IMOGENE’S PUB CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Keepers of the Ash

A prompt for the dead of winter

Imogene’s Notebook poets & writers, thanks so deeply for your moving poems and stories these last four months. We’ve been honored to receive your words, and can’t wait to share your writing online.

When we receive your poems and stories, our amazing crew of editors spends time with your offerings, and we make sure all is in place.

Our Boost Nomination Pilot Program people review your work, and we’ve been able to get many pieces boosted by the Medium Curation team. Congratulations, writers!

Here’s our new prompt for February through April 1: The Keepers of the Ash.

Recently, the Parasol editors’ team was having a heartfelt talk about loss. We will often begin a conversation, and it will lead us to places we didn’t anticipate. That happened today, and culminated in one of our writers, Kim Kelly Stamp writing a stunning poem following my use of a term “the keepers of the ashes.”

Our team members said, “Oh, that sounds like a great book title!” I thought so too. But then Kim wrote this amazing poem. I’m going to share it at the bottom of this writing prompt.

Kim’s poem, using that phrase to great effect, will lead our writing for this cue

You’ll see when you read her poem. We are inspired and moved by it, and we know you will be too.

So, we’ve decided to invite you to write with us.

Many of you have suffered losses or hardships. With that in mind, what exactly do we mean by The Keepers of the Ash? You may use any of these questions or ideas to guide your writing, or perhaps you’ll think of something different.

• Poets often function as historians and the emotional weathervanes in a family or friend clan: when a loss occurs, you write or process it. Perhaps you are the literal keeper of the ashes, that container or urn kept in the closet, or in charge of delivering it onward.
• Are you someone who has had a loss and could perhaps write a poem about it? Maybe the person you lost was far away, and while you’re not that ‘keeper’ you hold them near. Write the person, conjure them for us and help us know them.
• Something, or someone, existed — but is no longer in earthly form. There is a sense of change. How can you write this transition? Can you make the ghostly, spirit-like, essential come alive for us in some way?
• Fire is often a metaphor for destruction, and rebirth. Think of the phoenix, rising from ashes. How have you changed? How are you flourishing, or not?
• Wildfires of nature or of the heart — think of a fire gone wild. Passion? destruction? Anger?

Here are the guidelines

Your poem must be a minimum of twelve lines. If you decide to write a micro fiction, please don’t go more than 1200 words or so (think three to four minutes, in Medium reading time; two minutes is fine too).

Your piece of writing must incorporate one of these phrases or words

• Keepers of the ash, or any variation, eg. keeper of the ash, keeper of ashes, etc.
• Or simply, you may use ashes or ash

Please write to these topics

Choose at least one topic below, and also choose the topic Imogene, and also the topic ashes. The rest will be up to you.

• poem
• poem on Medium
• poetry
• poetry on medium
• ashes
• fiction
• micro fiction
• Imogene

Format

Please follow our standard formatting. For poetry, make sure you don’t write or edit your poems on the mobile app, as it doesn’t do a good job with spacing, etc. You know that already!

Thanks, and we’re looking forward to your work!

Here’s Kim Kelly Stamp’s beautiful poem to lead us off.