What prompts a poem into existence? Dr. Lehman suspects that many poems are byproducts of reading, coming across an arresting line, an interesting image, a noteworthy character, and we think of it as a point of departure.
In The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton writes: “We can’t behave like people in novels, though, can we?”
For this week's prompt, write a symmetrical, two stanza poem under 14 lines, allowing for a duet, if not a dialogue. Or perhaps an unrhymed sonnet?
It’s up to you whether to use Wharton’s line as an epigraph or as a line in your poem—possibly the terminal line of one or both stanzas.
Visit the American Scholar's page to enter your candidate! Deadline: Saturday, November 3, midnight wherever you are.
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