I answered a question in another group just now, and this thought came about… Thought I’d bring it over here to discuss with all of you today. 🖤 The 💭 When thinking about inspiration, can a single line or word from another piece of art inspire you to create something completely new? Yes!!! Finding inspiration in someones art is a wonderful place to start. Honoring something that touched you and stayed with you can spark a whole new idea. Books, movies, art—I am always thinking about them and looking for ideas, different ways of viewing this world. When I find something that inspires me, I immediately write it down in my notes app or scribble it in a journal, then get back to it later when I have time to write. Sometimes those perspectives vibe from conversations, sometimes published work. And then… The endurance that carries you through writing your art can be found by pouring your own lived experiences into the story. Just like Paul Coelho showed us in his book The Alchemist. Your perspective is unique. Nobody has ever lived your exact life, and by drawing from those hard painful and lived experiences and feelings, we can create strong emotion in our stories. That emotion becomes relatable for the reader and memorable in your work. 🖤 What are your thoughts???

The room glows softly. Music drifts. Thoughts slip into dreams. A journal rests open beside a luminous laptop. Beyond the window, city lights flicker like distant stars. My loyal companion, Lucille Ball, sleeps nearby as inspiration hangs in the air. In moments like these, creativity breathes. Your turn….. Write your scene... Where do you create? On a porch with a cigarette and a thousand unfinished thoughts? Curled in a worn chair, a laptop balanced on your knees? Alone in a dark kitchen, lit only by candlelight? Your Prompt✍️: Begin a poem or song or story from your imagined scene. Lead your reader from the journal page before you into a story beyond its margins. Perhaps the writer becomes the narrator. Perhaps the narrator becomes the maker of worlds. A doorway may open into a medieval kingdom. Dragons may wheel above distant peaks. A forgotten lover may wait for your words to wake her/his story. Begin in the room. End up somewhere else entirely.. 🖤🖋️

This is actually kind of hilarious!! I didn’t tell it to do the things that it did….

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️This weeks LEADERS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⬇️⬇️ ……… Drum Roll……. 🥇 Faiza Writes @Faiza Writes 🥈 Cynthia Keffer @Cynthia Keffer 🥉 Tri Le @Tri Le 🖋️ Eva Savicki @Eva Savicki 🖋️ Jason Strickland @Jason Strickland 🖋️ Gareth Parkes @Gareth Parkes 🖋️ Rositsa Aleksandrova @Rositsa Aleksandrova 🖋️ Meaghan Vaughan @Meaghan Vaughan 🖋️ Jasmon Flowe @Jasmon Flowe Thank you all for bringing your words, energy, and creativity into the community this week. 💜 I also made custom Ink & Alchemy portraits for everyone who placed on the leaderboard Thank you all so much for showing up every single day and making this such a special place for all of us. 🖤 Nikki

For Ilia, Nicole, Nicole carried ink in her hands. Like stardust wrapped in flame, Turning silence into something. The broken heart could name. Ilia carried fire in his voice, a rhythm fierce and free. Building worlds from shattered thoughts and giving poets room to breathe. And somewhere between those two lights,The Art of Poetry stood, not asking who was better, only asking what art could do for good. No gates were locked between them. No jealousy took root. Just poets planting friendships And watching new worlds bloom. Ink & Alchemy brought the wonder, Alive Poetry Society brought the soul. And The Art of Poetry opened wide to make the scattered pieces whole. Now prompts drift between communities. Like songs upon the wind, poets who once wrote alone have found their home within. This was never about numbers. Never about who stood tallest above. It was always about creating spaces Where strangers could be loved. So here’s to Nicole. Here’s to Ilia and to every voice that stayed. Because in a world that profits from division, poets still chose to create. And maybe that is the real magic, Not fame, not glory, not applause… But artists are standing side by side, proving togetherness still matters at all. By Jason Strickland The Art of Poetry community