20 Questions [Exercise #7]

Due Wednesday May 10

Hello darlings! I’ve been a rather neglectful editor recently due to travel, and for that I’m sorry. I’ve been free of my normal routines which has sparked inspiration but also caused some lapses in self-discipline. Hopefully this week’s prompt gets me on track, and inspires you to create something you wouldn’t have otherwise.

This week I’m cribbing a concept from a wonderful writing book called Wingbeats. The concept is simple and hopefully will generate some rich and unexpected content for you.

Below is a list of 20 questions. Answer each using a full sentence, an image, a fragment or whatever feels good. Try to vary your answers to prevent it from feeling too repetitive.

Once you’ve gone through the list, pull out around 10 answers that are most interesting to you. Weave them together into a poem, reordering as needed and adding connective tissue between if desired.

The Questions:

1. How did your parents meet?
2. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
3. What’s your favorite taste? Describe it without saying what it is.
4. Briefly summarize the plot of the last book you read/are currently reading.
5. Describe the last time you got lost.
6. What is your favorite smell and why?
7. What do you wish you had invented?
8. Where do you want to be buried? (Or do you want to be cremated?)
9. What scares you?
10. What is your favorite bird? Describe it’s plumage and song.
11. What’s your earliest memory?
12. What was your most recent New Year’s resolution?
13. Write a line from your favorite song.
14. What makes your body unique?
15. Write a sentence that begins: “I’ve never told anyone…”
16. Write a sentence that includes the words: angle, green, notch
17. Describe the way something looks without using visual descriptors, relying on sensory words associated with sound, taste, touch, smell to evoke the image.
18. List places where your favorite color most commonly appears
19. Who do you love and why?
20. What is a word that makes you smile?

Because of travel I won’t be able to add poems up on the homepage as quickly as I’d like. I will likely add them in batches every few days, and in a big group on the due date.

Thanks to all of you who participate in our prompts! Have fun :)