The other day I went on a hunt for writing prompts.
Partly this was out of curiosity: I just wanted to see what was out there.
Partly this was also because in a recent post on poetry I suggested that ‘one can write a poem about anything’–and I wanted to test this theory.
Having been born and lived for some time BEFORE THE INTERNET, I sometimes forget that you can look up a gazillion things on the internet.
Such as WRITING PROMPTS.
Do your own search and you will find many, many people have produced pages listing many, many writing prompts…
(and bless you, everyone one of you, I love that you devoted your time and energy to doing this!).
Some will even send you writing prompts in a DAILY EMAIL!
My god, it’s times like these that I LOVE TECHNOLOGY.
Anyway, here’s the writing prompt I got in my inbox today from Writer’s Write.
FOUR DAYS WITHOUT ELECTRICITY…
NOW: go write!
Which I did do, crafting what I like to call ‘spontaneous poetry’ meaning I just let it show up, and change very little.
And so I think it is true: YOU CAN WRITE ABOUT ANYTHING.
Proof is in my poem below… titled, as you can probably guess: FOUR DAYS WITHOUT ELECTRICITY (to view it in google docs, go here)
(You’ll note I said one could write A POEM about anything…not that it would be A GOOD POEM–what makes something ‘good’ is another blog post altogether).
Four Days Without Electricity
By Julie Johnson
on the first day
we thought it was a joke
we were laughing
and ‘dancing in the dark’
a good excuse
for fumbling
and stumbling
we didn’t mind
but the next day
we grew weary
of having always
to explain to the other
so many details about
where to step
and bumbling
and bruising
by the third day
the blankness was in our minds
and we couldn’t believe
how our ancestors
had ever survived it
not seeing clearly
every night a mystery
uncertainty
a certain terror
but the fourth day
was our initiation
we rolled ourselves
into the dark
like it was a lake full
of stars
and stayed there
unhurried in the arcane
then put out
and blinking sadly
when the living room lights
suddenly
shone on
again
Busy Writing 