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Prompts & Circumstance
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Intro & Best Practices
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What to do if you have questions or need help!
Objects & Description
Prompt 1: Pure Description
Prompt 2: Now it was only . . .
Prompt 3: Sometimes what comes to us . . .
Big Ideas
Prompt 1: This is how it happens . . .
Prompt 2: The Watch
Prompt 3: We should _____ each other more . . .
Memory
Prompt 1: This is how it seems to me now . . .
Prompt 2: What you have heard is true . . .
Prompt 3: I have forgotten . . .
Unreliability
Prompt 1: In one version . . .
Prompt 2: It never happened . . .
Prompt 3: Saying & Unsaying
Silence
Prompt 1: There is the silence of . . .
Prompt 2: I will not tell you . . .
Prompt 3: Here is the deepest secret nobody knows . . .
Home
Prompt 1: Closest I got to a homeland is . . .
Prompt 2: Before me there must have been . . .
Prompt 3: It is here that . . .
Place
Prompt 1: The Potato Plants
Prompt 2: Here/There
Prompt 3: The citizens of the new world know . . .
Sentences
Prompt 1: Chiasm
Prompt 2: We are not the . . .
Prompt 3: My people my people . . .
Breaks
Prompt 1: This is my fault line . . .
Prompt 2: Obituary Generator
Prompt 3: Enough
Generosity
Prompt 1: Nothing wants to suffer . . .
Prompt 2: I brought back to life . . .
Prompt 3: Do what you are going to do . . .
Bodies
Prompt 1: your body still your body
Prompt 2: A ____ is not . . .
Prompt 3: Even this late . . .
Uncertainty
Prompt 1: Perhaps . . . I do not know . . .
Prompt 2: Might it be like this then . . .
Prompt 3: I had not remembered . . .
Longing
Prompt 1: I wonder if I will miss . . .
Prompt 2: I took a piece of chalk and drew . . .
Prompt 3: Let them tell us what will come after . . .
How To
Prompt 1: How to Apologize
Prompt 2: I will teach you . . .
Prompt 3: How to be Remembered
Emotion
Prompt 1: Brainstorm
Prompt 2: What you have heard is true . . .
Prompt 3: Where do you open?
Erasure
Prompt 1: Redaction
Prompt 2: There will be no . . .
Prompt 3: Everything in this house has long been over . . .
Sentences
Prompt 1: It is really something . . .
Prompt 2: Short & Long
Prompt 3: Let them not say: . . .
Enough
Prompt 1: Enough . . . I am asking you
Prompt 2: If not _____, this . . .
Prompt 3: I say I'm attached to . . .
Near & Far
Prompt 1: Here/There
Prompt 2: ______ happened to day, or was it . . .
Prompt 3: Yet a voice keeps calling
Repair
Prompt 1: This place could be . . .
Prompt 2: It was a mistake to . . .
Prompt 3: I paint _____ gold.
Details
Prompt 1: I see them . . .
Prompt 2: Sometimes what comes to us, we never called for . . .
Prompt 3: He knew she'd just . . .
Before
Prompt 1: Before me there must have been . . .
Prompt 2: Two ________ dig up ________
Prompt 3: I give you my _______. Please write on it what you wish.
Gratitude
Prompt 1: We are saying thank you . . .
Prompt 2: Imagine if they suspected how much we owe them . . .
Prompt 3: We read each other's lips and said . . .
Imagination
Prompt 1: Turns out . . .
Prompt 2: Let . . .
Prompt 3: What I'm telling you is . . .
Song
Prompt 1: And then our singing . . .
Prompt 2: And then a voice lifted into the dark . . .
Prompt 3: This is not a small voice you hear . . .
Moon
Prompt 1: I don't know who needs to hear this other than me . . .
Prompt 2: We know ____, and still . . .
Prompt 3: I don't expect ______, but I do believe _____ . . .
Heart
Prompt 1: I do not mean _____ . . . I mean ______ . . .
Prompt 2: Where do you open?
Prompt 3: But mainly, let's be honest, I like . . .
Doctors
Prompt 1: He said . . . I said . . .
Prompt 2: Remind me . . .
Prompt 3: I'm here to tell you . . .
Rooms
Prompt 1: I remembered: rooms where . . . rooms where . . . rooms where . . .
Prompt 2: This is the everyday we spoke of: . . .
Prompt 3: Here in this house, among photographs of ______, I . . .
Whales
Prompt 1: Things to do in the ____: . . .
Prompt 2: Every time . . .
Prompt 3: We all churn inside . . .
Interior Lives
Prompt 1: Don't you wish they would stop . . .
Prompt 2: Who would believe . . .
Prompt 3: But when I look up . . .
Trees
Prompt 1: Fine then, I'll take it . . .
Prompt 2: You ever think you could . . .
Prompt 3: From ____ comes . . .
Rain
Prompt 1: You are living the life you wanted . . .
Prompt 2: My God, I thought, my whole life I've . . .
Prompt 3: I have been easy with . . .
Birds
Prompt 1: For days now . . .
Prompt 2: What we love is rarely . . .
Prompt 3: Where will the meanings be when . . .
Remembering
Prompt 1: Remember when . . .
Prompt 2: Tell me about the ____ my ____ was . . .
Prompt 3: I thought _____ remembered me. She . . .
Mirrors
Prompt 1: I was much and no one thought . . .
Prompt 2: The time will come when . . .
Prompt 3: Chiasm
Repetition
Prompt 1: We must . . .
Prompt 2: Open the hand and give me _____, as if . . . as if . . .
Prompt 3: You survived because . . .
Rocks
Prompt 1: Forgive me . . . Tell me . . .
Prompt 2: Here's what I've been wondering . . . Here's what I've been hiding . . .
Prompt 3: If you look at something long enough . . .
Beliefs
Prompt 1: I used to pretend to believe . . .
Prompt 2: I know there is . . .
Prompt 3: "I close my eyes and see . . ."
Names
Prompt 1: I'm almost certain . . .
Prompt 2: Who was it who taught you . . .
Prompt 3: These ____ have no names whatever we call them . . .
Peace of Wild Things
Prompt 1: When _____ grows in me, I . . .
Prompt 2: That time I thought I could not _____ without dying, I ______ . . .
Prompt 3: These things I know: . . .
Quiet
Prompt 1: I'm learning so many ways to be ______. There's . . . There's . . .
Prompt 2: Suppose we _____ like the ______ . . .
Prompt 3: It was still _____ still _____ . . .
Moonlight
Prompt 1: Although _______, the ______ . . .
Prompt 2: There will always be . . .
Prompt 3: When it's over, it's over . . .
Waters
Prompt 1: Ask me . . .
Prompt 2: I . . . I . . . I . . .
Prompt 3: And drinking there, I remember . . .
Hands
Prompt 1: No one ever thanked him . . .
Prompt 2: Please raise your hand . . .
Prompt 3: One hand . . . The other hand . . .
Bodies
Prompt 1: I think of ______, the way they ______ . . .
Prompt 2: the ______ fits her ________ in ______ . . .
Prompt 3: There were times my life and I . . .
Questions
Prompt 1: What part of your life’s record is skipping? What wound is on repeat? Have you done everything you can to break out of that groove?
Prompt 2: But what did I know . . .
Prompt 3: What else can I call . . .
Knowing
Prompt 1: What if you knew . . .
Prompt 2: I know what it's like . . .
Prompt 3: These days your best bet is . . .
David Whyte
Prompt 1: Everything is waiting for you . . .
Prompt 2: You must learn one thing: . . .
Prompt 3: I want to know . . .
Margaret Atwood
Prompt 1: All ____ is made of _____ . . .
Prompt 2: You understand: there is no . . . there is no . . .
Prompt 3: This is a photograph of _____: . . .
Danusha Laméris
Prompt 1: Nothing wants to suffer . . .
Prompt 2: Because we can't know what comes next, . . .
Prompt 3: Don't you wish . . .
Marie Howe
Prompt 1: What we did to ______, we did to ____ . . .
Prompt 2: I had no idea . . .
Prompt 3: Hurry up . . .
W.S. Merwin
Prompt 1: Listen. We are saying . . . We are saying . . . We are saying . . .
Prompt 2: Every year without knowing it . . .
Prompt 3: Tell him/her/them that . . .
Maggie Smith
Prompt 1: What is home but . . .
Prompt 2: Isn't that what you've been taught . . .
Prompt 3: For every _____ there is _____ . . .
Leila Chatti
Prompt 1: There will be no . . .
Prompt 2: At the center of the scene: . . .
Prompt 3: Adjective . . .
Ellen Bass
Prompt 1: Then you hold _____ and you say ______ . . .
Prompt 2: We just lived with ________ . . .
Prompt 3: I wanted . . . I wanted . . . I wanted . . .
Naomi Shihab Nye
Prompt 1: Before you _______, you must . . .
Prompt 2: It is difficult to know what to do with . . .
Prompt 3: We're not going to be able to live in this world if . . .
Spring
Prompt 1: I cannot save this world. But look . . .
Prompt 2: We must grab each other . . .
Prompt 3: Please, someone -- . . .
Turnarounds
Prompt 1: It appears that it was all a misunderstanding . . .
Prompt 2: I dreamed I forgot . . .
Prompt 3: ____ lives, we are ____, ______ lives . . .
Ada Limón
Prompt 1: What if instead of carrying ______ I am supposed to carry ______ . . .
Prompt 2: Perhaps, the truth is . . .
Prompt 3: No hand to hold still here it was: . . .
Lucille Clifton
Prompt 1: I am not done yet . . .
Prompt 2: Who would believe . . .
Prompt 3: here on this bridge between _______ and ______, . . .
Animals
Prompt 1: Tomorrow . . . But tonight . . .
Prompt 2: The things I know . . .
Prompt 3: As if they already knew . . .
Big Ideas
Prompt 1: Reader: I want to say . . .
Prompt 2: Remember? There was no . . . There was no . . .
Prompt 3: When . . ., only then do . . .
Ancient Longings
Prompt 1: Someone standing at _______ had the idea to . . .
Prompt 2: Longing for _____. Not for . . . Not for . . . But for . . .
Prompt 3: Once there were songs for everything . . .
Growth & Decay
Prompt 1: make peace with all the _____ you once were . . .
Prompt 2: I don't remember why . . .
Prompt 3: A small needful fact is that . . . which means . . .
Salvage
Prompt 1: I came to explore the wreck . . .
Prompt 2: I have learned . . .
Prompt 3: This is how we get the beloved home: . . .
Animals
Prompt 1: I want . . . Instead I . . .
Prompt 2: I was the last living thing she saw . . .
Prompt 3: Before . . . After . . .
Form
Prompt 1: It isn't ever delicate . . .
Prompt 2: As we . . . we . . .
Prompt 3: Like everything alive . . .
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Prompt 1: If you are . . ., we need . . .
Prompt 2: There are many reasons to . . .
Prompt 3: And who's to say . . .
Parents & Children
Prompt 1: Please take . . .
Prompt 2: When it's time to go . . .
Prompt 3: Now here is a typical children's story . . .
Sharon Olds
Prompt 1: When I ______, they told me _____ . . .
Prompt 2: I am doing something I learned early to do . . .
Prompt 3: We have nothing to lose but . . .
Jane Hirshfield
Prompt 1: "The ____ were forbidden to . . ."
Prompt 2: "It was like this: . . ."
Prompt 3: Let them not say: . . . . We . . .
Listening
Prompt 1: Everyone is listening . . .
Prompt 2: What you have heard is true: . . .
Prompt 3: What do you think?
Plants
Prompt 1: OK _____ I'm your apprentice now . . .
Prompt 2: Which is the beloved, which is the world . . .
Prompt 3: Day after day . . .
Big & Little
Prompt 1: I lie in the dark listening to what I remember . . .
Prompt 2: Let's go to . . .
Prompt 3: It's a lot . . . It's a lot . . . It's a lot . . .
Be Bad
Prompt 1: Is it because I . . . ?
Prompt 2: What I'm telling you is . . .
Prompt 3: You do not have to be good . . .
Place
Prompt 1: There are ____ here, so many _____ here is what I am trying to say . . .
Prompt 2: Here and there . . .
Prompt 3: And how we stood there . . .
Talking with the Dead
Prompt 1: I woke with his voice in my ear . . .
Prompt 2: Bitter that we cannot ever have . . .
Prompt 3: I wonder if I'm the song . . .
Maps
Prompt 1: Leaving this here so you have it to come back to today . . .
Prompt 2: Once, by mistake . . .
Prompt 3: Where does it hurt?
Welcome
Prompt 1: We are . . . We are . . .
Prompt 2: I give you . . . I give you . . .
Prompt 3: There is nowhere else I want to be but here . . .
Fruit
Prompt 1: This is just to say . . .
Prompt 2: And that _____, it made me so ______, as ordinary things often do . . .
Prompt 3: There are days we live as if . . .
Distance
Prompt 1: I am far from . . . I am close to . . .
Prompt 2: She kept the ______ in a place I never dared to enter . . .
Prompt 3: Yet a voice keeps calling: . . .
Mary Ruefle
Prompt 1: You asked for my most innermost thoughts . . .
Prompt 2: At the end of time . . .
Prompt 3: I make a whole life out of it: . . .
Ancestors
Prompt 1: I've come here from . . .
Prompt 2: Next time, you be . . .
Prompt 3: Each has left something undone . . .
Raymond Carver
Prompt 1: And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so?
Prompt 2: For a while I even let myself imagine . . .
Prompt 3: I couldn't see it. Not until . . .
Skies
Prompt 1: What can I say . . .
Prompt 2: How lucky to have lived a life . . .
Prompt 3: Praise . . . Praise . . . Praise . . .
Wildness
Prompt 1: How was I to know it would begin this way . . .
Prompt 2: There is a ______ in me . . . There is a _______ in me . . .
Prompt 3: This ______ from which you sing your deepest ____ . . .
Consciousness
Prompt 1: When I was a ____ I could . . .
Prompt 2: The loved ones we call the dead . . .
Prompt 3: No _____, no _____, no _____, only . . .
Want
Prompt 1: I want to be where you are . . .
Prompt 2: Sometimes you have to . . .
Prompt 3: There you are . . .
Water
Prompt 1: Don't run. Open . . .
Prompt 2: To kiss _____ is to ______ . I kiss ________.
Prompt 3: When I ask him why he tells me . . .
Prompt 2: To kiss _____ is to ______ . I kiss ________.
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