Poetry Challenge #269-With No Particular Place to Go
So what is it about those Russian writers of old? Was it something in the ice? the snow? … the vodka?
For example, because it’s his 204th birthday (Nov 9, 1818), let’s consider, Ivan Sergyevitch Turgenev . Ivan came from Russian nobility. He was born in Orel, more than a hundred miles south of Moscow to a family with expectations. After university, he joined the Ministry of the Interior at St. Petersburg, but his passion was writing. Like so many other mothers, his wanted him to make good—and so after he resigned from the Ministry, she cut off his allowance. “See where that gets you?” she thought! And Turgenev did!
He wrote verses, comedies and novels, the first published being “A Sportsman’s Sketches,” which, after Russian sentiments changed cast him under suspicion. An admirer and friend of Dostoevsky, during his time Turgenev was considered among the great living Russian writers and while his writing was “Russian” his style was more Western European in its economy of means and language. “Fathers and Children” and “A House of Gentlefolk” are considered his best work.
Turgenev was an avid hunter who spent much time in the woods.
His poems (like the two below)—more prose poems—ramble along in a conversational tone that gently introduce readers to the scene and allowing events to unfold in a way that mimics an actually ramble through the woods.
Poetry Challenge #269
With No Particular Place to Go
As an homage to Ivan, write a prose poem about a walk you might take on any given day. What might you see along the way?
To lend it a conversational tone, imagine you are narrating the scene as you walk.
Describe it in such a way that readers feel as though they are walking with you.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just. . .
Ramble on! As if you, too —in the midst of an icy Russian winter— had no particular place to go…except where your imagination takes you!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2000+ days ago. Now we take turns creating prompts to share with you. Our hope is that creatives—children & adults—will use our prompts as springboards to word play time. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
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