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Wishes & Stars Poetry Prompt: Wish

By Heather Eure 23 Comments

I wish poetry prompt

Formerly, when I would feel a desire to understand someone, or myself, I would take into consideration not actions, in which everything is relative, but wishes. Tell me what you want and I’ll tell you who you are.”

—Anton Chekov

Many of us have dropped a coin into a fountain, captured an eyelash on our cheek, or blown dandelion seeds to the wind—and a wish was made. From shooting stars to blowing out birthday candles, humankind has been making wishes since time immemorial. What is the significance of making wishes?

Wishing can be considered one part of a cultural account, that people’s wishes usually model their feelings and position in society. Wishes are by no means a casual utterance. They are rooted in the condition of our present lives and in our unique temperaments. A wish can illuminate the literal and symbolic meaning of our inner world.

The wishes we make are a barometer of the heart.

Try It: Wish poetry

Think of a time when you made a wish. Did you blow out candles on a birthday cake, drop a coin into a well, or wish upon a star? Were you a child or all grown up? Try to remember the moment and recreate it with poetry.

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Featured Poem

Thanks to everyone who participated in last week’s poetry prompt. Here is a poem from Rick of astrophysics personified:

Chandrasekhar Limit

The Chandrasekhar limit, a theory advanced by Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, is ascribed to a star with the maximum mass a white dwarf star can be without eventually exploding
in the blinding flash of a super nova.

Perhaps I shine brightest now,
but my energy has changed;
what I know is difficult to know
in simple space and time;
passion is a system dying,
if not making new.

Precious is a luxury,
a jewel with maintenance.

I am a white dwarf, long in the truth
of life and death, weighted with mission
that follows me like a shadow,
a penumbra I must now leave behind.

This is the way of creation, nothing
begets nothing. Darkness moves me
into the light.

—by Rick Maxson

Photo by Hernán Piñera. Creative Commons via Flickr.

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  • Author
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Heather Eure
Heather Eure
Heather Eure has served as the Poetry Editor for the late Burnside Collective and Special Projects Editor for us at Tweetspeak Poetry. Her poems have appeared at Every Day Poems. Her wit has appeared just about everywhere she's ever showed up, and if you're lucky you were there to hear it.
Heather Eure
Latest posts by Heather Eure (see all)
  • Poetry Prompt: Misunderstood Lion - March 19, 2018
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  • Poetry Prompt: Behind the Velvet Rope - February 26, 2018

Filed Under: Blog, poetry prompt, poetry teaching resources, Wishes & Stars, writer's group resources, writing prompt

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Comments

  1. Katie says

    December 18, 2017 at 7:18 pm

    To wish upon
    a post it note
    is more than fun
    it’s pure-ty hope

    Write upon the square
    place it on the wall
    no wish too much to bear
    none considered too small

    Just stand right up
    and pen it there
    Do you want a pup?
    Wish him out of thin air!

    Would you rather a kitten?
    Then write it out
    As if you’re smitten
    Make that wish, don’t pout!

    You’re hoping for a car
    well Santa’s getting near
    Just look upon that star
    and wish it to appear!

    Oh, you said a boat,
    Okay, then spell your dream
    And write it on a post it note
    For wish-fulfillment needs a team;)

    Reply
    • Katie says

      December 19, 2017 at 8:55 pm

      Would this work any better for the 2nd verse?

      Write upon the square
      place it on the wall
      not one too much too bear
      no wish too silly or small

      Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      December 19, 2017 at 11:26 pm

      Katie, I like the line “…then spell your dream”. To me, this has possibility as a wish poem, too. Dreams large and left unspoken. How should a wish be expressed?
      What do you think?

      Reply
      • Katie says

        December 22, 2017 at 9:05 pm

        Thank you, Heather:)
        And thanks for these questions.
        Here are some thoughts I’ve been thinking:

        “Then Spell your DREAM”

        Dance, sing
        Read Chesterton
        Energy enough
        Asleep/awake
        Magic awaits.

        &

        watercolor paints
        brushes of every size
        landscapes so lovely

        &

        Write love
        and truth, calling
        seekers to dig and delve
        search and research to find the way
        Homeward.

        Reply
        • Brandon Ezzard says

          December 23, 2017 at 2:24 pm

          I really like the poem. Do you have more you post somewhere? 😀

          Reply
          • Katie says

            December 23, 2017 at 3:25 pm

            Thank you, Brandon.
            I don’t have a website, but do have a printed collection of poems you can order here:
            http://www.J2BLLC.com

  2. Rick Maxson says

    December 19, 2017 at 5:30 am

    Thank you, Heather for featuring my poem.

    Using another Jerry McGuire takeaway: as I said under the prompt, supernovas complete me.

    Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      December 19, 2017 at 11:30 pm

      I’m with you. Show me the supernovas!! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Brandon Ezzard says

    December 19, 2017 at 4:42 pm

    I wish she were mine;
    yes, the decree of the king;
    my solemn promise written on a document
    to be sung like the Song of Solomon
    by only the sweetest of psalmist living.

    What do you desire, my lovely?
    Ask, and you shall receive
    up to half of the kingdom.

    She is my Esther the Queen.
    I am her Artaxerxes.
    She may say the word and every
    Haman shall be done away with.

    I wish to adopt 10 sons,
    and have two more like Jacob and Rachel;

    She makes me feel like a new man.
    In my heart I am transformed.
    Before I met her I was Jacob.
    When I laid eyes on her I became Israel,
    for I have sought God like David,
    having once been like Nabal,
    met Goliath and slain him,
    and have gained an Abigail.

    Such an one is a God-send,
    a blessing from above.
    I wish I were one with her,
    subject to her like a king to a kingdom,
    anoint her head
    with the kiss of gladness,
    and wash her feet
    with my tears of happiness
    while on bended knee.

    She’s come down out of heaven from God,
    prepared as a bride dressed for her husband,
    she my New Jerusalem.

    She is intriguing to figure out,
    a mystery I’d love to solve.
    She’s been built with the building blocks of life.
    she is my Rubik’s Cube of Love.

    Her twelve gates
    are like before, during, after,
    beginning, middle, and end,
    past, present, and future,
    body, soul, and spirit.

    I liken seeing her for the first time
    like seeing for the first time.
    I wish she’d take my right hand of fellowship
    and hold my hand, for then I shall recover.

    At the revelation of my bride,
    even because the knowledge of my love,
    I am bouncing like a bunny in spring,
    even leaping and praising God.

    She is a servant to all,
    therefore the chiefest,
    and has humbled herself like a child,
    therefore is greatest in the kingdom.

    I have found the good mustard seed
    hidden in the field planted, watered,
    and there she is, my life-tree.

    I have sold all to get this pearl,
    counting it nothing for my girl,
    yes, a pearl of great price,
    for you, my wife, are a great find.

    I wish to be like our child can be,
    close to her, swinging on a swing,
    get shade while in the trysting place,
    and find rest from the heat.

    She is quite the catch.
    She is my lovely fish.
    For her, I’d take on Leviathan
    to try and get her into my net.

    I wish for her soft chin
    to tenderly rest upon the top of my head,
    her arms wrapped around me,
    and her every tear of consolation,
    the understanding of my pain
    is like a drop of water for my tongue,
    and I go from a rich man in Hades,
    to a Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom.

    I have fallen into the waters of love,
    to a place out of this world,
    and the Spirit Himself
    has come upon me like a dove.

    Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      December 19, 2017 at 11:12 pm

      Brandon, this is a lovely wish poem. Full of divine metaphor for your exalted one. Thanks for sharing it with us!

      Reply
    • Prasanta says

      December 23, 2017 at 10:39 pm

      I agree with Heather, and I think that the object of your poem would be delighted to have these words written for her.

      Reply
  4. Prasanta says

    December 20, 2017 at 4:52 pm

    When 19 at the Fontana Di Trevi

    When I was 19
    at the Fontana Di Trevi
    I tossed in three coins
    with the right hand
    over the left shoulder

    I lost track of where they landed
    among hundreds of copper and silver bits
    splattered like a random mosaic
    on the fountain’s floor

    I walked on then
    through the long, narrow piazza
    past the hungry pigeons
    to the rest of the day, the rest of Italy
    and the rest of my life

    If the bits were underwater, drowning
    they’d still catch fire, blaze,
    transform, materialize
    in a far-off future
    or so it goes with magic and wishes

    But years later
    I’d find out the true charge for dreams
    I’d collect a bag of gold and toss it all in
    For friendship, love, happiness

    Would it cost extra
    for a certain pair of eyes
    because tears and time
    are too high of a price to pay

    I’d drop in as many shiny, crisp coins needed
    to end poverty, hunger,
    cancer, disease

    Tell me the cost
    to end refugees’ wandering
    and to build the homeless a home

    What is the price to pay,
    Fontana Di Trevi,
    to end racial divides
    and for men to respect women
    as fellow creatures of dignity

    I’ve been saving coins and wishes
    ever since the day
    I heard it on the news
    since I saw you fleeing
    since I saw you weeping

    And I’ve been saving
    for my own lonely heart

    When 19
    you think three coins is enough

    At 19
    it’s all you’ve got

    But when you’re older
    you’d gather all the gold of this world
    and dump it in the fountain of wishes
    if that’s all it took

    Reply
    • Brandon Ezzard says

      December 21, 2017 at 8:03 pm

      What a wonderful, beautiful poem this is! How long have you been writing? Do you have more posted somewhere else?

      Reply
      • Prasanta says

        December 23, 2017 at 9:39 pm

        Thank you for those kind words and for asking, Brandon. I sometimes post poetry here: https://pathoftreasure.wordpress.com/

        Reply
  5. Donna says

    December 21, 2017 at 4:34 pm

    when our dance was done
    I wished I could wish you there
    standing real
    on the other side of
    my unopened eyes

    Reply
    • Brandon Ezzard says

      December 21, 2017 at 8:05 pm

      Short and lovely. I like it a lot 😀

      Reply
      • Donna says

        December 21, 2017 at 8:11 pm

        Thank you, Brandon. 🙂 I like your’s too.

        Reply
        • Brandon Ezzard says

          December 22, 2017 at 6:03 pm

          Do you have a place where there is more of it?

          Reply
          • Donna Falcone says

            December 22, 2017 at 7:40 pm

            Thank you for asking, Brandon. 🙂 You can find some on my blog: http://www.donnazfalcone.com/poetry

  6. Dan Julian says

    January 18, 2018 at 12:04 am

    Writing,
    I bring carefully into existence
    Some personal sense of what is or could be
    Hoping my words will find purchase in others’ minds.

    Reply
    • Donna Falcone says

      January 18, 2018 at 9:56 am

      Hi Dan – thanks for stopping by and writing with us today!
      I really like that first line especially – carefully bring into existence. It brings an artist’s working to mind. I like your poem. 🙂

      Reply
      • Dan Julian says

        January 18, 2018 at 11:43 am

        thanks!

        Reply

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