The Aftershock Review
The Daily Aftershock (Writing Prompt)
Day 73 - Write an Acrostic Poem - The Daily Aftershock
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Day 73 - Write an Acrostic Poem - The Daily Aftershock

And read an AFTERSHOCK acrostic poem!

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Today I want you to write an acrostic poem. This is a poem where the first letters of every line spell out a word.

Choose a word or phrase that holds power for you—grief, survival, home, protest, tenderness, Aftershock itself.

Perhaps lean into unconventional words: WHAT THEN? for example could be more interesting from an editor’s point of view than reading the word LOVE spelled vertically.

Write a poem where each line begins with a letter from your chosen word, in order.

Keep it raw. Let the shape help you focus. Let the constraint unlock surprise.

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Here’s an example using the word “AFTERSHOCK

AFTERSHOCK by Max Wallis

Another tremor splits open the static sky
Fingers twitch, then curl, then close.
This is not the first morning I forget who I am.
Even the cat flinches at some things.
Remembering isn't so much a choice but happenstance.
Somewhere, the ground still moves, and that's okay.
Home is the bullseye I am aiming for.
Openness and truth both help.
Certain that something will strike it if I keep aiming.
Keep going, says the voice I almost buried last spring.

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