Poetry Prompt: Two Starting Lines

I am currently enamored of prompts, since lately when i sit down, it is as through my brain is a dessicated lump of clay with nary a writerly thought in it. After the success I felt with that last prompt, "The Seventh," I decided to complete both of the prompts offered by my workshop professor, even though we only needed to finish one. (Truly, it's not that I'm an overachiever...it's just that I've also got work due to another program and a personal commitment to write a little every day, and a prompt is a good way to get my brain casting the line.) It was a good brain-jump exercise, since they weren't lines I would ever start a poem with, and had me working in different directions than my writing path has been this week (which is just as well, because I'm bored with the subjects that keep popping into my head.)

Now, if you're terribly successful, you will be able to either use the prompt as your first line or leave it out completely (for my purposes, I think leaving it out completely is the better bet. They seem a bit clunky, and I'm working on not starting my poetry with exposition, as I am wont to do. I know, surprise, surprise, right? See if you can write a poem that works both with and without the prompt as the first line.

Anyway, here they are. Go forth and write like the wind!

Prompt #1:There wasn’t anything else I could do

Prompt #2: More people came, but I didn't notice

A Prompt: The Seventh

Hello all, and merry Friday evening, for those of you who read this.

1)Make a list of seven places you've visited in the last seven years. Rank them, with #1 as your favorite, and #7 as your least favorite. (If you have to go back 8 years, that's fine, but no more than 8 or 9).

2) Take place #7 from the above list, and write down 7 things you remember about that place. (These will naturally come out in order of most vivid to least).

3) Pick something about that last to write about. If it can be broken down into multiple parts, pick the one that you think will be most difficult to write about.

4) Write a one-page exploratory essay on that topic.

Making certain that you are working with themes and images that don't pop straight into your head (the point of picking the 7th items on the list) means that you actually have to work at pulling themes, images and words from your head. Don't cheat on the listing just to make it easier, since that negates the power of the entire exercise. I found this experience very interesting and useful, as I returned to a place I barely visited the first time. This is an exercise that, if you let it, takes you places you hadn't expected to go, which is most productive for a writer. My essay is available for any interested; I may consider posting it later. I think it's pretty interesting. *grin*