Writing Prompt: Pentimento
Visual inspiration + mental exercise to start your writing week
Against the surface, time blurs like an echo, shadow of mind.
Metaphortography Prompts are free visual and verbal writing prompts for inspiration and reflection. Thank you to everyone who participated in last week’s survey about the frequency of these posts. The results were evenly tied between those who’d like to continue the weekly schedule and those who’d prefer to see them less often, so I’m going to post prompts every other week going forward. Remember, there’s a rich archive now of these prompts, available anytime to paid subscribers here:
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PENTIMENTO
The past bleeds through. Reflections in a wedge of glass, texture of palms within a wall raises a long ago trip to the beach. First dip in the Pacific, not Long Island Sound anymore. Against the surface, time blurs echo-ish, shadow of mind. A child again, eagerly wetting her chubby waist when the breaker rolls, pulling and heaving, cyclonic fist. Yanks her feet out from under, tumbles her like a rock. Blur of green blue flashing panic, fight or surrender, water and grit scouring skin upside down and whirling brine, burning up in your nose. Deadly, this thing that catches you gasping. Air and light a universe high above the wave. All the life you need now suddenly far out of reach. Never have I felt so alone.
PENTIMENTO: Italian, literally, repentance, correction, from pentire to repent
: a reappearance in a painting of an original drawn or painted element which was eventually painted over by the artist
Here is your writing prompt:
After contemplating the image above, go on a pentimento hunt. Look for reflections, dents in a note pad, textures in paint, dust smudges, patterns in the leaves or clouds— any impression that brings buried memories to the surface.
When you find the raised image, pause to record it in a sketch, photograph, or note. Then let the memory marinate for a few minutes or hours. Once it’s come back to you in full, write the memory in a detailed scene, poem, or vignette. Include indications of the following “stamps”:
Time: What’s the era of this memory, and how old were you?
Geography: Where did it take place, and what sensory details mark the location?
Action: What happened, what were you doing, and why? Concrete details, please!
Emotion: What were you feeling, and how were you expressing or handling those emotions?
Meaning: What was it about the pentimento that raised this memory, and what associations are coming up for you as you reconstruct it? What does it tell you about yourself or your past? Why do you think you’ve held onto it, beneath the surface, until now?
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Friday, April 3 at 11 am PT
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