Water writing form

For this month’s prompt, we’re going to be taking the concept of “April showers” and externalizing it into a creative writing form. Though the weather in Seattle has been notably sunny recently, the old proverb still persists! April showers bring May flowers, so let’s work together to water the garden of our poetic mind. As always, prompts are invitations; feel free to follow this as closely or as loosely as you’d like. 

During your day today, keep a constant meditation in the back of your mind. What’s a line of writing you’ve discovered or formulated recently that, for whatever reason, is really sticking with you? It could be something a friend said that really astonished you; it could be a phrase that feels pertinent to your life right now; it could be a line from another work that inspires you gutturally. Whatever it may be, try to identify it by the end of your day. 

Once you’ve snagged onto this line, take a paper or doc and write this line fully at the bottom of the page. This line will be the garden soil that our April shower will vitalize. Above it on the page, consider aspects of your moment that draw you towards this line. For instance, if your garden soil line is “I don’t know where I am”, you could consider your relationship with place, your sense of trajectory in your life, your uncertainties surrounding your identity, and so on. 

Whenever you identify a component of your moment that leads you towards that line, jot it down as a short word or phrase that keys into that component. Grab anything that sparks the creative spirit within you, realistic or otherwise. Whatever feels like it’s guiding you to consider that line, write it. Keep with this until you’ve formed a shower, raining down onto the soil. It might look something like this:

Add on to your showers until the wordfall feels heavy enough. Then, take your step back for the day, and allow those words to invigorate the garden soil overnight.

The next day, look back over your work. Now is your opportunity to take those phrases and ideas and craft a piece out of them. Grab out any that feel the most pertinent – if it’s all of them, use all of them. Then, move into a rearrangement period. How can these words and phrases be realigned to create the most interesting or poignant flow of language? When we build lines around these words and phrases, what patterns can emerge, and what patterns can we intentionally twist? Build out your considerations to create your garden.

Keep with it until you’ve crafted a full piece – and let your original line be the final line of your composition. Now your garden poem has fully bloomed!