I’ve just given my second writing prompt to the workshop I’m heading up at the Afghan Women’s Writing Project this month. I tried to do something very simple this time, in hopes of prompting some of the quieter members to write. This is one I learned from some of the wonderful teachers who helped my sons become the lovely writers they are. My email to the writers copied in full below. Enjoy! – Meg
Dear 102 Writers,
For this week’s prompt, I am going to suggest a simple poem exercise often done with young children, with a grown-up twist.
The Poem Exercise: Write a poem of 8 or more lines, with each line starting with the words “I am.”
The twist: Don’t say anything the way you first think of it. Try to think of a more evocative way to say the same thing.
So, for example, I might think: I am 51 years old. But instead of writing it that way, I might write: I am almost the age my grandmother was when she died, many years before I was born.
I might think, I am 5 feet 4 inches tall. And I might write: I am a head shorter than my sons, whom I used to cradle in my arms.
If you really like one of your lines very much, you might break the poem into stanzas and repeat that line at the end of every stanza.
And be open to anything that comes to mind. One of my favorite lines I’ve seen from this kind of poem exercise is: “I am fishsticks, crinkle-cut frozen french fries and frozen mixed vegatables”!
Have a great writing week!
Warmly,
Meg
