word
60 second to expand or spin-off word in whatever way comes to mind from the prompt word. it cuts you off after a minute.
for example: tarnish, noose, or symbol
Language is a Virus
A prompt list. you can only see 1 at a time (can't be so overwhelmed by options)
for example: compose an index. Of anything.
Guardian's poetry workshop
with one prompt per month from the likes of Annie Finch or Mark Doty
for example: a close study of another species or elegies
Charles Berntein's list of 88 experiments
for example, pick 20 words and write three different poems using only these words, homophonic translation from a language you don't know, lines collaged from media
Sunday Stealing
Meme questions that might not occur to you from which to springboard
for example: Back in the day: Been caught sneaking out? What happened the last time you played sports? Ever licked someone’s cheek?
NaPoWriMo 2009
for example: follow a word trail to see what starts, from synonym to synonym or its perfect rhymes or pseudo-rhymes and see where they take you. “Papal” becomes “apple,” which becomes “grapple.” If you add “dabble” or “baffle,” what an interesting story you may have!
One form a day for April
for example: A French rondelet. One stanza. Only 2 rhymes with a strict pattern, repeated refrain. Line 4 must rhyme with the refrain.
_dog days_
Line 1 :: A -- four syllables wilted flowers
Line 2 :: b -- eight syllables at the window smell like swamp gas
Line 3 :: A -- repeat of line one wilted flowers
Line 4 :: a -- eight syllables from you who are gone torque powers,
Line 5 :: b -- eight syllables stink, to prod me to sun and grass.
Line 6 :: b -- eight syllables rubber stems safe in wet, harass
Line 7 :: A -- repeat of line one wilted flowers
30 in 30
Another set of Napowrimo prompts
for example: So today I want you to pay more attention to the Shape of your poem.
Play with the spacing of l e t t e r s.
Feeeeeeeeel how your man ip u lation of the English language is when you add a visual element.
Poetic Asides
Writer's Market April Challenge (over 10,000 responses to 15 prompts so far)
for example: Two for Tuesday: write a love poem and /or an anti-love poem
Messing in Meter
Messing about with rough text, then metered it into dialogue, then for interestingness. It's not the material or idea but what you do to it.
for example: Patrick Gillespie took the purple prose by Thomas North converted from prose to blank verse to more oomph/personal style added
hard by her, on either hand pretty fair boys appareled as painters do set forth god Cupid, with little fans in their hands, with which they fanned wind upon her.
On ei|ther hand |were pret|ty boys | ap-par-eled
As if |they each |were Cu|pid, fan|ning her
To keep |the wind |up-on | her.
On either side stood sweating boys
Like Cupidons with multi-colored wings
They teased the air with fans
That almost robbed the swooning breeze…
Weekly exercise prompts
for example: In 400 words or less, create a story that might explain the origin of an idiom.
Online Wordly Tools
Do erasure
use a black marker, keep a few words from a whole page
Wildcard dictionary
look for part of a word or sound such as (stats with a bl, ends with a rd) bl*rd (also a reverse dictionary at the site)
Anagrams search
Rhymes and slant rhyme Dictionary
Scrabble Helper
search for certain sounds such as you need all voiced and harsh tpkgbd???eea
