Hello everyone,
I’ve been tasked with creating this week’s prompt. I just finished reading
Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater, which was an almost poetic and highly imagistic
novel. It deals a lot with concepts of liminality and duality, which has
inspired this week’s prompt. I’ll probably kick myself for this one once I sit
down to actually try to write something, but here it is:
Fortnight #2 prompt
As writers, we often hear the phrase “show don’t tell” as a sort of shorthand
for the kind of concrete and descriptive writing we should strive for. We’re
told that writing that is moving and compelling uses concrete and specific
imagery and avoids abstract words and language. While the abstract (ideas of
love, happiness, sadness) is what drives us, the concrete is what allows others
to enter our work. But how do you use concrete language to render concepts that
are, by definition, immaterial and in-between? For this week’s poem, take the
idea of liminality—or in-betweenness, duality, transitions, fluidity, process,
the gray area, absence, etc.—and write a poem that uses primarily concrete
language and imagery to explore this concept. Try to avoid using any of the
typical and abstract language with which these sorts of topics would usually be
discussed, and instead aim for unique and specific imagery to capture these
concepts.
Somewhat related, this Gabriela Mistral
poem<http://mizshelysspace.blogspot.com/2007/11/god-wills-it-by-gabriella-mistral.html>,
which is one of my long-time favorites, uses really interesting imagery to
capture the abstract feelings of love, heartbreak, betrayal, etc. I hope you
all enjoy it as much as I do.
Your response to this prompt (or whatever poem you choose to write) will be due
Friday, June 5th. Your feedback for the first batch of poems will be due this
Friday.
Take care and I hope to chat with you all soon!
Gaby