Where do you feel most like you belong? Where do you feel at home?
I grew up on a farm, in rural Virginia. I grew up in a family where it was not safe to be a child–not from siblings, not from a parent. But the woods were safe, and quiet, and full of peace.
So your prompt over this long holiday week, should you decide to give yourself the gift of writing time, is to answer the question “Does the earth love you back?” And see if you can reach back to a place of safety & peace in your life as you write your answer. What was the sky like there? What were the sounds? (You might want to answer the question: who was not there?) What was the weather like? What were you wearing? What was your mind like in that space? And any other specific details you can think of–remember that there are many senses your writing can access (scent, touch, hearing, taste, sight).
It is a time of seasonal overwhelm–the light growing shorter and days chiller, the end of semester and final grades nearing, the holidays approaching–and we each balance and navigate our different caregiving responsibilities while trying to also, somehow, care for ourselves.
I think of the below, beautiful poem by the late poet Linda Gregg at times like these. Inspired by Gregg’s title, I would like to recommend that you try your hand at writing a small piece of writing this week, sometimes called micro, or flash, or simply a short form (or small poem). For a poem, keep it under ten lines, or several sentences if a prose poem. See what you can do inside a small space; see how you can manage most when you manage small; see how generous a space a small form can be.
And now for Linda Gregg:
We Manage Most When We Manage Small
What things are steadfast? Not the birds. Not the bride and groom who hurry in their brevity to reach one another. The stars do not blow away as we do. The heavenly things ignite and freeze. But not as my hair falls before you. Fragile and momentary, we continue. Fearing madness in all things huge and their requiring. Managing as thin light on water. Managing only greetings and farewells. We love a little, as the mice huddle, as the goat leans against my hand. As the lovers quickening, riding time. Making safety in the moment. This touching home goes far. This fishing in the air.
We write all day long, with the list being the most basic form of writing. You’ve probably written a list or five, physical or mental, already today.
Lists are a great way to engage writing prompts, because if you haven’t noticed, writing prompts can be tricky. It’s not easy to write on command, which is a little like growing hair on command (“One cannot grow a beard in a moment of passion,” mused G.K. Chesterton).
Here is a wonderful example of a list poem/piece of writing by the poet J. Estanislao Lopez:
Places with Terrible Wi-Fi
The Garden of Eden. My ancestors’ graves. A watermelon field in Central Texas where my father once slept. Miles of rivers. The waiting room of a hospital in which a doctor, thin-looking in his coat, shared mixed results. A den of worms beneath the frozen grass. Jesus’s tomb. The stretches of highway on the long drive home after burial. The figurative abyss. The literal heavens. The cheap motel room in which I thought about praying despite my disbelief. What I thought was a voice was simply a recording playing from another room. The cluttered attic. Most of the past. The very distant future, where man is just another stratum in the ground. The tell of Megiddo. The flooded house and the scorched one. My favorite cemetery, where I can touch the white noise distorting memory. What is static if not the sound of the universe’s grief? Anywhere static reigns.
And here are some list writing prompts to get your creative writing engines sputtering, whirring, even purring:
Choose one of the below titles, and write your list piece! Or make up your own title. The more particular, the better. Remember, the best writing is the writing that only you could write.
Brief List of Ways To Say No
Short List of Unforgettable Lunches I Have Eaten
The Best Weather of My Life, Remembered
List of Fantasy/Horror Movies I Would Love to Direct
Clothes I Would Never Wear Except Possible In Protest of Human Rights Violations
Animals I Would Adopt on a Friday in September
List of Persons I Regret Not Kissing or Possibly List of Persons I Regret Kissing
The Most Memorable Cheeses of My Life
Songs Chappell Roan Should Record for Me as a Playlist
Places I Would Like to Picnic with My Friends
List of My Most Anticipated Longings
Classes I Wish I Could Take Instead of Math (or English)
Vehicles or Mythical Creatures I Wish I Could Take to College Instead of the Bus or My Car
Interview Questions I Would Ask My Mother/Father if I Were a Braver Person or This Were Some Other World
The Lushest Nail Polish Shades / The Crispest Paint Tones / The Shiniest Crayon Colors
The Line Break 