Power Prompts

Nov. 16, my 68th journey around the sun begins today. Yesterday, Food and Wine magazine arrived and it sort of flopped open to a fold out that sent my imagination into overdrive. Look at the power prompts that stimulate sensual thinking and feeling for engaging the imagination for journal writing, even new poems. "Supercharge your senses." "Host a blind tasting" which I alter to, "Host a poetry tasting." "Value vs Splurge" I change to, Duty vs Dessert First. Quote from the Infiniti ad: "Performance measured as much in heart rate as it is in horsepower." I can alter to: Sensual poetry -- performance measured as much in heart rate as in mind power. AD reads: Pick scents for an aroma party ( to compare wine scents with the actual food scent they imitate. I alter it to: Pick scents for an aroma POETRY party. Ad audio ad: An audio experience crafted to reproduce the richness and clarity of a live performance. AND this ad lien prompts me to say: The live performance of the elm tree branches clattering in the autumn breeze; the song of the mother finch heard by the unborn chick inside the egg; the hum of mother to the child in the placenta, oh the music of the world, my toes talking to themselves, . . . see what I mean? open any magazine, or the newspaper, and you will see ad lines and head lines that if you alter a word, can stimulate writing that can be a fun exercise, or even lead to a poem. Exercise writing? yes, athletes lift weights all week long, but not out on the playing field. Poets lift up pens and perform exercise writing, so that when the poem arrives, we have the language skills to score with. Cheers. Oh, by the way, I made a poetry house call, with Mary, on Sunday, to a friend's home, as he was hosting a book reading group, and had a marvelous time sharing poems, and delicious food, and very stimulating conversations. You poets out there, try making a poetry house call, and you poetry aficionados, host a poet in your home with a poetry house party. Cheers. Ciletti