by Jill Crammond Wickham
1.
“I’ve done nothing but cry all day. All day I’ve cried.” “It looks pretty gloomy for the first day of Spring.” “Then he took my cat outside.” “It’s perfect for a bachelor.” Random words. Anonymous opinions. Sad truths. Humorous observations. Snippets of other people’s conversation can serve as great inspiration for your writing. Actually, writing prompts are all around you if you just listen. Oh, I know it’s not polite. Your mother probably told you not to do it. But, this week you have permission to eavesdrop!
That’s part one of your assignment. Eavesdrop on other people’s conversations. Record some choice sentences, words, turns of phrase. Then, choose your favorite and use it as a prompt to begin a poem.
You don’t need much. One sentence, simply uttered, could send you off on a wonderful poem tangent. Maybe you’ll be inspired to complete someone’s thought. Maybe you will imagine a confession. Maybe the words will spark a memory of your own. Let other people’s words take you away.
2.
Part 2 of your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to craft your piece in the form of a prose poem. Prose poems break the traditional rules of poetry. They read left to right across the page. The whole page. Poets.org provides a pretty good explanation, as well as some examples, here.
So. There you go. Break the rules. Eavesdrop. Steal some words. Then write a long poem that doesn’t look like a poem, but really is. Have fun!
Come back starting next Monday after midnight Central Standard Time to share anything you might have heard lately, or any poem at all.
You sounded like Mad for a second!
Great prompt, but I wasn’t planning on going into town anytime soon. Maybe I can lurk in an online chat room or something. Hmm…
I dunno, Dave, you have some pretty interesting eavesdropping moments with the more-than-humans in Plummer’s Hollow.
But then, the other idea is intriguing, too.
Jill, this is a fun idea, especially since I’m inherently nosey. I hear some great lines from my kids, but even better are the conversations among the retired folks at the local Y. They hold back very little.
I don’t get out much. BUt I watch a lot of TV. So….
Love this prompt, right up my street eavesdropping and I’m about to get no a train and go see a play…….I will take my wee notebook with me.