Like many of you, I am following events and spend evenings doomscrolling. It’s not productive nor helpful, but impossible to look away, and I am afraid if I were to close my eyes to events, people will try to tell me it never happened. We’ve been lied to so much, so often. Remembering becomes an act of defiance.

These next poems are inspired by Boris Khersonsky’s “They Printed in the Medical History.”

For the first prompt, choose a number that represents a significant period of time for you. Connect that number to your own life or a historical event and end by alluding to a passage or event in a religious text.

For the second prompt, use the structure of the line “It was a time of hybrid hospitals. Now is a time of hybrid war.” but replace “hospitals” and “war” with your own nouns. Remember to give credit to the poet.

For the third prompt, use the last line “because they don’t exist” as a ghostline, erasing the line after you’ve finished the poem. Again, remember to acknowledge the poet by using “after Boris Khersonsky” under your title.

For the last prompt, write what you were told never happened. No matter how small or seemingly insignificant, write it down for yourself. Keep these records. Don’t let anyone take your history away.