Let other people’s words help you find your voice

Image: Essex Street Gateway mural in Haverhill, MA, photo by Heather Chartier

When we gather for the Writing Prompt of the Week on Zoom, everybody generates a list of words prompted by an image, and then we create a community list by asking everyone to contribute one word or short phrase.

Regina Ress used words from that community list when she wrote this poem in 10 minutes. There’s not a false note in it! It’s entirely in her voice, though she’s using words contributed by others. Reading it, I feel like she was letting the words themselves lead her along this journey of perception and yearning.

In our book Write What You Don’t Know, we also include a prompt called “Other People’s Words.” Paradoxical as it sounds, working with words taken from other writers is a great way to find and recognize your own voice.

We don't want to be tied to the image. 

And yet , and yet, the image-i-nation 

is the image, a transfigured nation of images 

that flood our gossamer dreams.

Oh my heart, give me your hand

and lead me out of Kafka’s illusional dreamscape,

the projection of life as crumbled Rhapsody in Grey.

 Let the Imaginative Storm inspire you! You can find an archive of intriguing writing prompts on the Imaginative Storm Circle and on our YouTube channel, as well as daily prompts on Instagram @imaginativestorm).

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