10 Writing Prompts 3 Mentor Poems on Mix-Tapes & Sex

Image from: "The Lost Art of Cassette Tape Spines"    dangerousminds.net

First Mentor Poem

Say it With a Mix-Tape
CHRISTOPHER GOODRICH
 
These are the professionals. The ones who know
why birds suddenly appear every time you are near;

the self-assured idols who can ask Do you
want to know a secret oooooo waaaa oooooo?

without sounding stupid. I’ve begged
them to tell us why secrets are

given as gifts in obvious packaging.
So much of falling is sitting still, filling

a blank tape with voices of famous people--
the mystic warbling of Joni Mitchell,

the simple sex of Simon and Garfunkel.
This is what it sounds like to be me in love with you.

And because only Ray Charles, who sings from both sides now,
can translate my heart’s handwriting, I’ve included

two of his numbers, see side A, songs two and nine.
He will insist, as many times as you care to listen:

I’m gonna love you like nobody’s loved you come rain
or come shine, which, incidentally, is true, I’m gonna.

The Mix-Tape: proof that love loves James Brown, the reason
we turn to Nina Simone when sex fails to fulfill us,

why, when harmony is what is missing,
a light rhythmic rain begins to fall.
 
SOURCE: Rattle.com

First Writing Prompts

• Tell me about your mix tape “opus.”
• Tell me about making or receiving a mix tape.
• Tell me how you were like Orpheus descending to get your one true love with music.
• Weave lines from your mix tape song favorites into a poem.​

Second Mentor Poem

My Sex Life 
DIANE SEUSS
​
Having a threesome with Jack
Daniels and Billie Holiday.
Garden sex with the dumb serpent.
Sex at the Wailing Wall, the Berlin Wall,
the Great Wall, the Wall of Names. Sex
with Sonny Corleone against the wall during
the wedding. Having horse sex with Mr. Ed
reruns. Olive oil sex with the Big Cook.
Clothesline sex with the chickens hanging there;
with the bodies without heads running through
the pumpkin vines. Having gardenia sex
with my father’s romantic notions of how to get
a girl. Educated sex with the New York Times
paper carrier. Grandfather sex with a swivel
rocker. Camel sex with the butts in the ashtray.
Hot sex with the air conditioner. Having nostalgic
sex with the guy who embalmed my father. Vietnam
sex with Doug, who’s paranoid and gives good head.
Dirty sex with the potato farmer’s daughter. Having
Bob’s Country Club sex with one of the Drake
brothers. The good looking one. Not the smart
one. Not the one who went on to make something
of himself. Chuck, the one with a hi-fi ass. Tamale
sex, going to Juanita’s on a booty call hoping to get
Gabriel’s attention while he leans over the fryer.
Having halfway sex at a rest stop halfway between
here and there, meaning Michigan City, the town
where I was born. Ore boat sex. Mall parking lot
sex. Nun doll sex. Rock me like a baby sex.
The Reverend Al Green sex. Sex in the black groove
of an old record album, sex in the scratch on the vinyl,
sex in the skip, in the skip, in the skip, sex in the applause
of the long dead audience thrilled with Miss Billie Holiday
in a single spotlight singing Strange Fruit. Sex in the dark
after she leaves the stage. Sex on her grave; sex that
blasphemes death. Arrowhead in the heart sex. Sex on the body
of the last buffalo. Sex on God’s welcome mat, in Mother
Hubbard’s cupboard, sex with her poor dog’s bone.​

​Source: Rattle.com

Second Writing Prompts

• Write a poem about the kinds of sex you’ve had.
• Or a poem about all the sex you didn’t have, but could have/ would have / should have had.
• Write a tribute to your friends and the kinds of sex they have.
• Write a tribute poem to former lovers.
• Make a list of all the songs that have sex in the title.

For Discussion

Jane's Heartbreak Yard Sale
LYTTON BELL

Who sells used sex toys at a garage sale?
I knew I had to pull over
as soon as I saw that table full of dildos
just to hear this woman’s story

A whole bed was for sale
and a claw-footed bathtub
a motorcycle, a large stack of books
lingerie and ten photo albums
Photo albums?
Leafing through, I could see that they were all
happy couple love photos:
their trip to Hawaii
backpacking through Europe
mountain climbing in Tibet

And I shouldn’t forget to mention all of the love notes
three huge cardboard boxes full of them. I picked one up:
I stood outside your window for hours last night
while you were sleeping
hoping you would feel me there, and pull open the curtain

I approached her as she sat by the cash box
wearing a pair of over-sized pink sunglasses
So, this is everything he ever gave you? I asked her, trying to be nonchalant
She nodded
I was going to light it all on fire, she told me
But what’s the point?
True, I replied, not sure what else to say
She seemed so peaceful about it. Almost happy

Just then I noticed a pile of CDs:
Jane’s Joy Ride Mix
Jane’s Taking a Bath Mix
Mix for Jane for When She’s Feeling a Little Blue
And one called
In Case of an Emergency, I LOVE YOU
It was sealed with yellow CAUTION tape
and had obviously never been opened

Can I buy this? I asked her
$3.50, she said
I gave her the money and put the CD in my car
and cried and could not open it
​
​Source: Rattle

Discussion/Writing Prompt

• After reading "Jane's Heartbreak Yard Sale," write a response poem to each of the speaker's questions, rhetorical and otherwise: ​Who sells used sex toys at a garage sale?  Photo albums?   So, this is everything he ever gave you?  But what's the point?  Can I buy this?