At the writing workshop mentioned previously, the leader handed out postcards and asked everyone to take four. He then said, pick one and pass it to the person on your left. The picking and passing was repeated several times. We were then instructed to create something poetic from the images we were left with. I had this photograph of Frida Kahlo.
I later looked at her self-portraits on Google images.
I'll post my poem below.
The prompt is to find a postcard: ANY at all. Maybe even the one that I sent you _refugee_, wasoxygen, thenewgreen, BLOB_CASTLE, ButterflyEffect, insomniasexx, ghostoffuffle, blackbootz, humanodon, eightbitsamurai, mknod, and Complexity - even if you haven't got it yet. or some other postcard or just think about postcards criss-crossing the planet.
or about a snail mail you once got from somewhere . . .
or if you've never had a letter in your life, ask your grandma what letters she has saved. and say any ol' thing you like.
Frida is Waiting
Frida is waiting
Frida is staring: is caring
Is making her pictures
Not smiling
inquiring
creating
Frida is painting
Her fears, her fierce
Past pain, past Diego upbraiding
her
Hair is up, braided
Unrest in her eyes.
Sixty years later
I am the curator
collector of images up on my wall
The pictures start spreading
Where I sit, working
covering spaces, covering all
Bright robed
Peasant women
And Frida's self-portraits
Not smiling, not smiling.
Whatever is said
About her years later
You'll see her not smiling
And that will say all.
As is typical of a writing workshop, people wanted more about the speaker and why those images resonated with her.
Like todayswritingprompts, it was a generative workshop so we generated. Further work will perhaps come later.