11 More Prompts From Jeanann Verlee's "Prey"

Jeanann Verlee's  Prey presents a series of poems about predators and their prey. It's a an exquisitely articulated chronicle of trauma. It's a fantastic book, but it was difficult to come up with a suite of prompts to represent the poems without the fear of inducing trauma on anyone following the prompts, or ignoring the necessity of the subject matter of these poems.

I've tried to be as true to these poems as possible without making this too emotionally difficult for people following the prompts. This post picks up from the previous one.

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30. Secret Written From Inside a Piranha's Mouth. Have you ever adapted your diet, your music listening prefereces, your wardrobe to fit the preferences of someon you were attracted to? Gross, huh? But most people have done it at some point in their lives. Write a list of things an ex preferred of you and others they dated. Let the list speak for the dynamics of the relationship.

31. The New Crucible.  Choose a play you've enjoyed (or hated, if that's how you roll). Write a poem with at least three distinct sections. The first should focus on the plot, the second section should focus on a particular character, and the third should spotlight a setting where a particular scene (or the entire play) takes place.

32. Dumpster Full Of Dresses.  Give us a tour through a place where something meaningful happened to you. Present it as a Haunted House.

33. The Feast. Several years ago, someone went well out of their way to hurt me, for no reason other than to try and improve their own social capital. While one friend was advising me that the person who hurt me wasn't worth wasting time on, another friend said that the other person wasn't so bad because one time that person had prepared him breakfast. We don't speak very often since then. If you were to prepare a meal to save or ruin  a friendship or a relationship, what would it be? How would you serve it?

34. For The Woman Who Loved The Predator More Than His Prey. Curse someone with a litany of things that sound positive, but when combined will ruin the person you are cursing.

35. Secret Written From Inside a Crocodile's Mouth. How would you construct an emotional suit of armor for yourself?

36. The Believer. Ghost line prompts are where you start a poem with lines from someone else's work, and when you are finished, you erase those lines so that only your own work remains. Begin your poem with the following ghost line: He said tequila, she gave him a grove of lime trees. The sea.

37. The Boy Moving Overseas Asks To Meet For Coffee To Address Our "Miscommunication" About His Ongoing Friendship With A Man Who Raped Me. Recount a difficult conversation with someone you believed was your friend.  Be more thorough and honest (and metaphorical) in your recounting than you were able to in reality.

38. The Unkindness.  Tell us a story about animals helping other animals. Whether you metaphor it to your life is up to you.

39. Alias. Are there any good reasons for a person to change their name? Explain your involvement in a name change, whether its your own or someone you've encountered.

40. Secret Written From Inside A Grizzly's Mouth. Ghost lines: Every few years I start a bonfire,/incinerate a mattress or a man/ or a city, then dust off the rubble/ and rebegin from the nothing/ I uilt with my own hands.