IMG_5301The 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