Maxims and pithy sayings bear repeating over and over and repeating them can be overbearing, but my favorite poems often employ an aphorism as a metaphor or subvert one. “Countermeasures” by Sara Miller takes the familiar and tweaks it. I love both the resulting imagery and comparisons.
For the first prompt, choose an aphorism and use it to create an extended metaphor as Miller did. Here is an online list of aphorisms. I may have already posted a similar prompt—and probably will do so again since my ducks usually are upside with their butts showing while their heads are underwater looking for their car keys.
The second prompt is to take the line “My point is that we all exist, wetly, in the hunt” for a ghostline, or if you prefer, use it as an epigraph (although one Twitter discussion indicated that some editors don’t like epigraphs and the challenge for a poet is to not have the epigraph overshadow the rest of the poem). Either way, don’t forget to give credit to Miller.
For another example of a poem that takes a common saying and “turns it on its ear” (sorry!) is “In the Ear of Our Lord” By Brendan Constantine, one of my favorite poets. Do check out his website for his upcoming performances, and I sincerely recommend his workshops. For the second prompt, deliberately botch the aphorism or perhaps mix two together and see what happens.
Good luck!
