An IMPROMPTU announcement for anyone who might be wondering - you may have noticed that I haven’t updated IMPROMPTU on this platform for some time. I was finding it a bit of a task to keep both the website and Instagram updated at the same time, and so I have been continuing to post prompts only on Instagram @impromptuprompts. Please follow along there, or make use of the IMPROMPTU archives here. Happy writing!
I love a list poem. Today, write a list of unknowns. If you’re having trouble getting started, try beginning each line with “unknown.” Unknown: my ancestors. Unknown: the colour of tomorrow.
Have you ever noticed how private
a wet tree is
a curtain of razor blades
Love me because nothing happens.
— Leonard Cohen, from Parasites of Heaven
Write a poem or story that begins with “Have you ever noticed…”
Make it ten lines long.
Include an unlikely metaphor, this to say, use an image in such a way as to reverse its usual associative qualities. (i.e. wet tree as a curtain of razor blades).
Use one example of synaesthesia (mixing the senses).
Include a stranger.
Include the colour purple.