3 Rain Prompts to Wash Away Writers’ Block
Gray skies, a million raindrops, tumultuous winds—rain and storms offer endless writing inspiration. Whether you explore your healing journey, appreciate nature’s everyday beauty, or bring attention to a natural disaster, here are some rainstorm prompts to spark your creativity.
Write a healing poem with rain metaphors
Rain can represent various experiences in your healing journey. Rain nourishes us, but it also has the power to destroy, the large number of associations providing several potential perspectives for you to choose from when including the weather pattern in your poems.
Rain in a desert might symbolize a long-awaited mental health breakthrough, for example. A storm at sea, on the other hand, can serve as a metaphor for a difficult time. Lightning and thunder are symbols for anxiety. Or, depicting a summer sun shower could communicate a cleansing of pain.
Whether you incorporate multiple metaphors to illustrate your healing journey’s complexities or simply choose one to capture a specific emotion, be sure to employ descriptive imagery. This literary device allows you to express your creativity while drawing in your reader. What do the raindrops feel like as they land on your skin? How does the sky change as storm clouds roll in? Note your emotions during these moments and connect these elements to your healing journey.
Write a poem that appreciates a rainstorm
In a poem, capture nature’s everyday beauty by appreciating the little things associated with a storm.
For each line, choose a different storm characteristic to explore. What does the rain sound like as you listen through your open door? What patterns do raindrops make as they run down your window? As the storm passes, how does sunlight reflect off the water? What does the outside air smell like once the rain is gone? How does noticing these simple things connect you to Earth?
Crafting a poem like this can encourage you and your reader to find beauty in mundane experiences we often take for granted.
Write an eco-poem about hurricanes
Many people in the United States are currently suffering from Hurricane Helene’s devastation. Because climate change causes more frequent and intense natural disasters, bring attention to this timely and important topic and event in an eco-poem.
Consider creative ways you can tell a hurricane’s story. Describe the hurricane’s power and appearance to set the scene. Once the storm moves through an area, what are people experiencing? Craft an image of homes damaged or lost. Explore the long-term emotional and mental trauma associated with this loss. If you or people who you know have been affected, draw from these experiences. Incorporate intersectionality by highlighting the marginalized communities who are disproportionately impacted.
Offer a hopeful perspective as well—how do people come together to support those in need? How can this kindness provide solutions for larger systemic problems? Take your writing a step further by sharing your poem on Instagram with a donation link to help folks impacted by Helene.
We hope this list inspires you to look toward the sky as you write, embracing all that rain has to offer your poems. Want even more nature poetry content? Check out these moon metaphors for your spooky season poetry.
