"Just Me and the Storm"
Year-end writing prompts
West toward the storm cloud, an “anvil burst forth ahead of me,” storm chaser Roger E. said in an interview.1 A broad thunderhead broke loose across the Texan sky, his weather forecast becoming real before his eyes. “That’s the moment I think, ‘My forecast worked!’” he said. “Now it’s just me and the storm.”
For Roger, it’s not just the impressive nature of a storm unfolding that calls him to the chase. He finds great satisfaction in seeing his thunderous predictions “come true.”
You’re reading Varnish, a new series for poets and writers. Every month, I bring you a fascinating trove of stories, facts, and prompts to inspire you the next time you sit down to write.
Some chasers head toward a storm with the hope of documenting it. Others note a larger spiritual connection with nature. “There’s something mystical about watching distant thunderheads flicker with lightning once night falls,” Matthew Cappucci, a senior meteorologist, wrote in the Washington Post. “It’s like the clouds are communicating through a primal tellurian language.”
Most tornadoes are late risers. Enlivened by the day’s heat, they begin their afternoon choreography with a whip and swirl of dust up into the air. One user on Reddit describes the “awe of watching a twisting column of dust, air, and cloud” as it surpasses the size of a mountain.2
For today’s prompts, pursue a storm.
What storm have you predicted?
Write a poem inspired by the line: Now it’s just me and the storm.
How do you plan for a storm? Write a practical guide.
Describe a thunderstorm as a person. As poet Patricia Smith wrote, Every woman begins as weather.
A glass sculpture is created when lightning strikes sand, called a fulgurite. Write about a lightning strike creating something.
Inspired by “To Hold” by Li-Young Lee:
Continue the lines: So often, fear has led me to…
One day we’ll…
Mirror the poem’s structure. Make a list of things you do every day—and a second list of bolder, broader statements. Then splice them together and see how they sound. Play with the order of the lines.
Jar of quotes
“Carlton’s face, surrounded by snow and marble, is lit. His eyes are bright as neon. Something in them tells me he can see the future, a ghost that hovers over everybody’s heads. In Carlton’s future we all get released from our jobs and schooling. Awaiting us all, and soon, is a bright, perfect simplicity. A life among the trees by the river.”
—excerpt from the short story “White Angel” by Michael Cunningham
“It was there I discovered a very old snapping turtle. […] One morning he climbed slowly from the pond’s shallow edge and stopped just a few feet from me. I sat on a rock clutching my red plaid school bag, mesmerized. He was massive, with ancient eyes, surely a king. We communed just as I had with my siblings in our telepathic play. I entered his world, though I could hardly say where we went. It seemed to last only a few moments, but when I arrived at school, my teacher was very angry; it was lunchtime, I had been gone all morning.”
—from the memoir “Bread of Angels” by Patti Smith
“…and I, in my infinitesimal life, will,
at least for tonight, keep these lovely atoms
before I must return them to the stars.”
—from the poem “Mammogram Callback with Ultrasound” by Ellen Bass
Across the web
Dresses spun from glass? (Smithsonian)
“in lieu of a poem, i’d like to say” (Writing prompt from the Loft Literary Center)
Ships buried underneath San Francisco. (National Park Service)
This was a delight to read! And look! Some prompts...
Jayne, I love this post! SO great. And so many ideas already swirling.