05 Oct 2023
Cinematic poetry prompts
community
Happy National Poetry Day!
As well as being a great escape, cinema can be a great source of inspiration. This National Poetry Day, we’ve come up with some cinema-related poetry prompts for any writers looking for inspiration.
Martha Boyd
- Write your own fortunes. Flex your creative muscles by taking on a new career as a fortune cookie writer like Donya in the film Fremont. Try to avoid cliches and think of fortunes that would take the reader by surprise and maybe even put them off their cookie.
- Which character in a film do you hate the most? Write a poem from their perspective.
- Think of the film genre that you watch the most and are most familiar with. Direct your poem within this genre. Make sure your poem inhabits this genre’s world, borrowing its props and motifs. For example, if your genre is Anime, maybe your characters will have large eyes and they may encounter magic like the Catbus in My Neighbour Totoro. Try to invoke all the senses in your chosen genre, for example, don’t just describe what the ramen in Ponyo looks like, but its flavour too.
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We
love reading the quotes people have put on the plaques they sponsored in
the Picture House. One of our favourites is from Agnès Varda, "Cinema
is my home. I think I've always lived in it."
Cinema feels like home for us too, and for many. As a thank you, write an ode to cinema. To make it feel more vivid, maybe focus on a cinema you know well, like ours, and its specific details and characteristics such as the Picture House’s red velvet seats, flickering gas lamps and square Art Deco clock. Bring the cinema further to life by focusing on all the senses: the smell of popcorn, the clicking projector sound, the sensation of a cold ice cream tub in your hand, for example. - Make two unexpected characters from two different films meet in your poem. Try not to overthink their interactions by practising automatic writing. Set a timer for four minutes and don’t take your pen off the page and see what you come up with.
