When I have fears that I may cease to be

This book called Fears of Your Life c/o Mighty Goods reminds me of a writing prompt I learned about in a WITS training.

In the prompt, aimed at middle school and higher grades, students read a poem which is essentially the author's litany of fears, written as graphically and explicitly as possible. (I can't find the poem right now, but will update if I do.)

In conjunction, students either visit or look at prints of Andy Warhol's electric chair prints, some of which are housed in the Menil Collection.

The idea is to face your nightmares head on, write them down on paper where they will cease to be as horrible as they seem in the receases of your mind.

Some examples:

-That I will fall on a sharp stick and piece my eyeball
-That roaches will crawl into my head through my ears
-That a nuclear bomb will hit, and I will watch my skin burning from my bones.

You get the idea.

Not surprisingly, middle school kids LOVE this stuff. Even the reluctant writers, when given permission, could fill pages upon pages of horrible, frightening, sad and often revealing fears.

A "gateway" prompt to other types of writing.

I was not the world's best teacher, but it makes me sad that this information lives in my head and not in classrooms where it might be useful. If you are a teacher who has stumbled upon this page, I recommend calling the WITS people to see if they have any upcoming teacher training. Seriously cool stuff.