Yes, the heart is a threadbare metaphor, an eye-rolling cliché, and a lump of muscle nothing like the shape of its namesake candy, but still there is a sweetness to be found as Rita Dove demonstrates in her “Heart to Heart.” As she says, “I decided to take these tired metaphors and deconstruct their camouflage, until all that remains is the true ‘heart’ of the matter: one human being, stripped of blather and artifice, speaking to the beloved.”
For the first prompt—or challenge rather—is to write about the heart and love in a way that likewise strips both down to genuine emotion. If it is easier, you too can list what the heart or love is not before redefining it in your own words and imagery.
The second prompt is to use that structure of listing what something is not before redefining it, but this time do so for envy. Gnaw on your own heart on the page.
For another prompt, write about love gone bad, broken hearts, betrayal, and bitterness. Get it all out of your system. Paragraphs if need be. Now take what you’ve written and do a blackout or erasure of it. Get rid of the adverbs, the explanations, and philosophizing. How much can you strip down to get to a single image that encapsulates all the pain you experienced?
For the final prompt—and shift to the weird—take the “Collecting your jar of hearts” line from Christina Perri’s “Jar of Hearts” song literally and write a poem or flash fiction. Let formaldehyde—or another preservative—keep your love forever.
Good luck! Good writing!
