Poetry

National Poetry Month: Prompt 18, from Adrian Dallas Frandle

MPJ

Ask Green Anything  

I’m currently working on a manuscript where I interview different parts of my body and let them speak. This got me thinking that more of our world deserves to be heard on its own terms. Since the green is greening hard in my part of the world right now, why not interview objects of that emblematic hue? Here’s how: 

  1. Pick any green object from your surroundings: leaf, grass, shirt, verdigris statuette, kid snot, yogurt lid, etc. This is now your interview subject and also your title: “I Interview [X]”.
  2. Write down 3 basic questions for your subject about what it’s like being green. (e.g. “Are you jealous of red?”; “Is it easy being green?”; “What is money to you?”) 
  3. Ask your subject the questions and carefully record their responses. Try to voice the replies in the form and manner of the chosen subject. (e.g. From a green statue: “Red has nothing on me. She could never sit still this long” or from a blade of grass: “Being me is an easy reaching for light.”). 
  4. You should now have 3 questions and their accompanying responses for your poem. Use the first line to set the scene of the interview, like a good news broadcast. (e.g. “Here I am at the local public library speaking today with Alex’s hunter green sweater.”)
  5. The rest of the poem should alternate between the questions and the green subject’s responses. Feel free to leave the poem in the interview/dialogue Q&A form. Bonus points for rendering an enticing interview – maybe the subject walks out in a huff, or perhaps the subject flips the question back on the interviewer (“Actually, no, that’s not the truth, Ellen…”). Because green loves to linger, try to make the poem at least 10 lines long. Go wild! 

Adrian Dallas Frandle (he/they) is a poet, editor, educator, & former chef. “Book of Extraction: Poems with Teeth” was published in 2023 by Kith Books. Recent work featured in Poet Lore, Honey Literary, HAD and elsewhere. Adrian also pens a monthly poetry column for the local paper The Stratford Crier. Read more at adriandallas.com