In honor of Halloween, our prompt this week was another palindrome, a word, phrase, number of other sequence that reads the same way backward or forward. The twist? Write the lines out, make them tell a scary or spooky story, then reverse them for the second stanza.
For instance, write 10 lines, numbered one through ten, then write the next stanza with the same lines, ten to one.
This week’s prompt is a palindrome, a word, phrase, number of other sequence that reads the same way backward or forward. Our prompt challenge limited us to 6 short lines, written forward then reversed, in the style of a pantoum, to complicate things.
Here are the specific instructions:
As an example, and to push this even further, we took a line from several member’s attempt at this prompt and put it together into a single poem using the same line structure:
It is a misty moisty morning
In the merciful shade of a big elm,
Freezing cold, freezing snow,
the trees lost their zest.Life is fits and starts of growth.
No mud flaps on my coffin.In the merciful shade of a big elm
Life is fits and starts of growth.
The trees lost their zest.
No mud flaps on my coffin.Life is fits and starts of growth,
Freezing cold, freezing snow.
No mud flaps on my coffin.
It is a misty moisty morning.
The following was written by Writers in the Grove member, Bev Walker. It is dedicated to Dale Chihuly, the internationally acclaimed hand-blown glass artist from Seattle.
I wasn’t always this beautiful.
I wasn’t always such glorious colors.
I started my life’s journey, and speak to you now,
as a quite drab mere speck of sand.
The prompt this week came from Writers in the Grove member, Bill Stafford, a poet and long-time resident of Forest Grove.
Take something you know well like a fairy tale, children’s tale, saying, or anything that most people are familiar with and turn it on its head. Twist it around and see what happens if you change things up.
The prompt this week was suggested by the recent shooting at Umpqua Community College as well as other tragic events.
Write about a tragedy, one that involves risk and fear. Put your character(s) under pressure in the middle of something where split second decisions could make things worse or resolve the issue.
Our hearts and thoughts are with the families and community of Roseburg, Oregon. Forest Grove hosts Pacific University, and we are kindred spirits sharing your pain and loss.
This week’s prompt talked about how we communicate? What do we use to communicate? Eyes, attention, body language, respect, support, and words.
You can communicate with a person and have it be a very intimate connection. You may also connect with someone and have it be a one way experience.
There are many ways to communicate with each other, as there is with your characters. How do they communicate with each other?
As a writer, how do you connect on a deeper level to your readers? Sometimes you write to a specific person, even if you are writing for many. Others say they write to and for themselves.
The prompt narrowed down to this:
Write a letter to yourself or someone else that speaks the truth, says what you really wish to tell them, no holds barred.
It could be a letter sent, or one that is written and never sent. It doesn’t matter.
If you’d like to experiment with character building, have your main character or any character in your story write that letter.
The prompt came from the book “Art as Experience” by John Dewey. In one section he describes that for art to be whole, it has to have its own unity. Each word in a poem has to come from what came before it, and contribute to the words that come after.
The example is an excerpt from Wordsworth’s “The Prelude.”
…the wind and sleety rain,
And all the business of the elements,
The single sheep, and the one blasted tree,
And the bleak music from that old stone wall,
The noise of wood and water, and the mist
That on the line of each of these two roads
Advanced in such indisputable shapes.
The wind as the noun is not described in adjectives but in the descriptions of what followed in the poem, the single sheep, blasted tree, bleak music from the stone wall, noise of wood and water…all paint the sense and emotional quality of the state of the wind.
Part one of the prompt was to write at least 7 words that leave you with a negative feeling, each one building upon the other. Then write at least 7 words that leave you with a positive feeling, building upon the previous one.
Part two of the prompt was to write something about the negative or positive effects on the topic of love and kindness, growing the feeling as the word choices push the reader forward with the growing emotions.
The following poem was written by Writers in the Grove member, Paula Adams, in response to reading the fine print on a bottle of the prescription medication Lyrica. It became our prompt for the week, explained below.
Tell your doctor right away about
any serious allergic reaction that causes
LYRICA may cause suicidal thoughts or actions
in a very small number of people.
Patients, family members or caregivers should
call the doctor right away if they notice
If you have suicidal thoughts or actions,
do not stop LYRICA without first talking to your doctor. (more…)
Keisel was a kindergarten teacher who went on to five books of poetry and The War Between the Pitiful Teachers and the Splendid Kids,” about his life as a teacher, called “Explosively funny” by Publishers Weekly.
In this particular poem, he ends it with the following line, which became our prompt:
The crime of poverty is not committed by the poor.
A simple word led Writers in the Grove to come up with a room full of diverse stories and poems.
The group had discussed the arc of a piece and how to take it from the beginning hook, to action, to resolution. It was mentioned that it is like dominoes set to fall in a pattern, each section of the piece needs to connect to the next domino in order for the pattern to fall in succession. Each thing that happens, has to happen for a reason.
The prompt was: Cavort.
See where the word takes you.
Writers in the Grove 