With 50-mile-per-hour rainy wind gusts out the window, and the holidays reduced to a crinkle of tissue paper in boxes I can't decide to throw away, I find my creative impulse similarly crumpled and cornered. I noticed the other day I hadn't written a poem or blogged in weeks. I quickly got out a notebook and wrote something dubious -- there was a streak of sun that morning between clouds -- and felt better, felt more myself. But the short days and weather seem to turn my fingers to lead. Or maybe that's arthritis.
Time to turn to writing prompts! Here's one of my favorites, courtesy of Daniel Alderson's lovely little book called TALKING BACK TO POEMS:
IN A STATION OF THE METRO
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
-- Ezra Pound
EXERCISE:
1. Copy the poem by hand.
2. Write what you notice about the poem. What does the poem make you see?
3. Write a poem with two direct and pointed lines: one from an urban setting, the second from nature. Make each line a sharp, precise image.
What's your favorite prompt? I could use a few new ones.