By K.G. Strayer

This prompt is designed to help you form new drafts out of old work. 

First, take the time to dive back into old writing that may or may not have been shaped into a finished piece. Try not to become too invested in any of the works, simply read through them like you’re walking through the rooms of a house in which you used to live. 

Consider these drafts as you shuffle your deck. Some lines and moments may stand out in your memory more immediately than others. Draw two cards and lay them in the spread vertically next to one another, with space in between. 

Shuffle the deck again, drawing two more cards. Lay them horizontally, one above the other, in between the two cards you have already drawn. 

The two cards on the outside of the spread represent the two pieces with which you will be working. Ideally, they should come from two different writing sessions. Let the cards intuitively lead you back to your pile of drafts to discover which pieces will yield something new today. 

The cards in between will determine how you shape these two drafts together into one piece. The top card represents something hovering above the works that led you to put them together, despite originating as two different drafts. What do they have in common? What unites them in the creation of a new poem?

The bottom card represents something beneath the two poems that is not yet being said. How will you bring these elements into a new piece? You might use direct language from the old pieces, or be inspired to start something completely new. The world created between them is entirely up to you.