Literature Magazine. Plots. Rhythm. Quitting. Poetry.

EXERCISE 096: CREATE ANOTHER LIT MAG

call for submissions

How often do you daydream with friends about starting a literary magazine? Name it, delegate roles for your ideal masthead, and then write your very first call for submissions.

I dream of a literary magazine — “Love Letters In A Burning World” — that marries politics and philosophy and history. It moves between social commentary, deep wisdom, and evidence of hope and grace and courage. It includes breathtaking visuals, long form essays and articles, opinion pieces, and micro prose focused on issues and themes that establish social proof of love and empathy and courage. 

I will spread my arms wide and create a miracle masthead. I will invite Wajahat Ali, Karen Attiah, Martha Beck, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Heather Cox Richardson, Mark Elias, Allison Gill, Anand Giridharadas, Eddie Glaude, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Sherrilyn Ifill, Paul Krugman, Robert Reich, and Anat Shenker-Osorio. 

My first issue will invite writers to think about empathy.

EXERCISE 097: DEVELOP PLOT POINTS

a series of events

Write a narrative poem, that is, a poem that depicts a series of events. Every line must begin with a conjunction indicating time: before, after, until, when, since, as soon as, etc. Mix them up (and mix time up, too, if you want). You can also use conjunctions negatively: not before, not after, not until…

Before I knew how to tap dance, I did not know rhythm. After a few years of dance class, I learned about counting and time and beat. Until then, my body knew a rhythm outside of form and structure. When rhythm sounded like roller skating to “Rubberband Man” and “Moonlight Feels Right”. Since roller skating and choir choreography and spontaneous dance parties framed rhythm, tap taught me how to play with rhythm. As soon as I started to tap, I knew rhythm. 

EXERCISE 098: WRITE FOR THE STAGE

in half an hour

Write ten plays in half an hour

1. Two people fall in love. A third person enters the picture. One person leaves the other for the new love. 
2. Twin sisters are separated at birth. Later in life, a health crisis requires one of the sisters to find her sister. 
3. A family is broken up by ICE. They struggle to be reunited. 
4. At 30, an only child continues to struggle to form relationships. 
5. At 90, an aging scientist reflects on life and her personal and professional journey.
6. A group of middle-school girls navigate the unexpected death of one of their piers.
7. It’s 2030 and the United States still is governed by a young Latina.
8. A young female writer explores the lives of Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, and Virginia Woolf.
9. The story of science reemerging — a renaissance of facts and truth after a period of misinformation, defunding, and denialism — is told through the lens of scientific pioneers who persevere.
10. Families surviving in Palestine, Germany, and South Africa during war torn periods are brought together in a miraculous experiment to explore empathy, reconciliation, and peace. 

EXERCISE 099: QUIT

use your reclaimed time

Write a nine-sentence note quitting a job (current, past, imagined) that you despise. At least six sentences must celebrate (concretely) how you will use your reclaimed time.

Thank you for the opportunity to be Queen of the World, but I respectively resign. Laying down the burden of controlling absolutely everything will allow me to pursue personal meaning. Because it will no longer be in my purview to judge and compare and criticize, I will focus on breathing and intention and light. I will seek joy in mind, body, and soul. I will make friends with my 15 year-old self who feared her future living with Turner syndrome. I will create something every day. I will savor everything. I will listen to cats’ purrs. I will pay attention to clouds. 

EXERCISE 100: ARTICULATE WHY

you write poetry

Write an Ars Poetica, or a poem that explains why you write poetry. Need an example? See Thomas Lux’s “An Horatian Notion.”

I WRITE POETRY BECAUSE

To ask questions that burst into a thousand shards of truth. To capture the feeling of the wind in my hair as I kick my legs to get the swing moving next to the weeping willow full of secrets. To cry gently while holding my heart feeling safe enough to break and bend and move. To sing the song I have known since before I was born. To travel to shipwrecks where coral reefs thrive on steel. To move through memories separating beach glass from sand. To touch stars and build constellations of hope and empathy. To taste life’s sweetness one word at a time. To see beauty in the broken. To hear the advice of generations. To pay precise attention. To be awake to it all. 

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