‘Instructions to the Lemon Grass Artist’ by Chrissy Williams and a new writing prompt from Ben Rogers

Today’s poem charts the surreal and incredible adventures of some Lemon Grass voyaging into space.  Additionally though, the poem in itself is in a kind of transit, being a set of “instructions” for an unseen artist to convert the words into visual form, supplemented by textual captions given in capital letters.

At Poetry in Aldeburgh: Chrissy Williams is reading as part of ‘Four Poets read Four Poems each’ alongside Anna Selby, Edward Doegar and Richard Scott on Saturday 5th November from 830pm-10pm in the Peter Pears Gallery.

Instructions to the Lemon Grass Artist

1.
One Lemon Grass whispers a word in a field of Lemon Grass.
TEXT: LEMONGRASS.

2.
The Lemon Grass all take off into the sky at speed and we see some leaving the atmosphere.
TEXT: LEMONGRASS CANNOT STAY.

3.
All the Lemon Grass glide through space, stars, celestial events.
TEXT: LEMONGRASS IS AFRAID OF THE DARK

4.
The stars fade away.  The other Lemon Grass start to fade away.
NO TEXT

5.
Lemon Grass is alone in the dark infinite cosmos.
NO TEXT

6.
Lemon Grass undergoes a transformation.  Its stalk splinters from the tip to form new stars.
NO TEXT

7.
Lemon Grass is a thousand stars seen by day, a lit sky, a light formed of many lights.
TEXT: STARDUST

8.
Lemon Grass returns to its initial state and prepares to whisper a word.
TEXT: LEMONGRASS

from Flying into the Bear (Happenstance, 2013)

Writing Prompt: Strange New Worlds
The famous introductory narration to the TV series Star Trek refers to the mission of the starship Enterprise: “to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.”  Meanwhile, the video game No Man’s Sky (2016) allows a player to explore 18.6 quintillion planets, each including their own procedurally generated flora and fauna.

Today’s exercise is to create a poem set on a different planet and to provide a glimpse of “new life and new civilizations”.  You do not need to show or announce that it is set on a different planet, but this should be your intention as you write the poem.  This imagined planet could be significantly different to ours, or it could explore a world where such variations are subtle.  The concept of convergent evolution, in which another planet has a similar environment and ecosystem and thereby has a civilization that largely mirrors our own, allows for a new world where anything could happen but many things are the same.  A neat plot device, and one employed in many a Star Trek episode.