There’s a Zora Neale Hurston quote, from Their Eyes Were Watching God, that I’ve seen in circulation a lot during the pandemic:
I worry sometimes about what happens to text like this, when it circulates in an attractive graphic without its context, that it becomes a little inspirational blip. But I like it. It comforts me to think of this year’s upset and trauma as questions. I don’t tend to have a lot of faith in answers as such, but the framing here reminds me no hard year goes on forever.
Prompt #14: Talking Back
Select a question to use for your title. One suggestion in prompt #8 was to end with a question, so you could use that question. You could also use a question people often ask you, perhaps one that irritates you or one you can’t figure out how to answer.
A few great question poems for inspiration:
“Are All the Break-Ups in Your Poems Real?” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
And (at the risk of this just becoming a Camille Dungy fan newsletter; there are worse fates) Camille Dungy’s fabulous “Frequently Asked Questions” (if you like them, I think you’ll love Trophic Cascade; it’s an exceptionally well-composed book, and the poems are even more powerful together)
Frequently Asked Questions: #9
Frequently Asked Questions: #7
Frequently Asked Questions: 10
Now your task is to write a poem that answers or perhaps just engages your question, but with snark or sass or a story that’s kind of adjacent to the question itself. If another requirement helps you, set your answer in a specific domestic landscape - a kitchen, a back porch, etc.
If you’d like a formal requirement, include a bit of dialogue, as Dungy does in Frequently Asked Questions 1 and 7.
Sharing your work helps sustain momentum. I’ll leave the comments open, so you can share a poem title, a snippet of a line, or something else about your writing life.