Smash poetry is one of my favourite forms of poetry to read, so when I found this book I was ecstatic! The content is beautifully presented and the themes are wonderfully written.

While this fun little poetry prompt journal doesn't seem to be marketed towards kids, I think kids and teens might enjoy it more than experienced adults poets. A lot of the prompts are unique but I'm not sure I'd use them to get my own writer's block unblocked. Examples of the prompts are to write to write a "super" poem (about sports, mythology, comic books, etc.), to write about passwords or hide a password in the poem, to incorporate elevation, to write a bulletin board poem that's short and might be pinned up, to write about a second home, and to write about something bigger than something else. I think I'd have fun with some of these, but many seem a little juvenile for adults. Beginning poets of all ages are likely to find some inspiration, though.

This journal is a wonderful collection of prompts that ensure words leap off the page for you. They create sparks of imagination which then cascade into those leaping words and into poetry (or prose too, if you so choose!).

Robert has an innate ability to reach out to the reader even with the few words he uses in the prompts. It is almost like a trusted mentor or friend talking to you, inspiring you with ideas on every turn of the page.

In addition to the prompts themselves, Robert also:
includes fun facts about poetry forms
defines poetic terms and concepts to illustrate or expand upon some prompts
uses familiar forms like the Limerick and newer less-familiar ones as well
recommends poems and poets to read for inspiration, and
encourages the creative in the reader to come out and have fun!

In Summary
This book is a great gift for anyone looking for a writing muse, not just for poetry. For all ages, for fun, for inspiration! Once you start, you will soon realize that you can keep going because as Robert says ‘poems beget poems’.

And yes, I have attempted a few prompts already and will work on each one, one by one, and maybe post a few on my blog here in future posts

Rating: 5/5
Reading Level: All ages (that can read and write!)
Reread Level: 5/5

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the DRC of this book. The review here is my honest opinion.

This book is composed of 125 writing prompts. They are ideas and suggestions you can use when you don't know what to write about.

A nice little push to overcame the dreadful "writer's block".

You can see these 125 prompts as writing challenges to focus on to develop your writing abilities, to practice daily writing, or just for fun.

As the name suggests, the focal point of the prompts are on poetry, but you can easily adapt it to your style or genre of writing. Which can emphasize on the "challenge" aspect of the prompts.

I recommend this book to any writer (pro or amateur) that wants to challenge him/her-self to write more and more.

I love writing prompts and this one is a great addition to my shelf. Lots of fun and unusual prompts!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Waaaay better than I thought. I've always considered poem-writing very hard, but this journal was somehow pretty interesting to write and I ended up finishing every single page of it.
Thumbs up.

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 122 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.)

Cutesy but a useful tool I suppose. A nifty gift for the writer/poet in your life. I would give it as a gift.

5 happy stars
I love the dedication: “For all the poets, whether they know it or not.” Brewer’s book is both an encouraging and inspiring resource. The ‘smash journal format’ (while not as effective in the ebook format I read,) is appealing to younger poets and both sexes. (Way too often books these days are designed to appeal primarily or even exclusively to women or men.) “Just write. Write what springs into your mind. Sketch ideas, mages, incomplete phrases.” Jump around in the book if an idea is not working for you.
The plethora of ideas in the Smash Poetry Journal ranges from ‘Stranger Danger’ to ‘Elevation Station’ to ’Hide and Seek.’ Anything can poke your imagination. I wrote a few poems and marked others I want to think about and write. I also liked that Brewer includes using traditional and non-traditional poetry forms. (Limericks to Rondelets, to Dizains to the Fibonacci sequence)
Brewer suggests some published poems and their authors to inspire. I only wish they could have included the poem directly in the book, so I could access them without taking time to look the up. (Yes, I understand copyrights!) It is vital that poets have other artists to emulate, that is part of how we learn!
The brief follow-up is just as important as the terrific writing prompts. Revise, share and more sources to keep the ideas flowing. I’d recommend Smash Poetry Journal for amateurs, stuck poets, teachers, bullet journalists and anyone who wants to express themselves in creative formats.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for granting access to an arc of this book for an honest review.

This book of 125 poetry prompts is meant to inspire both first-time poets and more established poets with small but Broad ideas that could lead to many different poems of different types and lengths. Most prompts seem to be based on a single word or phrase like *open* for the first prompt. As the author suggests in this prompt, it could be about opening something physical or metaphorical or even something that has open in its name like the British Open. For people who aren't that familiar with poetry, sprinkled within and around the prompts, he defines poetic terms. For instance, prompt #2 asks that the poet write an ekphrastic poem, which means one based on a piece of visual art. He discusses forms like coblas and acrostic poems, as well as using creative ideas like the Fibonacci sequence to set the structure of a poem.

I like how Mr. Brewer does not take art too seriously and encourages the creative to play. For instance for the 24th prompt, This Month, he calls April cruel and even lists out the months, reminding us that, yes, there are indeed 12 possible months to choose from and that we should choose well.

The beauty of these prompts is that they are broadly open to interpretation. Mr. Brewer has a blog on which he has several different ways of enticing readers with prompts through the course of the year. For instance, he has a November Poem-a-Day Chapbook Challenge and an April Poem-a-Day Challenge. So, he is accustomed to coming up with interesting prompts and has come up with over 1000 prompts in the time he has run this blog. In his introduction, he goes over his background somewhat and challenges the reader of the book to harness the power of the prompt in their own art. His enthusiasm would inspire even a first-time poet to pick up a pen and attempt a cobla or tercet.

Again, these prompts are so broad that they need not be confined only to poetry. My own interest in writing is more in fiction and nonfiction. I could definitely see using most of the prompts to inspire fiction short stories or even novellas. Even nonfiction could benefit from working with some of the prompts, goading the writer to incorporate more artistry into what can be sometimes mundane recitation. I imagine that I will be returning to this book frequently for inspiration.

I love these "prompt" books. i find they are not only good for inspiration, but making me think outside the box! They also serve for writers block! I'd recommend, and even purchase, this book for fellow writers! It's the first one I've seen for poetry and like that it gives the writers things to write about or include in their poetry.

What a fantastic resource for a poet of any background - whether an anxious newcomer wanting to dip their toes into the craft of poetry, or a seasoned composer of words seeking fresh inspiration to exercise their writing muscle. Robert calls us to develop our poetic voice and challenge ourselves through 125 different prompts, encouraging his readers to interpret them in a deeply personal way. There is a wonderful sense of community woven through this book, a thousand voices inviting you to listen to their story and tell yours - and this feeling of togetherness is a large part of how effective a tool this book is, it's so much easier to try something new or push your creative bounds in company.

A valuable asset and gift of self-exploration to any creative human.

This book is great if you love writing poems but have trouble figuring out what to write. There are a ton of different poem-writing prompts that are sure to give you all the ideas you could ever need! I haven't tried any of them yet, but from what I've read, I will definitely be starting!

This book is exactly as promised. It is filled with wonderful and creative prompts. Each one is new and different. I feel that these prompts can encourage all kind of creative activities (not just poetry, it could carry into collage, photography, music.. any creative activity you enjoy.) I can't wait to begin on my journey of a poem a day.

I'm reviewing this book before tackling any of the prompts, but this is just what I was looking for to kickstart my "poeming." I am a sometimes poet, usually sticking to my faithful short fiction and creative non fiction. But I've had a few poems accepted for publication recently, one out and two forthcoming, so I'm stepping outside my comfort zone. These prompts are GOOD. They're not too open, ended, not too restrictive. And the prompts themselves show the author's sense of humor around the subject. No stuffiness here! Imagine a laid back poetry workshop and you've got this journal.

This is an interesting collection of ideas to help set you off with poetry writing. There is a lot of variety and a lot of help for anyone stuck for ideas.

Having the opportunity to review this book was a total delight for me. I have seen books that are similar to this, however never one where you are prompted to write poetry. 😘
I read through the book reading the poem prompts and the descriptions that were given. I really liked that there was a wide variety of subjects.

What I like is that the author supplies a variety of different words or phrases to help you get your creativity going. An example of this would be...he would supply the prompt, “watching the world go by”. You could write a poem about wearing rose colored glasses, looking out the window of an airplane or while window shopping at the mall...there are so many ways for you to watch the world go by. You pick the way you want to do it and write your poem.

I appreciate that the author provides additional links at the back of the book where one can locate additional poetry prompts and writing assistance.
This book was a joy to review!

I've always loved writing, and tried my hand at poems, too, though I have to admit that I'm more of the prose writer type. I mostly did my writing in my mother tongue and not in English, though. That means, I feel like my English writing has yet to be practiced and improved. When I saw this book on Netgalley I immediately felt like I need to have it and check it out! I haven't yet finished any of the prompts but I read the book through to see what they're like, and I love them! Most of the prompts are ones that I would never have thought about, but I'm already inspired! I'm planning to do this "challenge" and eventually write a poem for each promt. I might even share them on my blog. There are also little fun facts about poems, so it's not a dry listing of prompts. I recommend it to everyone who seeks inspiration to write different kinds of poems, or different topics for poems. I know I will use it.

A well crafted and explained anthology of prompts for anyone wishing to write poetry. It gives the writer styles and inspirational points that could boost their motivation.

Smash Poetry Journal is a great book with many inspiring and emotionally charged poem prompts followed by blank writing pages, lined and unlined.
For those who enjoy writing poetry, but struggle with ideas, this book will jump start your imagination with its 125 diverse prompts such as: a “nope” poem, “napkin” poem, “I am” poem, “it can’t be” poem, “dream” poem, “foodie” poem, and “dedication” poem.

This is also a great book for teachers to use in conjunction with their poetry curriculum and will be recommending it as such.