The moderator for this week is Abby!
Abigail Licad is an immigrant from the Philippines, a former editor-in-chief for Hyphen magazine, a full-on feminist, a diehard Tori Amos fan, a mediocre classical pianist, a dog mama, a chocolate fiend, a terrible cook, a succulent addict, a lover of sending care packages, and a poetry junkie through and through. She has no tattoos and lives in Portland, Oregon.
Prompt for Monday, September 11, 2023
“Who Understands Me But Me” by Jimmy Santiago Baca
1. Incorporate or respond to one of the following passages in your poem:
“In the midst of this wreckage of life… /I practice being myself.”
“I have found parts of myself never dreamed by me”
“when they spoke, sunlight came out of their mouths”
2. Meditate upon the person you’ve become. Are you who you’ve always wanted to be? If your childhood self were to meet you now, how would they feel or react? What would surprise them most?
3. Write a list poem about your failures or disappointments in life, but make sure to also indicate what you’ve learned in each instance.
Prompt for Friday, September 15, 2023
“Do Len” by Nguyen Duy
See: Distant Road: Selected Poems by Nguyen Duy, Curbstone Press, 1999.
1. Incorporate or respond to one of the following passages in your poem:
“the white lilies smelled sweeter in the incense smoke”
“I didn’t think of her hard life then”
“I lived between the banks of truth and untruth”
2. Write about someone you once took for granted or under-appreciated, whether a family member, friend, pet, or even a famous person/role model. Describe your earlier relationship and interactions with them. Then render your belated realizations in vivid imagery – what do you treasure or understand now that you couldn’t or didn’t then?
3. Write about your grandparent/s, locating them in a specific time and place.
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