August Poetry Prompts

And a July round-up.

Photo by Pascal Debrunner on Unsplash

This Is How July Left Me

July arrived in a blaze of sunshine and, for the most part, refused to let go. It was a month of golden evenings, warm air that lingered long after dusk, and days that seemed to stretch a little further than they had any right to. It felt as though summer was making up for lost time.

It was also the month I turned fifty—a milestone that arrived with less fear than I had imagined and more gratitude than I expected. There was something quietly reassuring about standing on the threshold of a new decade and realising that life still has the capacity to surprise you.

For a little while, it did.

There was the tentative beginning of a romance, the excitement of getting to know someone again, and the cautious hope that perhaps some stories deserve a second chapter. Not every chapter unfolds as we’d imagined, though. Sometimes crossed wires, mismatched expectations, and words left unsaid are enough to change the direction of a story before it has really found its feet. Disappointment has a way of arriving quietly, leaving behind more questions than answers.

Even so, I don’t want that to be the thing that defines July.

I want to remember the warmth on my skin, the laughter, the long sunsets, and the reminder that hope is still capable of finding me, even if it doesn’t always stay.

And now there is August.

August has always felt different to me. Softer somehow. More reflective. The frantic excitement of early summer begins to settle into something quieter, as though the season itself pauses to catch its breath. The evenings slowly lengthen, the light takes on a richer hue, and there is a gentle sense that change is waiting just beyond the horizon.

I don’t know exactly what August will bring, but I find myself stepping into it with cautious optimism. I am carrying the lessons July gave me without allowing them to become burdens. I’m choosing to believe that not every unanswered question needs an answer, and not every ending is a failure.

Sometimes, summer isn’t about holding on.

Sometimes, it’s about learning to linger in the light for as long as it lasts.

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August Prompts

As always, here are my monthly prompts. If you do choose to write for them, please tag me so I can show some love.

This is how July left me

The beginning of goodbye

Sunlight with an ache

Golden melancholy

I bloom in late summer

Brambles and blackberries

Fading into amber

When the light grows quieter

The art of holding on

I am learning to linger

A heart at summer’s end

The road that led me here

You underestimated me

The hush before September

Where hearts begin to soften

I carry August with me

The person I almost became

Warm winds and whispered change

I will always be enough

The moon told me to do it

Happy August!

Jo xo