Greetings, writers,
Today’s prompt is deeply random, but—I hope—fun. Or at the very least interesting.
The following lines come from poems in the May 1987 issue of Poetry magazine. Pick the one that appeals to you the most, and use it as a starting point for (or a turning point in, or the theme of) a scene.
Modify the line as necessary, obviously. For example, “Chivalry is not dead at New York Hospital!” could become “Chivalry is not dead in the Vektian starship’s captain’s quarters,” or “Chivalry is not dead in the Aldi freezer aisle.”
I don’t know about you, but I think “Afterwards, we’ll all remember having seen it coming” is a pretty fantastic first line for something.
Look, I want you to know I’m not weird
or anything.
from J. Allen Rosser’s poem “The Dropping of a Name”
For a moment it feels right,
this life, and for some things a moment is
an extravagance of time
from Richard Speakes’s poem “Code of Ethics—Coin Laundry Association”
Every minute, now, is hazardous
from Jeanne Murray Walker’s poem “Coming into History”
Chivalry is not dead at New York Hospital!
from Liz Rosenberg’s poem “Between Men and Women”
Afterwards, we’ll all remember
having seen it coming.
From Lisa Ziedner’s poem “A Bomb”
Happy writing—
Emily