In October of 2022, I had the honor of working with former Lucas County Poet Laureate, Jim Ferris to lead a writing session in Lit Youngstown's 6th Annual Fall Literary Festival. We focused on how objects are presented in poems, how they help define mood and reveal information about place, time, attitude.
Photo credits to the very incredible Melanie Rae Buonavolonta.
I read with two amazing literary artists, Jen Knox and Sarah Ann Winn, and loved the diversity in styles. We ran from flash fiction to longer short story, short form poetry to extended confessional, fantasy, realism and just a little politics.
In fact, Lit Youngstown's Literary Festival is one of my favorite opportunities to connect with other writers, find new writing styles, and get inspired.
For your prompt today, think about objects in your neighborhood that reveal something about where you live. What kinds of trees, what kind of litter. Look at the state of those objects. Are they rusted, broken, shiny, hidden in a cedar chest, stapled to a light pole? Listed 15 objects. Think about how describing them also reveals things... the tone of the poem, the emotion and attitude gets revealed in how we talk about the nouns.
Write something that involves a situation. Include some of your objects. What do they reveal? How do they support and enhance your poem?