Prompt

They suggest a neat trick,

To dodge and ditch the writer's block,

To slip away, to keep your fingers,

Swift, and nimble, and running slick.

To keep the words as smooth as satin,

Or quick and rutted like a gravel road,

They suggest quite vehemently,

A prompt to give the story a starting spin.

The prompt can be a word,

Or a picture, or a sound,

It can be a line most realistic,

Or a plot beyond absurd.

Yet then comes a time,

Where all other prompts have run their course,

And even the most vivid,

Most catching, most sublime,

Are shooting blanks,

Are empty,

And all you are left with,

Is a prompt.