Landscapes

Prompt:

Landscapes

Of our Lives

start

Inspiration

Some landscapes are visible—rivers, cities, deserts, fields. Others live inside us: memory, language, family stories, migration, grief, joy, survival. We carry landscapes of others’ voices, histories of where we've been, and histories of what we are still learning. Poetry lets us walk these terrains with care. Let's write toward the places that live within us. Not a map exactly, but a beginning. A noticing. A first step shared ground. This is a great way to introduce ourselves to others, too.

process

Choose one place from your list. Write a poem that begins with the phrase: “Inside me there is…”

3.

1.

Take a moment to think about the landscapes that shape you. These might be physical places, emotional terrains, or cultural inheritances.

4.

Let the poem explore that place through image or sensation. What can we see there? Hear? Smell? What memories live there? Keep the poem short— 8–12 lines is perfect.

Quick list in notebook: -places you have lived -places that changed you -places you carry in memory -places you long for or return to in thought -where you are right now.

2.

Further exploration

Rosabetty Muñoz is a Chilean poet, author of eleven books, and the recipient of multiple awards. Muñoz considers herself part of Chile’s “ethnocultural movement,” composed of writers who foreground the distinctive cultures of the regions they inhabit−in her case, the island of Chiloé, off the southwestern coast of Chile

Yulia Fintiktikova is from Mariupol, Ukraine. Fintiktikova’s poetic manner gives an impression of unmediated sincerity and childlike artlessness. Yet it also forms a complicated web of literary allusions and intonational echoes, referring the reader to the key moments in 20th century Russian poetry

Fatemeh Shams is a poet, intersectional feminist activist, and associate professor of Persian literature. Shams is also an internationally acclaimed, award-winning poet. Her poetry engages the fundamental struggles of her era.

K. Eltinaé is a Sudanese poet of Nubian descent, his work has appeared in World Literature Today, The African American Review and About Place Journal, among others.

There's a Remote Country

Plans

How We Will Live: A Manifesto

Poetry

K. Eltinae´

Rosabetty Munoz

Fatemeh Shams

Yulia Fintiktikova

aprils -jennifer Guyor Jowett

Inside me there is tapestry, a quilted landscape of seeds, sewn furrows planted, rows expanding into fields, rolling over hillocks and settling into swales. Each seeded letter becomes a word becomes a verse becomes a poem becomes community, speaking of yesterdays and growing into tomorrows.