I often joke about how poor my memory is—that if I were to develop dementia or Alzheimer’s, there’d be no difference. I suppose we must laugh at what we fear if we are to live a moment of peace in the present.

I adore this Marilyn Nelson’s poem—its unexpected imagery and precise language, but most of all, its recognition of the inevitability of age and memory lapses and its adamant refusal to lose the speaker’s beloved.

For the first prompt, write a poem using the line “and something mushrooms from nothing to now” as a ghostline. Remember to delete the line after you’ve finished the poem and give credit to the poet with an “after Marilyn Nelson” or with a similar method.

For the second prompt, write a response to the poem from the perspective of the speaker’s “dear.” Try to respond with a sonnet if you can.

For a third prompt, write a poem or short story using the following word list: “labyrinth,” “mushrooms,” “vapor,” “trace,” “remains,” “cumulus,” “flame,” “oblivion,” “cloud,” and “wave” but try to switch the nouns to verbs and vice versa.

For another prompt, create an erasure poem from an abstract (or the actual article) from a scientific journal. Remember to only delete, not add words or rearrange their order. See what happens.

Bonus prompt: write about clouds however you wish.

Good luck writing!