Good evening, fellow poets, and welcome to the bar. Tonight, let’s have some fun. I’m really enjoying the forms we’ve been doing, but I do feel like we’ve been doing a lot of heavy lifting recently, so tonight I’m going to be the poetry equivalent of the PE teacher who says “Let’s play dodgeball”.

So, let’s play with computer games. Yes, computer games. They’re big business. They’re almost as addictive as writing poetry, and probably more addictive than chocolate. They suck you in, sending you whirling down some vortex of time-warping existential chaos. Or, at least, that’s what seems to happen to my teenage son…

This prompt is a fight back. The poet’s revenge on the digital seduction. And I’m hoping it will be a bit of fun. We’ve done similar prompts in the past – I remember writing poems featuring cereal and candy bar names. Tonight, I want you to choose 3 names from the list of computer game names below, and somehow or other wrangle them into a poem.

You don’t need to know anything about the game – just let the name inspire you.

Here goes:

Minecraft

Diablo

Blossom Blast

Space Invaders

Assassin’s Creed

Honey Mine

Overwatch

Portal

Doom

The Elder Scrolls

Candy Crush

Myst

Destiny

Unreal

Spacewar

Quake

God of War

Torchlight

Dark Souls

Path of Exile.

As I worked my way down the list, I realised a lot of names were pretty portentous. You don’t have to write a portentous poem, though – have some fun, twist things up, subvert them – or go as dark as you like.

Once you’ve written your poem:

• Link it up to Mr Linky
• Comment below, and have a drink with us, if you’ve got the time
• Read and comment on your fellow poets’ work.
• Have fun!