IMPROMPTU #38: Write a Goodbye

Read the poem "Words Written Near a Candle" by Tess Gallagher.

"..it is all right to make a distance
of a nearness, to say 'Boat, I have left you
behind. Boat,
I am with you.'"

With these words in mind, write a goodbye.

Maybe it's goodbye to an ex-lover, or someone who's no longer alive. To a best friend you've grown apart from. To a past self. To a home, literally, figuratively. To your beloved copy of "Watership Down", drowned in the bathtub (never happened). To yesterday. To 2017.

I often come up with these prompts with poetry in mind, but I like to keep them loose enough that they can be adapted for fiction or other forms of prose. You could, of course, write a goodbye story. You could even write it in the second person (gasp!). 

Go forth. Sink into some heart feelings. I know I will. 

IMPROMPTU #36: The Ghost Line

For today's prompt, the first of 2018, I'm going to borrow another of Rachel McKibbens' ideas: the "ghost line".

Here is Rachel's description of a ghost line: "A ghost line is an inspiring line or image that becomes the unseen first line of a poem. ... Now remember, this is the invisible "first line" of your poem. Do NOT include it in your poem (unless you give credit to the original author.) YOU come up with the rest. So the second line is actually your first VISIBLE line. Fun, right? Also, the poem doesn't have to have anything to do with the ghost line, but the point of the ghost line is to inspire."

For our purposes, the ghost line does not have to be used specifically to write a poem. Use it to inspire you to write whatever it is you're writing. 

Read this poem by Roo Borson. Treat this as your ghost line/ghost lines:

"What's next, you ask yourself. / You ask it ten thousand times."