IMPROMPTU #58: Gas Station

Gas stations I laughed in
I noticed fucking everything
The light, the reflections
Different languages, your expressions
We would fall down laughing
Effervescent
And all over nothing, all over nothing

- from "Thirty" by The Weather Station

Write a story or poem that begins in a gas station. Maybe you want to write a list of gas stations you've visited. Maybe you have a particularly memorable gas station experience knocking around in your brain cage. Maybe this is a good kickoff for a road trip adventure story. 

Fun fact, in the first year of my BFA, I wrote a story called "Tumbledown" that begins with a pregnant teen and her boyfriend, on the run from their hometown in Northwestern Ontario, stopping to fuel up in Herbert, Saskatchewan. 

This prompt is inspired by rehearsal last night with the Kingsgate Chorus. <3

IMPROMPTU #52: Mashed Poetics

The most fun poetry event in Vancouver is called Mashed Poetics, a night of spoken word and music mashup. Every few months, a band covers a famous album (e.g. Spice, Jagged Little Pill, Back to Black), poets write poems inspired by the songs, and then the entire album is performed live with poetry performances in between. 

I was lucky enough to be part of this show this past Saturday night. The album was Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever (the most nostalgia that can ever be evoked for me through music), and my song assignment was "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better", which is actually the only cover song on the album, of a 1965 song by The Byrds.  

Naturally I wrote another breakup poem, and I titled it "Another Breakup Poem." What else?

I had a lot of fun with this prompt, so it inspired me to do a Mashed Poetics-themed IMPROMPTU prompt. 

Here are your instructions:

Go to your iTunes or Spotify or wherever you keep your music library. Hit shuffle play, and whatever song plays first, use that song as your inspiration. 

Try to spend 5-10 minutes just free writing. Write whatever comes to your head, whatever thoughts or feelings or memories the song evokes. Try to keep your hand (or your fingers, if you're typing) moving the whole time. 

And if you feel so inclined, share your song in the comments, here, or on IMPROMPTU Instagram, @impromptuprompts:

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