{"id":513,"date":"2009-12-11T15:47:23","date_gmt":"2009-12-11T20:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lanternreview.com\/blog\/?p=513"},"modified":"2009-12-11T15:49:45","modified_gmt":"2009-12-11T20:49:45","slug":"weekly-prompts-questions-without-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lanternreview.com\/blog\/2009\/12\/11\/weekly-prompts-questions-without-answers\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Prompt: “Questions Without Answers”"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week’s prompt is adapted from a writing exercise in <\/em>Poetry Everywhere: Teaching Poetry Writing in School and in the Community<\/em><\/a> (T&W Collaborative, 2005), a writing handbook now on sale on the Teachers & Writers Collaborative <\/em>website<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Poetry
Poetry Everywhere by Jack Collum and Sheryl Noethe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What happens when we die? \u00a0Where do noises go? \u00a0How far is far? \u00a0These types of questions without answers are the focus of today’s writing prompt. \u00a0According to Collum and Noethe, an unanswerable question is one that causes the mind to “kee[p] on seeking.” Don’t lose sight of this objective! \u00a0Allow each question to lead to the next without bothering to consider an answer. \u00a0Resist the impulse to know it all.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

As it may take a while to get your mind into “seeking” mode, begin with a few practice questions. \u00a0Let your thoughts wander. \u00a0Stare out the window… \u00a0Where do birds sleep at night? \u00a0How do they recognize their family members? \u00a0Do baby birds ever find their fathers? \u00a0Would they want to? \u00a0How tall do pine trees grow? \u00a0How long would it take for one to grow into outer space? \u00a0Unfetter your mind: no question is too whimsical for this exercise.<\/p>\n

If, in your freewrite, you find your questions circling around a particular person, or incident in the past, begin to consider more serious questions. \u00a0Introduce a cultural or historic overlay to your inquiry. \u00a0Consider the fact that much of Asian American poetry emerges from unanswerable questions of transculturation and history, and that these, like all good questions, must be constantly (re)negotiated because they lack simple answers.<\/p>\n

This exercise is designed not so much to produce polished verse, but to move you into a mind space in which no question is ‘unaskable.’ \u00a0A single question such as “What secrets did you parents keep from you as a child?” can give rise to a thousand others, which may guide you into totally new poetic territory. \u00a0As you might imagine, the result can be both wonderful and terrifying.<\/p>\n

If you have one or two questions without answers (on any topic, really), please consider posting them here. We look forward to reading your comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week’s prompt is adapted from a writing exercise in Poetry Everywhere: Teaching Poetry Writing in School and in the Community (T&W Collaborative, 2005), a writing handbook now on sale on the Teachers & Writers Collaborative website. What happens when we die? \u00a0Where do noises go? \u00a0How far is far? \u00a0These types of questions without […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[131,132,128],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lanternreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lanternreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lanternreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lanternreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lanternreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.lanternreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":523,"href":"https:\/\/www.lanternreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions\/523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lanternreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lanternreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lanternreview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}