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Poetry Prompt: It’s the Setting

By Callie Feyen 1 Comment

crow setting

Set the Setting

On a rainy October evening, I went out looking to buy a raincoat. I left at twilight, when the world was blue-gray, and since it was raining and humid, a thick mist rolled across the roads. Leaves on the trees were still mostly dark green though some had turned, and as I drove I was startled by their crimson that punctured the deepening gray of the night.

I didn’t find a raincoat, though I did leave with a pair of 501 straight leg Levis for $13 and a skirt with a bow for $15, and I was pleased with myself as I walked to my car. By then the night had settled into its darkness, and the water on the street added a slickness to the night so that the lights overhead slipped and shook.

Just as I opened the car door, I felt my phone buzz, its steady pulse alerting me that this was a phone call. It was Hadley.

“Mom, you need to come home,” she said.

“What’s up?” I asked, locking the car door and turning on the car.

“A few minutes ago, Corby came inside drooling and with red eyes and our house smells really bad.”

SKUNK.

“I’ll be home soon,” I said.

I don’t know if I can describe the smell of skunk. Perhaps it’s best to describe what the smell does. It stings. It suffocates. It swallowed our home whole, but that wasn’t enough, so it slithered out the front door and met me on the driveway where, upon confronting it with my own nostrils, I stumbled forward when every part of my being screamed, “GET BACK IN THE CAR!”

I made my way through what I can only describe as thick, invisible fog. Just because something can’t be reached out and touched does not mean the thing doesn’t leave its mark. It made its presence known and kicked everyone out of the house. I found my family outside on our backyard deck. My girls were sitting on the table looking at their phones and once they saw me, simultaneously began reading off facts about what to do when a dog has been sprayed by a skunk. Jesse had a headlamp on and was spraying Corby with a hose. Every dog cleaning product we own was scattered on the deck. For a moment, all I heard was the splatter of water as it landed on the deck’s floor and the rush of wind in the leaves. I looked up and remembered the red leaves from earlier — their marks like wounds to the trees.

For the next two hours we cleaned, scrubbed, and did our best to rid our home of the silent invader that did its best to end us. By midnight every candle we owned was lit, every window was open, every fan we had was pointed outside to suck the air from our house and gasp it back outside. Corby was curled up on the couch next to Jesse, and I was sitting outside listening to the crickets and the frogs and thinking of all that is unseen and yet leaves its mark — imprinted — like a scar I’m not sure I want to heal.

Try It

This week focus on setting in your poetry. What does it do? What mood does it create? How can you write it so your reader has some emotional stakes in your poem?

Photo by The Crow, Jennifer C.Creative Commons via Flickr. Post by Callie Feyen.

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Callie Feyen
Callie Feyen
Callie Feyen likes Converse tennis shoes and colorful high heels, reading the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the Twilight series. Her favorite outfit has always been a well-worn pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, but she wants hoop skirts with loads of tulle to come back into style. Her favorite line from literature comes from Sharon Creech’s Absolutely Normal Chaos: “I don’t know who I am yet. I’m still waiting to find out.” Feyen has served as the At-Risk Literacy Specialist in the Ypsilanti Public Schools and is the author of Twirl: my life with stories, writing & clothes and The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet.
Callie Feyen
Latest posts by Callie Feyen (see all)
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Filed Under: Blog, Poems, poetry, poetry prompt, poetry teaching resources, writer's group resources, writing prompts

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About Callie Feyen

Callie Feyen likes Converse tennis shoes and colorful high heels, reading the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the Twilight series. Her favorite outfit has always been a well-worn pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, but she wants hoop skirts with loads of tulle to come back into style. Her favorite line from literature comes from Sharon Creech’s Absolutely Normal Chaos: “I don’t know who I am yet. I’m still waiting to find out.” Feyen has served as the At-Risk Literacy Specialist in the Ypsilanti Public Schools and is the author of Twirl: my life with stories, writing & clothes and The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet.

Comments

  1. Rick Maxson says

    October 14, 2021 at 10:16 am

    Great story, Callie. Working on a farm one summer I got into an old Chevy pickup truck and spooked a skunk. It was all over me. Mrs. Wittington put me and my clothes in a bathtub with hot water and a lot of tomato puree and told me to wash in that. It got rid of most of the smell. As for the truck it took a while longer , even after getting washed down inside and out.

    Reply

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