<![CDATA[GRABBED ANTHOLOGY - Writing Prompts]]>

<![CDATA[GRABBED ANTHOLOGY - Writing Prompts]]>Wed, 26 Mar 2025 07:47:53 -0400Weebly<![CDATA[WRITING PROMPT FROM MOLLY PEACOCK]]>Mon, 21 Dec 2020 04:29:42 GMThttp://www.grabbedanthology.com/writing-prompts/writing-prompt-from-molly-peacock

Before and After

Who says a rhyming couplet has to be at the end of a poem? When you suddenly rhyme, a new chapter begins in the poem, because a shift in sound is made. I wrote “Pink Underpants” to try to explain to myself an event that happened when I was nineteen that has nagged me for half a century.

At first, I tried to rhyme the whole poem, but I had too much of a story to tell to keep to a strict scheme. I switched to free verse (but kept in whatever rhymes I already had.) Even in free verse it was still so hard to cram a situation that took place over years into a single effort. I kept going back and forth in time and getting events confused.  But a leftover rhyming couplet saved me.

We don’t speak that year. All fine.
I bury him like a symbol in a line.

These two simple rhymes--fine and line—let the poem fall into a time sequence.  Suddenly I had a Chapter one and a Chapter two—all because of the dead-stop emphasis of two rhymes.

Prompt:  If you’ve got something with a Before and an After, try making a poem with a rhyming couplet to end the Before event.  Then the After can blossom on its own.

Molly Peacock is a widely anthologized poet as well as a biographer and an arts activist. Her latest poetry collections are The Analyst: Poems and Cornucopia: New and Selected Poems (W.W. Norton and Company). She is co-founder of Poetry in Motion on New York City’s subways and series founder of The Best Canadian Poetry.  Her latest ventures are The Secret Poetry Room and The Timeless Project. One of the subjects of the documentary My So-Called Selfish Life, about women who choose not to have children, she is also the author of the biography The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life’s Work at 72 and the forthcoming Flower Diary: Mary Hiester Reid Paints, Travels, Marries & Manages a Threesome.  A former New Yorker, she lives in Toronto, a dual citizen with both Canadian and American roots. She teaches at the 92St Y.

]]><![CDATA[WRITING PROMPT FROM Ellen Bass]]>Tue, 20 Oct 2020 06:14:44 GMThttp://www.grabbedanthology.com/writing-prompts/writing-prompt-from-ellen-bass

This is a simple, but powerful exercise from The Courage to Heal:

Write for ten minutes, beginning with the
words I remember. You can write about any aspect
of your experience being "grabbed." When you run out of
things to write, start a new sentence with the
words I remember.

Do the same thing, beginning with the
words I don’t remember. Continue for ten minutes
without stopping, always coming back to
the starting phrase I don’t remember.

Writing can bring up strong feelings, so be gentle with yourself. It's good to be brave, but don't push yourself beyond what you feel able to handle. And when you're done writing, do something soothing or relaxing before you jump back into your responsibilities. Also, it's good to share what you've written with a trusted person. Or, if you're not ready for that, you can read it to your cat or even a plant or a photograph. Sharing can also stir up strong feelings, so take that at your own pace too. Remember, you are in control of your own writing and your own life.

]]><![CDATA[WRITING PROMPT FROM Laura Lee HUTTENBACH]]>Sat, 03 Oct 2020 04:15:29 GMThttp://www.grabbedanthology.com/writing-prompts/writing-prompt-from-laura-lee-huttenbach

Imagine a dear friend wrote something like this note to you: “Hey, you seemed kind of down last week when we had coffee and just wanted to check in. Is everything okay? No pressure, of course, to share—but know I’m here if you want to talk.”

Write a letter to this dear friend about what happened and how you’re doing, keeping in mind you never have to mail the letter or share it with anyone.

]]><![CDATA[WRITING PROMPT FROM RUTH BEHAR]]>Sun, 06 Sep 2020 06:17:27 GMThttp://www.grabbedanthology.com/writing-prompts/writing-prompt-from-ruth-behar

I love Margaret Atwood’s essay, “Nine Beginnings,” which is a piece she literally constructed from nine different beginnings in response to the question, “Why do you write?” She felt stuck that she couldn’t write a full-length essay on the topic, because she doesn’t like to write about writing, so she joined together her nine beginnings and that became the essay. Brilliant move! Here is a link to Atwood’s essay

For this prompt, I ask that you write an essay or poem in response to this question: “Why do you want to write about your ‘grabbed’ experience?”

Stitch the story together by connecting your different beginnings – they can be nine beginnings, as with Atwood, or fewer or more, as you wish.

]]><![CDATA[WRITING PROMPT FROM GAIL LEVINE]]>Sun, 06 Sep 2020 06:05:14 GMThttp://www.grabbedanthology.com/writing-prompts/writing-prompt-from-gail-levine

Imagine you are writing a poem to a snail. The snail’s interest in your life is minimal, but it likes your voice, which echoes in its shell. And it savors the sound qualities of language: alliteration, assonance, rhythm. It doesn’t care what you tell it, just how you do. Tell it your experience in words that please you. Rhyme or don’t rhyme, as you like.

]]><![CDATA[WRITING PROMPT FROM Holly Mitchell]]>Sun, 06 Sep 2020 05:40:56 GMThttp://www.grabbedanthology.com/writing-prompts/writing-prompt-from-holly-mitchell

What words that have hurt you, or were meant to? List the ones you remember. How do they fit together? Do they represent a time in your life? A relationship? A place? Could any of them start a poem? Or end one?

]]><![CDATA[WRITING PROMPT FROM Catherine Gonick]]>Sun, 06 Sep 2020 05:30:57 GMThttp://www.grabbedanthology.com/writing-prompts/writing-prompt-by-catherine-gonick

Imagining you are writing a letter to one other person can be a good way to start sharing an experience, with an immediate feeling of intimacy and safety. Because “grabbed” experiences are universal in the world and history, these prompts also refer to time and space, which may help to frame the experience.

Imagine you are writing to a woman or man living 100 years from now. What do you want her/him to know about your “grabbed” experience?

Imagine you are writing to a suffragette or any other feminist who came before you.
How would you describe your “grabbed” experience to her?

Imagine you are writing about your experience to women or men in other countries.

Imagine you are writing to your younger self, who had the experience, or to your older self, who has healed from it.

]]><![CDATA[WRITING PROMPT FROM MICHAEL MACKIN O'MARA]]>Wed, 19 Aug 2020 04:11:23 GMThttp://www.grabbedanthology.com/writing-prompts/writing-prompt-from-michael-mackin-omara

Sometimes the best thing a writer can do is manipulate their perspective. While we are dealing with whatever we feel, we might learn something by stepping outside of that egocentric viewpoint.

Whatever your trauma was or is, write about it from the point of view of multiple observers. The person who finds you to be the most annoying person in the world. The codependent friend who wants you to wrap it around you both like a security blanket. The impatient friend who wants you to just get over it. The acquaintance who remains silent even though they can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong. The secret admirer who can’t find a way into your life.

Then see what happens should you choose to slip back into the resulting stanzas or poems.

]]><![CDATA[WRITING PROMPT FROM Freesia McKee]]>Thu, 06 Aug 2020 23:48:22 GMThttp://www.grabbedanthology.com/writing-prompts/writing-prompt-by-freesia-mckee

This prompt begins with creating a title. Think of a piece of sexist (or potentially sexist) language. It might be a phrase, a catchphrase, a movie title, a name you've been called, or even a piece of negative self-talk that runs silently through your own head. If you're having trouble finding a good one, brainstorm a list of them so you have a bunch of options to choose from.

Put this piece of charged language at the top of your page, and then, write a poem underneath.

You might write a letter addressed to this piece of language. You might recount the story of your encounter(s) with this piece of language. Or, you might get conceptual and write a list of metaphors for how encountering this language makes you feel. You might also make a list of responses or rebuttals.

If you're looking for more online reading on the topic of abusive language and want to feel inspired, The Radical Copyeditor is one of my favorite places on the internet for discussions about language, privilege, and power.

]]><![CDATA[WRITING PROMPT by Elisa Albo]]>Sun, 26 Jul 2020 01:09:48 GMThttp://www.grabbedanthology.com/writing-prompts/purifying-the-well-listing-as-catharsis-by-elisa-albo

Purifying the Well: Listing as Catharsis by Elisa Albo

The TMZ tape from which this anthology got its name and the 2016 election were unwelcome triggers for millions of women, appalling, incomprehensible events. Within a week I wrote a poem published in a quick, post-election anthology called Howl, 2016: Poems, Rants, and Essays on the Election, edited by Trish MacEnulty, one of our contributors.

My poem begins,

The uncle in Miami Beach who each visit hugged a little too hard, a little too long

The Catholic high school friend, son of close family friends, we girls nicknamed octopus, . . .

The poem continues listing indignities, molestations—many, some long buried or forgotten--and a final rant or reaction that brings me to a place of empowerment because I discover that I am so not alone.

Prompt: Create a list of the people who wronged you as a child, a young person, and an adult. Focus on the people and the context with minimal commentary or explanation.

At some point, if apt, transition to some type of resolution, for example, with a line like one I use: “That one, and the other one, and the rest who….”

Return often to your list to expand it or to tighten and refine items. If writing prose, choose one particular item and expand its story. I find myself changing the poem almost every time I reread it. Listing is a natural and effective way to purify the well, so to speak.

For some revenge catharsis, here’s an alternate first line from another list poem of mine:

"You will need the following items:"

Go to it!

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