Green Linden Press

If the Prompt Could Talk                                                                                     —Teré Fowler-Chapman


What's the point of a prompt?
How do you finish a sentence?
When sentences grow up do they want to be paragraphs?
How many pair(of)graphs does it take to kill a man?
How many men does it take to kill a statistic?
How many statistics does it take to dismantle a stereotype?
Hey. DJ. Can you please flip this stereo's type of noise to sound like change?
Is change somewhere dreaming of better days?
Do days dream of weeks?
Are weeks afraid of months?
Is a month's biggest fear becoming a year?
What's a year to a century?
What's a century to a poem?
How many poems are mistaken for poets?
How many poets are mistaken for guns?
How many guns are empty pockets?
                            are the ghost of gods?
                            are planted on folks like flower on tombstone?
                            are pulled on a daily?
                            are the response to rage lodged in a silent throat?
                            are brown?
                            are black?
How many guns to kill a nation?
How many nations to create one love?
How many nations to create one love?
How many nations to create one love?