Make-Do Origin Stories & Concrete Futures

Prompt Against Anxiety #16 | from poet and community organizer Ching-In Chen, author of recombinant (Kelsey Street Press, 2017) and The Heart's Traffic (Arktoi/Red Hen Press, 2009), as well as two chapbooks. In 2018, recombinant was the winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry.

A horn made of pink and deep purple, bright pink, and gold and white rope, made by Valincy-Jean Patelli and given to the writer during the Patio Taller residency. Photo by Cassie Mira.

During these pandemic times, I’ve had great difficulty focusing for any length of time on writing, reading, or any other activity. What’s been useful for me is to practice meditation (focusing on the breath and being present in the moment) as well as making do with what I have in front of me. What I’ve found especially insightful right now is Lama Rod Owens' Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation Through Anger, which my sangha community has been reading together. This prompt comes out of that practice.

1. Take one day to gather 100 words from your daily life, preferably not from a reading and writing practice where you are trying to write or read, but from the flow of what you might come across naturally—in the news, in the objects and conversations surrounding you, in the music you listen to as you move about your day.

2. On day two, choose an object that has emotional significance to you (or a photo of the object). Write 50 words describing the object. What have you not yet said about the object that's underneath the surface? I say ‘underneath the surface’ because I think we tend to reach for what’s obvious and close to us (what’s 'on the surface') when we first start the process of writing. I usually find more surprising leaps happen when we get to the layers ‘beneath the surface.’ Write 50 more words to describe what is underneath the surface.

3. On day three, read the 200 words aloud into the air. Choose 50 of the most striking and surprising words to keep from each day and archive the rest (perhaps to work with at a later time).

4. Now you are ready to play! The 100 words you have chosen are the ones you will make-do with for the following:

a.) Using 75 of these words, write an origin story of your object—how it came to be made or born and the journey it took to get to where it belongs now. Imagining these origin stories by looking more closely at the objects you come across in your daily life is another way to go ‘underneath the surface.’
 
b.) With the remaining 25 words, imagine that there is a conflict surrounding the object. Write a dialogue between those in conflict.
 
c.) What is the future you would like to imagine for this object? Not a dystopian future, but a concrete one you desire. As writers, this is a way that we can cultivate our imaginative power—by dreaming futures to work toward. Choose 50 words you think might be the most relevant for this step.
 
d.) Write one additional piece with lines from each of your results from a-c.  

Prompts Against Anxiety is sponsored by Milwaukee Public Library, an anchor institution that helps patrons read, learn, and connect—to our resources and our community. Now more than ever, stay connected, stay home, and stay safe. 

Contact

Facebook

Instagram

We acknowledge that in Milwaukee we live and work on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, and Menominee homelands along the southwest shores of Michigami, part of North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee, and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida, and Mohican nations remain present. 

We further acknowledge the grave evil colonialism introduced to these lands ​through genocide as well as slavery, and also via racist and xenophobic ​beliefs, laws​, and practices that continue to inflict harm upon Black, brown, and Indigenous lives. We honor those who have lived—and do live, now—at these intersections of identity and experience, and are committed to the active dismantling of white supremacy.

Read our statement on racial justice

720 E. Locust Street
Milwaukee, WI 53212
Phone: 414 263 5001

Hours: Tues–Sun | 12-7 pm

Closed Mon

Building Accessibility: Despite the age of our physical location, and attendant limitations to access, Woodland Pattern is committed to making its programs and facilities available for as many as possible. Please call for more information.

Events Accessibility: Woodland Pattern is able to offer captioning services for its online events and with advanced notice can provide ASL interpretation for live events. Please contact us with accommodation requests and questions.

© Woodland Pattern 2024