Nikita Gill’s “When You Asked Me If I Still Think of You” is such a tender reaction to the loss and grief we all must experience. It is one of the poems to reach for after the initial shock passes.
For the first prompt, build a museum within your body for those you love. Perhaps one exhibit is found within the shell of your ear for the lover you spent a summer with at the beach and whose voice you hear within the waves.
One of the most difficult losses is that special language that lovers and best friends share, the inside jokes and catch phrases that only make sense with that person. For the second prompt, start with one of those remembered phrases and translate it for someone now in your life.
I love how the line “Who can I tell about it when all the vowels are you” conveys the devastation and isolation from loss. The third prompt is to imagine a language in which a specific letter (rather than all vowels) represents the person now gone from your life; write a poem or story about that lost letter without ever using that letter or naming it.
The next prompt is to create a story or poem using the followIng list of words: “herringbone,” “exoskeleton,” “crumbles,” “wreckage,” “sea,” “panic,” “shadow,” “shape,” “truth,” and “hearts.”
For the last prompt, use the phrase “I still say your name even if” as a ghostline. After you’ve finished the poem or story, remember to erase the line and credit the poet.
Bonus prompt: write a story or poem about who sits in this chair.
Good luck writing!