Want & Do

Image by Ödeldödel on Pixabay

Writing Prompt #1

What do you want?  Be selfish, be carnal, be utilitarian, be altruistic, be brutal, soft, or easy.  Say what it is you want.  Write for 10 minutes.  Ready? Go.

~ After the free write, can you pare down your "want" to four lines?  Study the Grimke poem below for guidance. ~

First Mentor Poem

      The Want of You
        ANGELINA WELD GRIMKÉ
             A hint of gold where the moon will be; 
             Through the flocking clouds just a star or two; 
             Leaf sounds, soft and wet and hushed, 
             And oh! the crying want of you.

---

 Grimke is the young, Black, gifted, queer, Harlem Renaissance writer . . . you never heard of.   
Read more about her in Dr. Bill Lipsky's article it the San Francisco Bay Times LGBTQ newsletter.  
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Writing Prompt #2

Write “ This is what you shall do . . .”  to whomever you want.  Write for 10 minutes.

Second Mentor Poem

Image Source: Burgin Matthews at  burginmathews.com
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For Discussion

​Today, Oct. 8, 2020, Louise Gluck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.  In homage, and in thematic alignment, this poem.

The Red Poppy
LOUISE GLÜCK
​The great thing
is not having
a mind. Feelings:
oh, I have those; they
govern me. I have
a lord in heaven
called the sun, and open
for him, showing him
the fire of my own heart, fire
like his presence.
What could such glory be
if not a heart? Oh my brothers and sisters,
were you like me once, long ago,
before you were human? Did you
permit yourselves
to open once, who would never
open again? Because in truth
I am speaking now
the way you do. I speak
because I am shattered.