A dim glow in the stable from the one light up in the corner whose cord runs down across the ground and into the house. The horses are writing their night philosophies, corrupting the youth of the moon. When the sun, distracted father, returns at morning, they will act no closer to the truth.

---

Prompt

In the subfield of mathematics called linear algebra, there is a frequently-given homework exercise that looks like this:

TRUE OR FALSE? If A and B are n× n matrices, then ABA^-1=B.

A^-1, here, is the inverse matrix of A. Leaving aside for a moment the question of whether or not the statement is true, it is easy to see why it might be: surround something with another thing and its opposite, and maybe the first thing will escape unscathed. Maybe.

This prompt is to write a three-sentence prose poem, one sentence of which takes a detail from another work of art—a poem, painting, film, piece of music, anything amenable to the task — and inverts it in some way. My example borrows from this Elizabeth Bishop painting: instead of the cord going up along the ceiling as in Bishop’s original (& therefore being in the house to begin with), in “Care Of” the cord runs down across the ground and into the house.

---

Tom Snarsky is the author of the poetry collections Light-Up Swan and Reclaimed Water (both from Ornithopter Press). His book A Letter From The Mountain & Other Poems is forthcoming in 2025 from Animal Heart Press.