Looking for a quick way to launch into creative mode? Check out this prompt I found by poet Lauren Alleyne:
First: Think of a Place
I love writing about Ireland's landscape and my Irish roots, so I automatically thought of the Connemara National Park. I looked up Google Images of the park and made notes of the various details such as the rust-colored heath land, the swampy bogs, sun-painted mountains, and the vast blue of the Atlantic ocean against its coast.
This place can be anywhere with meaning to you. Your favorite bike path, your family's basement, the neighbor's garden, your local cemetery, etc. Be sure to take note of the unique details of that place. Brainstorm some similes to accompany those images and make them stronger.
Then: Think of a Story that Happened there
I did some quick research on the Connemara by Googling Connemara Mythology and found all kinds of treasures! I ended up settling on an article titled "10 Things You Didn't Know About Connemara" because who doesn't like to learn something new? I also figured using a story that isn't super well known would allow me to steer clear of cliches. What stuck out to me was The Killary Fjord Famine Relief Road that skirts along the southern edge of Ireland’s largest fjord.
The article stated: "Such road and wall building projects were created as a means to provide employment for the local populace – though most never benefited from it. To many of the ruling (often British) landlords, it was thought that the local Irish couldn’t get something (ie food) for nothing, so when the potato crops failed several years in a row, the landlords dictated that all people wanting food must work for their bread. Hence such building projects were created – though it is the sad fact that many of the projects were unnecessary and created simply to make work. Many famine-era projects never saw completion, with most of those working on them perishing where they stood from hunger, malnutrition and exhaustion, leaving multiple roads and walls unfinished."
I had prior knowledge of the Great Famine (1845-1849), so I was able to pick up on the tragic themes of this story. I wrote down the first couple of reactions/images that came to mind as I read from the article: rail-thin men, dirt and dust, sweat, blisters, fog from the ocean, bodies, workers collapsing, landlords failing to see the consequences of their rulings.
Next: Think of a Story/Memory of Yours that is Unrelated to that Place
This step took me a while to get my head out of Ireland. I knew it had to be unrelated, but I wanted a memory that could be loosely tied to the themes I had found with researching Connemara. My first couple brainstorms were a little too on the nose: dehydration working in the hay fields, plywood slipping beneath my feet while walking across the mow still being built (that was scary), and rope slipping through my tired hands while lunging my horse.
These memories were too related to the idea of work and exhaustion, so I stepped back and thought of only the colors of the Connemara and wrote down any memories that came from them: sailing in Lake Huron, hiking in the Smoky Mountains, the dirt from my dad's faded work boots, an old ring, and our red 1990s Chevy pickup.
I understood "unrelated to that place" to mean any memory that is either not in that place, a part of that place, or in reference to some history of it. So for me, that meant no memories of being in Ireland, no direct family memories (since we're very Irish), and no story about being hungry or tired. However, I do think it's a good idea to use memories or stories you associate with either the colors or feelings of the place you chose--this will make the layering process easier in your poem.
Now: Ask a Question to the You (the subject or object) From the First Place You Chose
This was a tricky one. In retrospect, I could've had the "you" be one of the ruling landlords or the Irish workers, or anything of that nature--still possible for a revision exercise I suppose! Instead, I presented the question as a meditation--an internal questioning of the self or the speaker's self, if you will.
Lastly: Answer the Question
Seems easy enough right, considering you just made up the question? For me, it's the opposite! I never feel like I have the answers or I feel like there are too many answers and on, and on it goes! Overthinking as my constant Kryptonite made me to turn to what I feel most comfortable writing about: nature.
Every writer/artist has some sort of weakness that often leads to a creative block if you're not careful. Finding something you're comfortable writing about and using your imagination to present it in new forms is a helpful way to avoid the dreaded slump.
My Draft:
After some minor tinkering, here's my first draft from this poetic exercise--if you have any title suggestions, shoot them my way!
Title?
Along the southern edge
of Ireland’s largest fjord
the famine relief road
stretches across the Connemara,
the sweat and breath of its
forgers rise in fog blanketing
the bogs and rust-colored
heathland. Once, I wore a broken
ring until its gold coating
stripped away and it curled
into the flesh of my finger.
I wore it until the dried blood
gave the crumbling band
a new color, how long
was it before anyone
noticed? Long enough
for the skin around the ring
to adopt a purple hew
just as the sky over
Connemara’s mountains
before the sun sinks
into the Atlantic.
Check out Lauren Alleyne's book Honeyfish
Happy Writing!