PROMPT:
I have a technique that I call "Ghost Line" that I've used pretty consistently in my writing over the last decade, and it goes a little something like this:
I take a line (or grouping of words) from a poem by someone else that calls to me as a reader and then I make it/them my “invisible” first line (that either starts the poem off or a new stanza.) This isn't much different than a poem written "after" someone else's, but it allows for wriggle room in that you can grab a specific group of words, not necessarily in the order they appeared in the poem, and use them as a catalyst. I have dismantled entire poems before, challenging myself to use every word of someone else's poem to write a new poem that is so opposite of the original's theme, you could never ever tell that every word was recycled.
I know. I'm a maniac.
So hopefully you've mined the poems assigned today and have found something to riff off of. Today's theme is going to be JUSTICE. With your ghost line (or word pluckings) write a poem giving justice. Do whatever you want with that theme, of course. There are no rules, just ghostly nudges! :)
I take a line (or grouping of words) from a poem by someone else that calls to me as a reader and then I make it/them my “invisible” first line (that either starts the poem off or a new stanza.) This isn't much different than a poem written "after" someone else's, but it allows for wriggle room in that you can grab a specific group of words, not necessarily in the order they appeared in the poem, and use them as a catalyst. I have dismantled entire poems before, challenging myself to use every word of someone else's poem to write a new poem that is so opposite of the original's theme, you could never ever tell that every word was recycled.
I know. I'm a maniac.
So hopefully you've mined the poems assigned today and have found something to riff off of. Today's theme is going to be JUSTICE. With your ghost line (or word pluckings) write a poem giving justice. Do whatever you want with that theme, of course. There are no rules, just ghostly nudges! :)

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ReplyDeleteLaura Hull
Meaningless calendar-clock, sun circles…
I saw something and instead of fear seeping in,
long strands of it were pulled from me as if by magnet
There on the grass, as I walked at dawn, things were showing
the telltale darkness of passions and pain unacceptable
and just how far we will go
It sickened me, not the reveal, but the crumbling illusion
fading as the sun rose, I knew no one would believe me
they have secrets of their own, dark hearts hidden from themselves
exposure is no cure unless we all agree to see
I speak truth softly, repetitively
from the wreckage of my own lawn