We the people write

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WORD JOY

Here are some writing prompts to help you celebrate our joyful interdependence and/or resist tyranny as We The People, followed by some ways to bring those words to life in physical form for parade day -- Wear Your Words, Make a Tiny Zine, Fly a Word Kite!

We would like to gather Baltimore writers on parade day, so please be sure to fill out this form letting us know you will participate!

PROMPTS:

We (The People?)

The U.S. Constitution begins with a Preamble to declare what it’s trying to form, establish, ensure, provide, promote, and secure! It begins, “We the people…” but doesn’t actually talk about who gets to be included as “the people,” for example. So you might write your own version.

Prompt: Write a new Preamble! 

Begin with the phrase “We the people…” - or even just “We…” - and see where it takes you. What’s your vision for a New America? Who are “We” and what do we want to do together?

HAIKU

Originating in 17th century Japan, people all over the world have been writing haiku ever since, reflecting on our connection to nature, and to our experience in the moment - both of which are radical acts in these complicated times! 

Prompt: Write some Haiku! 

A haiku has a (5/7/5) structure, consisting of 3 unrhymed lines: 

5 syllables for the first line

7 syllables for the second line, and 

5 for the third line 

Here is an example:

5: The day is rainy

7: Far from the capital is

5: My peach blossom home -- Buson

You might try including a word or image that creates an abrupt shift that makes your mind stop, partway through the poem. 

ACROSTIC

Acrostics have been written to serve as memory aids, love poems, and secret political messages for many hundreds of years - including when the entire President’s Committee on the Arts and Sciences resigned en masse in 2017, and their resignation letter contained an acrostic that spelled out “RESIST.” 

Prompt: Write an Acrostic!

In an acrostic, the first letter of each line spells out a word or phrase, when read vertically. Each letter could begin a line that consists of just one word, a partial phrase, or a whole sentence or paragraph. Here’s an example, using the word PEOPLE as the vertical axis:

Plan to be here

Every day

On this round O of a 

Planet. I wonder if you can

Love what is here,

Even as you seek to build a new world

SHADORMA

This last prompt is based on a form that seems to be a contemporary invention of mysterious origin. I include it here because it has six lines, so it would fit beautifully in the 6-page Pocket Poetry Zine I describe in the HANDMADE WORDS section, below. 

Prompt: Write a Shadorma

Like haiku, the form is unrhymed and classically defined by the number of syllables per line, but without any other suggestions of subject matter or structural elements. Instead of the 5/7/5 syllable structure of a haiku, the shadorma has six lines with a syllable breakdown of 3/5/3/3/7/5. Here’s an example to get you started:

We are all 

Here on the planet

Together

Celebrate

Our interdependence now

Before it’s too late

Or, use your own favorite form to express your thoughts on this historic day!

WAYS TO SHARE YOUR WORDS:

The following are suggestions of some ways to bring your words into the physical plane - and, we hope, into your community or even right into The Baltimore Interdependence Parade!

Wear Your Words

Reclaim the words that this administration has scrubbed from government websites, like those on this list, and wear them proudly by painting them on shirts or coveralls. Or, make your poem wearable!

Create a Pocket Poetry Zine

Create a tiny zine that you can fold and cut from one sheet of paper that becomes 6 pages with a front and back cover (click here for instructions). These six little pages are the perfect size for writing your six-line shadorma. You could also use each page as a line of your acrostic (RESIST and PEOPLE each have six  letters, for example!). It could even hold a few haiku or be your own mini Thomas Paine style handout of your new Preamble!

Fly a Word Kite

Make a kite out of paper or recycled plastic and write on it! 

Or, come up with your own way to share, show, distribute your writing on July 4th!