M Christine Delea's Blog, page 29

Fuzzy Logic: Prompt

Philosophy is a school subject that is relevant in our everyday lives, whether or not we realize it. (They all are, of course, but some are more obvious.)

Here is the definition from Wikipedia: "Philosophy (love of wisdom in ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions, concerning topics like the nature of existence and reality, criteria of knowledge and truth, reflection on mind and language, and moral or cultural value. It is a rational inquiry that critically ref...

Shirt by Robert Pinsky

Shirt

by Robert Pinsky

(published in his book, The Want Bone)

The back, the yoke, the yardage. Lapped seams,

The nearly invisible stitches along the collar

Turned in a sweatshop by Koreans or Malaysians

Gossiping over tea and noodles on their break

Or talking money or politics while one fitted

This armpiece with its overseam to the band

Of cuff I button at my wrist. The presser, the cutter,

The wringer, the mangle. The needle, the union,

The treadle, the bobbin. The code. The infamous blaz...

My Children Asleep on the Chest of September by Ariana D. Den Bleyker

My Children Asleep on the Chest of September

by Ariana D. Den Bleyker

(published in The Mantle, Issue 6, November 2018)

It’s an alluring feeling, the way their eyes sink low—touch to lids—the shutter,closed moments eternity, the way the child never ends.

Beds burn, long—I walk through where they sleep,endless curve of thigh, thinkingof them in this home that is my womb.

I see their faces replaced by the shadow of a motheradjusting her wings. There’s a volcanoin my chest mimicking my...

Green Eggs and Ham Writing Prompt

"I would not like them here or there.

I would not like them anywhere.

I do not like green eggs and ham.

I do not like them, Sam-I-Am."

--from Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) was challenged to write a book using only 50 words. The challenge came from Bennett Cerf of Random House--he bet Seuss $50 that he could not write a book using only 50 words. The result was his 1960 book, Green Eggs and Ham. Legend has it that although Seuss won, Cerf never paid him the...

Dearborn North Apartments by Lola Haskins

Dearborn North Apartments

Chicago, Illinois

by Lola Haskins

Rows of rectangles rise, set into brick.

And in every rectangle, there is a lamp.

Why should there be a lamp in every window?

Because in all this wide city, there is not

enough light. Because the young in the world

are crazy for light and the old are afraid

it will leave them. Because whoever you are,

if you come home late but it looks like noon,

you won’t tense at the click when you walk in

which is probably after all only the he...

In Praise of Gray by Jay Rubin

In Praise of Gray

by Jay Rubin

(published in The Summerset Review, Summer 2011)

Gray hair is a crown of splendor —Proverbs 16:31

O how I wish that my wife, just once would not slip through that bathroom door to dye her hair that ungodly brown

O how I wish that my wife, just once would let her fallacious hair rinse clear allowing her argent age to shine

If only she would, I'd gather each strand some threads white a...

Mad Libs Poem: Prompt

Mad Libs gave me and my brother a lot of silly fun as we sat in the backseat of the blue Plymouth Fury with my parents up front. More recently, they are still popular at Girl Scout camp and sleepovers. In between those two periods of my life, Mad Libs poetry prompts were trendy, and they are a great way to free write your way into a poem, or any type of prose (possibly visual art as well).

To do this prompt as a true Mad Libs, write down your answers on a sheet of paper, without looking ahead. ...

Forgive My Dearth of Quietude by Praise Osawaru

Forgive My Dearth of Quietude

by Praise Osawaru

(published in Feral, Issue 3, August 2020)

Instead of dreaming, I translate my whirling worries into a standstill; eyes closed, body tendering silence. The night registers my intermittent awakening, on days when my mind depletes quietude. Creaking fan, wintry chill, spilling moonlight; they conduct a fellowship in my room. Pardon me if I mistake the scratching in my wall for the feasting of monsters, or the meowing at night for a gat...

Purgatory by Carolyn Martin

Purgatory

by Carolyn Martin

(published in The Opiate, August 2016)

can’t be much worse than this: sitting in the second row while the poet– featured tonight for reasons only the emcee knows–fumbles through a notebook for the next offering he’ll serve up in a voice that hovers somewhere between pseudo-humility and arrogance as he alludes to obscure Italian history and no one has a clue so I’m free to tune out everything but my mind conversing with itself about a metaphor that may–o...

To, On, For, Regarding: Prompt

Anniversary Alert: Phillis Wheatley's book of poetry, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was published on September 1, 1773.

Phillis Wheatley, one of America's greatest and first poets, wrote about Virtue (with a capital V). Her poem is very much of its time: it rhymes, it focuses on an intangible, the language is extremely formal, and celestial beings. But the complexity and the poet's own struggle with Virtue (as well as Chastity and Goodness) is timeless.

This week's prompt ask...