Labor Day honors the work and sacrifice by giving a day of rest, but of course many still have to go to outside jobs and others never stop working at home. I never believe anyone who says they are self-made; instead, I think they simply overlook all the people who work around them and for them.

For the first prompt, make a list of five tasks someone does for you regularly. This task could be performed by a family member, a friend, a partner, a coworker or someone in the community (thank you, essential workers). Choose one to write about. For inspiration, read Robert Hayden’s lovely “Those Winter Sundays” or click on the link to hear the audio recording.

For the second prompt, write a poem using the following words from the poem: “cracked,” “weekday,” “blaze,” “splintering,” “call,” “chronic,” “driven,” “polished,” “well,” and “lonely.”

For the last prompt, use “What did I know” as a ghostline or as an anaphora and don’t forget to credit the poet.