Yes, I am late again with the blog. My head was too full of the beep of machines, the scuff of shoes on linoleum as nurses come in to draw blood again. Even when I leave the hospital, I know I will eventually have to return and next time we may not get her there in time. I want to leave those hallways behind to run in fields of clover and vetch, the sky an endless plain above.
Perhaps for these reasons (and its beauty) I turned to this wonderful poem by the Ross Gay for that escape and the imagery it gave me.
For the first prompt, write a poem or story about transforming into another creature. What would you give up; by what process or sense would you choose to embody this other life form?
The second prompt—similar to the first—is to write about knowing the experiences of another. What would you learn from seeing from behind another’s eyes? What would the world look like below as you drifted along thermals or above you from the depths of the dark seas? Most of all, how would you gave this knowledge? What is the entry into the other’s world?
The third prompt is to use the line “from its mouth made me” as a ghostline. Remember to erase the line after you’ve written the poem and credit the poet in an after statement or in the title.
The last is to write a story or poem using the following word list: “belly,” “bit,” “maw,” “bloom,” “brook,” “sheen,” “torches,“ “knives,” “glisten,” and “cast.”
This poem is from his third collection catalog of unabashed gratitude.
For a writing exercise, describe the color and texture of gratitude, its density and half-life.
For a bonus prompt, write an essay, poem or story inspired by the carving and/or the text (photo taken in a Portland train station). Or write about the photo below (taken in Borrego Springs). What would the world feel to a horse of metal hooves and wire mane? Would the rare drops of rain be cooling relief or an unwelcome thick corrosion of the coat?
Have fun reading! I hope you have done better on the Sealey Challenge than I have this year.
Good luck with your writing!