Rethink how you relive the past with this prompt. — Prompt If memories could be stored in a physical space — what, or where, would it be? Development Memories are often captured in physical form: sun-blanched sepia photographs, ticket stubs, a slice of wedding cake in the back of the freezer, milk teeth reclaimed from the tooth fairy. Keepsakes, mementoes, souvenirs, relics…

Free Verse — Mother sounds the claxon: action stations. Father lights the remnant of her short fuse: preparing drinks; getting underfoot. The family falls in, sits to attention: hands crossed on thighs beneath a pressed cloth (knife-edge creases parallel to table edge – no tramlines). I feel a frisson as my new girlfriend returns the…

A free verse poem — Dear Father. God. Do you really exist? I asked Mum but she said you’re, “Just another bloke who wants to shaft us.” I don’t mean to be rude, sorry. It worries me though, ‘cos her cancer’s back again and I want her to go to heaven. Do people normally talk…

A poem about a turning point —

Geliophobia is no laughing matter —

Explore what age means to you with this prompt — Prompt One man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages [William Shakespeare] How do we transition between the stages of our lives? What is the modern equivalent of the seven ages? When does someone become a teenager, middle-aged, or old? The seven ages In Jacques’ infamous ‘all the world’s a…

A meta-fiction poem — Have you watched ego drain from the sane? The stoic become weak, or eloquent unable to speak? A loved one shun your affection; struggling to find the correlation between you and someone they once knew? My Granny died slowly of this sickness. Thick plough lines broke across her waxwork cheeks when she…

A performance poem — On Brydon Close, a breeze of discontent blows. This grimy-grey inner-city street, where faceless prols flock in acrid heat, a sea of hoods up – and blood up. On boiled breath, they’re spitting gall: muffled through scarves and bandannas as they brawl and throwing bricks and paving flags at the armoured…

A prompt for writing about lessons learned — Prompt What were the most significant turning points in your life? Where were you, and what did they change about you? Cathartic writing We all have moments in our lives when we’ve reached a summit, a vantage point of clarity, and have the enlightening opportunity to look back. We call it hindsight. We…