This week’s prompt comes from Bina Ruchi Perino, a Dorchester resident and MFA candidate at Emerson College. Bina writes:
Valentine’s Day was on Sunday, and we typically understand this holiday as a celebration of romantic love and affection. But affection isn’t just exclusive to romance. In this time, it can also be important to remember all of the people (or things) in our lives which we love, cherish, and display affection for in varying ways. All love is worth celebrating, whether its platonic, familial, communal, or even self-love.
Here’s the prompt: Think about the all of the warmth in your life and write a sonnet (the classic form for love poetry) about it!
One good example of communal love in a sonnet is Claude McKay’s “America.” Another sonnet, which revolves around the love of art, is Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “On Hearing A Symphony of Beethoven.”
Try to avoid the romantic, and focus on all of the other things you love or that fill you with love.
What is a sonnet? How do you write one? The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. offers this primer. Or, take a sonnet deep dive on the Academy of American Poets website.
As always, Write on the DOT invites anyone who participates in the #DotWrite21 prompts to share their work. Tag us on social media, or email us at dotreadingseries@gmail.com for the chance to be featured on our blog.
Write on!
Write on the DOT 