Ships and boats, clocks, bird cages, Black dolls, antlers, and masks. Artist Betye Saar, who passed away last month at the age of ninety-nine, was renowned for her assemblage works created with found objects that she gathered in her studio over the course of decades, objects she used to explore social issues of racism, stereotypes, femininity, and spirituality. “I’ve always felt that old objects hold a power,” Saar stated in a 2024 New York Times interview. “They’ve survived, and they have a sense of the previous owner. They have a spirit.” What objects have you collected over the years? Jot down a list of old objects, perhaps the types of everyday items you might find at a garage sale or antique collectibles shop. Then, write a lyric essay with short reflections, experimenting with how to put the objects in play with one another thematically when you consider their spirit and who owned them previously.

A plane delay, whether of fifteen minutes or five hours, can set off an unexpected series of consequences as travelers often have plans with people awaiting them upon arrival at the other end. It may involve gatherings with family and friends, business meetings, vacation activities, restaurant reservations, show tickets, or connecting flights to catch. This week, write a short story that launches with a character experiencing a short or long flight delay, unfurling a chain reaction that affects an important relationship in their life. You might choose to stay with one character throughout the entirety of the story or cobble together a narrative that weaves together the stories of multiple characters affected by the fallout of the same delayed flight. How do differing characters’ responses reveal something about their personality and priorities?

“Down valley a smoke haze / Three days heat, after five days rain,” writes Gary Snyder in his poem “Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout,” first published in his 1959 collection Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems, as the speaker looks out from a mountaintop to describe the scene below before briefly moving on. In the second stanza, more interiority is revealed: “I cannot remember things I once read / A few friends, but they are in cities….” Inspired by Snyder’s verse, write a short poem consisting of two five-line stanzas about a memorable mid-August from your life. Start with a few evocative details that paint a picture of the scene, including what this particular moment looks, feels, sounds, and smells like. In your second stanza, allow your mind to wander toward more philosophical or existential musings.

In her 2024 memoir, I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself: One Woman’s Pursuit of Pleasure in Paris, published by Penguin Life, Glynnis MacNicol lists the items in her suitcase when packing to live in Paris for a year and reveals that Joan Didion was a source of inspiration. “In The White Album, Joan Didion famously wrote down her packing list, radical at the time—Tampax!— and revealing in its intimacy and simplicity,” writes MacNicol. “As a storytelling device, it was admirable in what it told the reader about the writer, about her life, and about what it meant to be a woman in the world, without seeming to say much.” Write a personal essay anchored by a list of your belongings—whether it be from a suitcase, grocery tote, or any other bag. Consider using certain items as entry points into memories and experiences, using them like pieces of a portrait, each adding another layer to you in that moment.