Feature
Bucket List1. Laugh without caring about the garlic on my breath
from the pasta dish I shared in Firenze
after drinking a rapid cup of real espresso
and spending the day running trembling, awed fingers
over the hallowed structure of Ponte Vecchio,
kneeling with all my agnostic piety
beneath the weight of the Duomo’s aged spirituality.
2. Wake up to the sound of the ocean
just beyond the thin, salt-fogged layer of glass
and the wet, briny wave-spray in the air
drifting through screens set in weathered frames,
and realize I have nothing more pressing to do
than eat a naked breakfast and write, or read,
or go back to sleep until the sun is burning on the water
and the tourists have retreated to the bars for some local flavor.
3. Drink half of three bottles of Riesling at Bukowski’s grave
with some friends and other admirers I’ve never met before;
pour the other half out with slurry readings of our favorites
as libations to our German-American, factory-working,
classical composer, b
Bucket list by oracle-of-nonsense
"booze and cheap whore loving
god of poetry, shining exemplar and proof
that the bad habits may not get you
but the cancer sure as hell will."
What strikes me about this is that it's not a list, but a life that one longs to live. And for living it, you've become a more whole person with which to allow you to accept the inevitable, rather than checking each off like your everyday "to-do list".
My critique on the piece can be found here.
Prompt
>Margaret Atwood is one of the best-known living writers in the world. If you've never heard of her, don't worry, you'll soon be acquainted through our latest prompt. Spotty-Handed Villainesses is a speech of hers about feminism that then morphs into discussing how societal mores influence literature. To introduce this idea, she details a breakfast she attended:
The play progressed. The two characters had more breakfast. Then they had more. They passed each other the jam, the cornflakes, the toast. Each asked if the other would like a cup of tea. What was going on? Was this Pinter, perhaps, or Ionesco, or maybe Andy Warhol? The audience grew restless. 'Are you going to do anything except have breakfast?' we said. 'No,' they said. 'Then it isn't a play,' we said. 'Something else has to happen.'
For further context, look here.
If breakfast never ended, what would be that "something else" that happens? Write a poem, a story, a script, etc., detailing the "something else", whether it be aliens invading on the Wednesday morning, someone throwing over the table, or the characters being possessed of an uncontrollable urge to keep eating breakfast.
Don't forget to submit your responses to the folder here if you want to be featured!
Resources
Here are some other resources (from around the internet) chockfull of prompts for both prose and poetry, ready to help you out if you're in need of any. There's several more that have been added from a list in the deep recesses of our back room, though if you have any suggestions for prompts or for resources or anything related at all, let us know in the comments, that'd be great!
Outside dA
Language is a Virus 
NaPoWriMo Archive Toasted Calendar Easy Street Prompts writingprompts.tumblr Poets&Writers Groups
And these are some amazing prompts Groups from inside deviantART. Be sure to check them out if you want something more to work on!
