The Time Is Now

In the film Obsession, directed by Curry Barker, protagonist and hopeless romantic Bear finds a supernatural toy that grants his wish for his friend Nikki to fall madly in love with him. The consequences of his wish are soon revealed when Nikki becomes terrifyingly attached and devoted to him, and it becomes harder to decipher her true self. Write a short story from the point of view of someone under a love spell. Show the process of your character transforming as they grow deeper in their fixation. You might explore the darker facets of this obsession and loss of autonomy through an internal monologue. How can you incorporate glimpses of reality within a story told behind rose-tinted glasses?

In a recent installment of our Ten Questions series, Maya C. Popa talks about how her palindrome poem “One Way or Another” became the opening poem of her collection If You Love That Lady (Norton, 2026) and the first one she remembers writing for it. “Its back-and-forth, snake-swallowing-its-own-tail quality would end up being emblematic of both those years and my experience assembling the manuscript,” she says. This week, write a palindrome poem in which the last half mirrors the first half. You may choose to adhere strictly to a set of lines, reversing the order halfway through the piece with no alterations, or choose to divert from this structure while keeping the halves of the poem a reflection, be it structural or figurative. How might symmetry serve as an embodiment of your poem’s themes?

“My essay on tigers started with the question of whether Blake, when he wrote ‘The Tyger,’ had ever seen a real tiger,” says Eliot Weinberger in an interview by Srikanth Reddy for the Paris Review’s “Art of the Essay” series. “That got me looking into the mythology and image of the tiger in the West.” Stemming from a deceptively simple question, Weinberger’s celebrated essay “Paper Tigers” investigates the complex history of tiger iconography and fascination with the wild animal. Write an essay that begins with a simple question and draws from a piece of mythos, whether cultural or private, that is present in your life. What associations and symbolisms does your subject conjure for you?

Sophie Kemp’s absurdist novel Paradise Logic (Simon & Schuster, 2025) follows a young woman who seeks everlasting devotion from her boyfriend and embarks on a mission to become the best girlfriend of all time. In an interview published in Columbia University’s the Blue and White, Kemp talks about drawing inspiration from one of Nobel Prize–winning author Kazuo Ishiguro’s books. “The Remains of the Day is about a guy who wants to be the greatest butler of all time,” she says. “And I was like, oh, it’s going to be like that.” Write a short story in which your main character is trying to become the absolute best in their field or pursuit. What insights can this monomania give to your character’s psychology? Is the grandiose fixation noble, deluded, ill-fated, successful, or perhaps somewhere in-between?

“I am waiting / for the meek to be blessed / and inherit the earth / without taxes / and I am waiting / for forests and animals / to reclaim the earth as theirs,” writes the late Lawrence Ferlinghetti in his poem “I Am Waiting,” which appears in his 1958 collection A Coney Island of the Mind. The speaker presents a long, meandering list of things they are waiting for, many of which are related to social, cultural, and political change and reveal a snapshot of activist concerns of the time. “I am waiting / for a way to be devised / to destroy all nationalisms / without killing anybody.” Write a poem that lists what you are awaiting, perhaps reflecting on current issues, both national and international. You may even want to reference characters from your favorite works of literature, as Ferlinghetti does with Tom Sawyer, Aphrodite, and others.

In “The Revenge of the Philosophy Majors,” a recent article published in the New York Times, Benjamin Wallace writes about philosophy scholars who have found themselves high in demand in the burgeoning field of AI ethics and this growing trend of hiring philosophers with AI training. “One of humanity’s oldest disciplines and one of its newest inventions feel distinctly made for each other,” writes Wallace. “A.I. presents a fresh way for philosophers to ask ancient questions...of truth and belief and knowledge (epistemologists); of reasoning (logicians); of mind and consciousness (philosophers of mind and consciousness).” Write a personal essay that explores your own ideas about the potential benefits and detriments of the increasing presence of artificial intelligence in all aspects of life. What ethical or moral issues come to mind when you reflect on how we should interact with AI?

In the animated Pixar film Hoppers, directed by Daniel Chong, college student and nature lover Mabel Tanaka transfers her consciousness into a robotic beaver to uncover mysteries within the animal kingdom. With the ability to understand and communicate with animals, she discovers the realities of the food chain and learns about the interconnectedness of natural ecosystems, and what happens when that delicate balance is disrupted. Write a short story that revolves around an unexpected incident or occurrence that presents your main character with a newfound realization about how the human world is inextricably connected to the nonhuman animal kingdom. You might incorporate a sci-fi element that allows your protagonist profound insight into how animals think and relate to one another, and to human beings.

Often taboos are associated with societal issues around relationships, death, food, and religious customs, but there are less consequential social norms that deem specific styles and fashion decisions verboten. One of the latest being debated—wearing socks with sandals, a look that has been considered tacky in the past but has been appearing regularly in high fashion. This week, think of a few stylistic choices that are personal no-nos or that simply seem illogical to you, such as pairing certain colors and patterns, or bringing back old trends. Compose a humorous poem that reflects on your predilections and aversions when it comes to personal style, considering how you align or rebel against convention. How can you experiment with language around color and texture, sound and rhythm, to create verse that marries humor and lyricism?

In the film Project Hail Mary, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and adapted from Andy Weir’s 2021 novel of the same name, a science teacher is sent aboard an interstellar spacecraft to investigate a star that may hold the key to fight off a celestial parasite damaging the sun and threatening mass extinction on Earth. As the sole survivor of the three-man crew, he must attempt a “Hail Mary,” a last-ditch effort to save humanity. Think about a time in your past when you attempted a Hail Mary, whether in a sporting game, in an interpersonal relationship, or in the context of a relatively mundane task. Write a personal essay that tells the story before, during, and after your efforts. At what point did you decide that there was nothing left to lose, and that the only solution was to throw caution to the wind with a long shot?

Scientific studies on vision have demonstrated that rates of myopia, or shortsightedness, have been rising, to the extent that within the next twenty-five years, half of the population of the world will be myopic. While there are genetic reasons for this, a recent article published in BBC Science Focus magazine reports that environmental factors are playing a part, including people spending less time outdoors in the sun with diverse, visually rich stimulation, and more time indoors staring at screens and digital devices close-up and surrounded by “straight lines and monochrome walls.” Write a short story that takes place somewhere along this spectrum of technology affecting human evolution. Are there characteristics besides eyesight that are worsening?