Larry Levis is a great poet. His poem from 1972 is powerful, the language gutting and—unfortunately—apt today.
The first prompt is to choose a headline from the last few days and use that as your title or first line.
For the second prompt, use the first line of the poem, “He thought he could ignore the war,” as a ghostline, erasing the line after you’ve finished writing a poem or story and remembering to credit the poet.
For the third, write a poem or story using the following list of words: “paid,” “silence, “sales,” “photographs,” “flames,” “cold,” “number,” “cowed,” “nightsticks” and “alone.”
The next prompt is to juxtapose daily life, driving past schools and hospitals, and the bombings of those same places by our government.
The last prompt is to create a persona poem of War as an unavoidable internet troll or as an abusive stalker.
Bonus prompt: write how future archaeologists will decipher these carvings. How do they describe our civilization?
Good luck.