Gateway Arch, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America

Arc ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #404 & NaPoWriMo 2025

This arc through space and time
Thirty poems yet to write
But after this
Just twenty-nine

Some days
The words may come
As if a gift

Some days a labour
Subtler beauties missed

But still the promise: words to come

Gateway Arch
St. Louis
Missouri, USA
Taken during travels along Route 66, USA, 1997

NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo 2025

OK, so I haven’t written in almost two months. What better way to kickstart my writing habit than participate in NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Writing Month? (AKA GloPoWriMo: Global Poetry Writing Month, for the more internationally minded)

What is NaPoWriMo? During the month of April, poets challenge themselves to write at least one poem a day, every day, for the entire month.

If you’d like to join in, or just want to learn more about this annual poetry writing event, the official website is NaPoWriMo.net. I am also an admin of a small, private FB group, NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo 2025 if you want to follow other poets on their journey.

Pic and a Word Challenge

Last time we counted the Rings of life.

This week, let’s order and renew the Shambles. Or find something else to inspire you in this photograph of a set decorated for the TV series, The Magicians, shot on location at Britannia Mine in Britannia, British Columbia, Canada.

The Pic and a Word Challenge is a weekly creativity prompt typically offered Mondays.

With each challenge I provide a photograph of mine along with a single word. The challenge? Use the pic and/or word as inspiration to create something — a photograph, a painting, podcast, video, prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, longread or just a few words. You are welcome to use these two elements (photograph and word) literally, thematically or metaphorically. If you create both images and words, all the better.

To participate:

  • Use any title you like
  • Your response can be words and/or images
  • You may use my image to illustrate your post, or any images you have created
  • Mention that you are responding to the Pic and a Word Challenge
  • Add a link to this post in your response

To help us find your response — whether on WordPress, Instagram, Flicker, Tumblr, etc. — you can also:

  • Add a comment on this post to announce your response
  • Apply the tag/hashtag “Pic and a Word Challenge” or “#picandawordchallenge” to your post

Each week, I’ll list the previous week’s responses at the end of the new challenge. I may also share some on my social media: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc.

The previous challenge was: Shambles

Forbidden Library, Britannia Mines, British Columbia, Canada
Challenge 403 ~ Shambles

Rings ~ Challenge 402

The word for last week’s Pic and a Word Challenge 403 was Shambles, along with this photograph of a set decorated for the TV series, The Magicians, shot on location at Britannia Mine in Britannia, British Columbia, Canada.

Two bloggers emerged from the Shambles this Time.  ❤ Thank you. 🙂

View all the Pic and a Word Challenges, including the current challenge, on the Pic and a Word Challenge tag page.

Happy Creating! ❤