Prompt #53 — Write Like Miguel Morales

In “For Tourists Such As Yourself” (view here), Morales writes about a country without drawing from cultural stereotypes. Instead, he choses to personify the country by giving it human traits drawn from our most basic need for companionship. The speaker’s (Poland) neediness creates an atmosphere of familiarity. Here, Poland, is not a country; here it is a body searching for companionship. The result is a story of an unfulfilled need for company that is created without using the common tropes and clichés of the You, Me, and I characters.

PROMPT

Take a non-human body (water, land, or another form) and personify it. Give it needs and wants. Create an image of this body in your mind and dance around it with narrative or dialog—show readers images of the body’s desires or perspective without spelling out the full picture.