Echoes from the Cave Inn is a monthly poetry open mic and spoken word event held at the Cave Inn, Meanjin on the first Tuesday of the month. Echoes is hosted by the wonderful Drew Thompson (They/Them) and Ceol (Key) Forth (Any pronouns), and has been running for over four years!
Throughout the night, guests are invited to scribble down poetry prompts and put them into the jar sitting at the bar. At the end of the evening, three prompts are drawn at random, and anyone can take up the challenge to write a poem based on the prompts.
But there’s a twist: you’ve got five minutes to write your poem!
The ritual of Speed Poetry has sparked some nourishing, hilarious and unforgettable moments at past Echoes open mics. Inspired by those nights, here are 50 Speed Poetry Prompts that found their way into the jar over the past couple of months.
Want to give yourself a challenge? Pick three numbers between 1-50 to choose your prompts, set your timer to 5 minutes, and see what poetic lines you come up with!
Want to challenge yourself in-person? The next Echoes from the Cave Inn is on 1 September 2026 at the Cave Inn, Woolloongabba!
Stupendous
Hippo
Change
Glade
Acrobatics
Future
Carnival
Radial
Strong
Frills
Extreme
Goose
Green
Monsters
Cowboy
Dinosaur
Bugs
Chrysalis
Coffee
Bathroom
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