Writers’ block got you down? Happy Wednesday, and welcome to the first edition of our Writing Prompt Wednesday Series, a series of writing prompts that is sure to get those fingers typing in a flurry. Below you will find a writing prompt created by TMR Poetry Reader Ashieda McKoy and first-draft response written by TMR Poetry Editor Adele Williams. You’re welcome.
Writing Prompt: Sometimes it feels like Netflix knows way too much about us. It can pick a movie or show that you never even knew you would like. On a rainy day, Netflix can seem like sorcery, sending you down a rabbit hole of endless suggestions that all seem interesting. What if you had the power to create what Netflix would recommend to you next?
Write a creative piece on what Netflix would recommend to you next, based off of your recently watched selections or suggested picks. If you actually have a Netflix account, you can base your piece on what your account actually recommends for you, or you can make all of this up.
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Based on your interests: Folk Art/ Robert Bly/ keeping a plant alive
Because you just watched: Vietnam/ Paris, Texas/ a documentary on a mummified foot
Netflix presents: A collection of short films: The Body is a Painting of Motive.
“This collection explores the connections between intention and physicality. You will experience miscommunication, rainfall and burial. The body does not let you drown in its shakedown.”
Death:
A body tries to anoint itself but gets lost in the slosh.
Will the body float?
Will the body embody?
Will the body shine?
Will the body hide?
Religion:
In this film you can eat the body and drink
the body and Jesus wears a gold chain.
When the world is ready
you are born.
Nature:
You will feel so tiny, the body is a substrate
mushrooms grow on an orchid’s belly—
chaos ensues: re-pot.
Lost:
And how to matter after the fact, the body
as a postscript.
Bly narrates this film exploring a barn
in the snow, the ways in which a head
will move, the Ark.
What the Body is:
A piece of land bought from a pamphlet
An untrained pulp of paint
A prompt
Finders Keepers: (presents the following juxtapositions)
sonless/fatherless— becoming a dream
able-bodied/amputee— yardsale artifact
Harry Dean Stanton— Ho Chi Minh
war hero— direct sunlight
Adele Elise Williams is an MFA candidate in poetry at Virginia Tech. She is the poetry editor for the minnesota review.
Ashieda McKoy is an MFA candidate in poetry at Virginia Tech. She is a poetry reader for the minnesota review.
The Minnesota Review 