Prompt #42 — Write Like Michael K. Meyers

Meyers’s piece (view here) presents a character—Mr. Ragman—who is entirely figment. Readers do not get his actual name, his actual age, or any concrete details about him; even his movements are “like a shadow.” Everything uttered about him is speculation, and these hypotheses reveal much more about their speakers than about Mr. Ragman. In this, the piece resembles works such as Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot, in which the title character never actually appears but remains a specter, or, at best, an unfulfilled promise.

PROMPT

Write a piece in which the subject does not appear except through the descriptions offered by other characters. Let the comments these characters make reveal their own biases and prejudices, both about the subject and on other topics, including each other. Try to craft this piece in a way which readers are able to understand the reasons for the speakers’ choices, even if they are not stated explicitly.