Prompt: Midpoints

This past week, I was thinking about midpoints because July 1 was the midpoint of this year. That thought sent me to my bookshelf for a copy of John Updike's Midpoint and Other Poems. Updike published this book of poetry in 1969. “Midpoint” is the long poem that opens the book. Updike says that it was written “to take inventory of his life at the end of his thirty-fifth year – a midpoint.”

This may be the midpoint of the calendar year, but it is a lot harder to pick out the midpoint of your life. In fact, Updike was close, but he was a few years too early. Born in 1932, he was 35 when he wrote the poem and 37 when he was putting together the book, but he lived to 2009 and was almost 77.

Updike doesn't get as much attention for his poetry as he does for his prose, but I like a lot of his poetry. His humorous verse (not easier to write than serious stuff) and his more serious poetry often remind me of his poetic prose.

"Midpoint" (the poem) is ambitious and long (43 pages). He uses the meters of Dante, Spenser, Pope, Whitman, and Pound. He even uses some arrangements on the page that are more like concrete poetry. “Midpoint” has five "cantos" (sections, as in Dante), and each canto begins with an “argument” that sets forth the poet’s own summary of that section. (more about the book here)

For submissions this month, look more to the concept of Updike's poem and book than to the poem itself. Write about life midpoints. They are moments of transition, reflection, or redirection that often mark significant psychological or chronological turning points. They may not actually be the chronological halfway point in a life or set of experiences. For example, when children become independent, parents may be prompted to shift from active parenting to self-rediscovery. The term midpoint suggests a central marker, but in life it’s more symbolic than mathematical. It might occur early or late, depending on a person's experiences, choices, or circumstances. A pivotal moment—like a major insight, loss, or turning point—can feel like a “middle,” even if it’s not halfway through chronologically. In literature, the midpoint often refers to a narrative shift rather than a time-based measure. Life follows similar rhythms. 

 

John Updike (1932-2009) was a highly acclaimed American novelist, short story writer, poet, and essayist. He is best known for his detailed portrayals of American middle-class life, particularly in his "Rabbit" series of novels, which follow the life of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom through various social and personal upheavals. Updike was a prolific writer, publishing over 20 novels, numerous short story collections, poetry, and essays. He was also a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and received numerous other accolades for his work. He attended Harvard University, where he was editor of The Harvard Lampoon and graduated summa cum laude with a degree in English in 1954. He also studied at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at the University of Oxford.

John Updike’s poetry is witty, observant, and grounded in the everyday. Known for its formal precision and playful language, his work often explores suburban life, aging, and sensuality. Though more famous as a novelist, Updike’s verse reveals a sharp eye for detail and a sly sense of humor rooted in tradition.

Updike also published Endpoint (2009), a collection of poems that he wrote during the last seven years of his life and put together only weeks before he died. It is his final book. Besides his individual poetry collections, Updike has a Selected Poems and Collected Poems 1953-1993.

 

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Absurdities and Atrocities

"People who believe in absurdities will eventually commit atrocities."

May 16, 1717 was the day that the French playwright and poet Voltaire ( born François-Marie Arouet in 1694) was imprisoned in the Bastille for insulting the government. 

He was a young man at the time, and a relatively unknown writer. His father had encouraged him to become a lawyer, but Voltaire hated practicing law, so he spent all his time writing satirical poetry instead, poking fun at his political enemies, including the Duke of Orleans. When the Duke read one of the privately circulated poems, he had Voltaire thrown into prison for 11 months.

Voltaire used the opportunity to begin writing his first play, and when he got out of prison a year later, he produced a series of successful plays that made him one of the most popular writers in Europe. He spent the rest of his life in and out of exile from France, speaking out against political and religious repression.

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To see our past prompts and more than 300 issues,
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A Poem in Your Pocket

April 10 was Poem in Your Pocket Day for this year, but any day can be a poem in your pocket day. How about June 10?

The idea for the day was initiated in April 2002 by the Office of the Mayor in New York City, in partnership with the city’s Departments of Cultural Affairs and Education. In 2008, the Academy of American Poets took the initiative to all fifty United States, encouraging individuals around the country to participate. In 2016, the League of Canadian Poets extended Poem in Your Pocket Day to Canada.

Poem in Your Pocket Day is observed on the last Thursday of April as an annual celebration of poetry during National Poetry Month. 

It’s easy to participate. Select a poem, carry it with you, and share it with others throughout the day, 

The goal is to inspire a love of poetry and foster a sense of community through this shared experience.

The poets.org website has more than 10,000 poems if you need suggestions.  

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To see our past prompts and more than 300 issues,
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Prompt: Apocalypse

We title this call for submissions "Apocalypse," a word that for many people is synonymous with the end of the world. The two are related concepts, but they are not exactly the same. "Apocalypse" comes from the Greek apokalypsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation." In its original sense, it refers to a revelation of hidden truths, often divine or cosmic. In religious contexts, especially in Christianity, it often refers to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament, which includes visions of catastrophic events leading up to the final judgment.

"End of the world" typically refers to a literal or physical destruction of the Earth or human civilization, through war, natural disaster, climate collapse, or other catastrophic means. So while the apocalypse can include the end of the world, especially in modern usage, it originally referred more to that vision or revelation about ultimate things, which may or may not include destruction.

In our two model poems, Jane Hirshfield writes of a vision more apocalyptic in the classical sense than world-ending in the modern sense. "On the Fifth Day" was written in 2017, but it is just as appropriate in 2025. It was originally published not in a poetry journal but in The Washington Post. The silencing of people is in the news now. Is this the fifth day of the apocalypse? Does it lead to the end of the world? In her short poem, "Like Others," the end is here, and the voice of the poem admits - embarrassed, frightened, and perhaps guiltily - to being like the others who did nothing to stop the end. Both poems appear in her 2020 collection, Ledger.

For our July issue, we want to read poems that address "the end" as an apocalypse that is perhaps near, perhaps very distant, and may be destruction or revelation.

Model poems can be helpful, but can also be tempting to imitate. There are more than seventy poems on this theme linked on this website. Be inspired. Don't get trapped.

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Award-winning poet, essayist, and translator Jane Hirshfield is the author of ten poetry collections. She is known for her contemplative, deeply humane verse. Jane was born on February 24, 1953, in New York City. She graduated from Princeton University in 1973, among its first classes to include women. Deeply influenced by Zen Buddhism, which she formally studied at the San Francisco Zen Center. Her poetry collections include The Beauty and Ledger, both longlisted for the National Book Award. Jane is also the author of two collections of essays, Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry, and Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World, and she has translated classic Japanese poetry. She is also a committed environmental and social justice advocate, often weaving these concerns into her work.

The deadline for submissions for the next issue is June 30, 2025.
Please refer to our submission guidelines and look at our archive of 26 years of prompts and poems. Follow our blog about the prompts and topics in poetry.

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Follow this blog for all things poetry.
To see our past prompts and more than 300 issues,
visit our website at poetsonline.org