WRITING PROMPTS TO BENEFIT CHILDREN IN GAZA
UNICEF reports that in Gaza, “hundreds of thousands of children and families are caught in a catastrophic situation” and that, as of November 7th 2023, over 4200 children have been killed and more than 7000 have been injured “due to unrelenting attacks”, while over 1300 others are missing. Outlining the charity’s Appeal for Children in Gaza, UNICEF spokesman James Elder explains: “Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children. It’s a living hell for everyone else.” Elder has also called for “children held hostage in Gaza [to] be immediately reunited with their families and loved ones”. Recent updates state that “hundreds of thousands of children … remain trapped in a war zone with little or no access to food, water, electricity, medicine or medical care”.
For the duration of NaNoWriMo, we will be posting a writing prompt every day and in doing so, we are hoping to encourage our community to donate to charities providing medical aid to children in desperate need in this unprecedented crisis.
These prompts have been created by writers from Wales or with a connection to Wales and its magazines and presses. The prompts are on all kinds of subjects, but many are related to anti-violence and the work of empathy, and they are offered with the simple hope that they might encourage people to donate in support of medical aid in Gaza. We include a list of suggested charities to donate to below, highlighting the Appeal to Children in Gaza.
UNICEF “continues to call for an immediate ceasefire as 1.1 million people — nearly half of them children — in northern Gaza have been warned to move out of the way of a widescale military assault, but with nowhere safe for them to go”. Elder concludes: “The humanitarian situation has reached lethal lows, and yet all reports point to further attacks. Compassion – and international law – must prevail.”
DAY 13: CATH DRAKE
The anti-consumerism poem
All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume.
Noam Chomsky
What does consumption mean to you? How do we / how should we spend our time and resources in this environmental crisis?
Advertising is everywhere – it pervades our lives. We see 4 000-10 000 ads per day. That’s nearly double the number of ads the average person saw in 2007 and over five times as many ads as the average person saw in the 1970s (US figures, probably similar to other rich countries).
Advertisers want us to think that buying and owning things will make us happier, and more accepted in society, with better social status.
But where do we get real genuine satisfaction and meaning from? What are our true values? What if we simplify our life /needs?But what should we be paying attention to that matters most? Do we get to decide? Where should we look or listen? How do we see beyond the hype of the consumerist money-go-round?
Read this gorgeous Mimi Khalvati sonnet. For me this poem, casts a spell, especially with the metre and rhyme – loving herself, her mum, her skin /aging and the overblown roses. It feels celebratory. Things fruit and die away naturally and there is beauty in all of it.
Write a poem that’s an antidote to consumerism. Where do you find joy that isn’t linked to consumerism / buying more and new? Celebrate something frayed or worn, imperfect or secondhand. Chose something unusual or unconventional that we may not normally associate with beauty and inspiration. Hold it up to the light with reverence, or as Mimi does, twirl it in your hand! See it afresh in detail as if you’ve never really looked at it properly before. Perhaps it’s loaded with memory, character, story. Perhaps it holds renewal and decay. If a metaphor comes, then let it arise on its own. Maybe even try a lyrical sonnet with rhyme like Mimi’s.
Poetry love,
Cath Drake
Please consider donating to a charity providing medical aid in Gaza. We recommend UNICEF’s Appeal for Children in Gaza, but other charities include:
Palestine Children’s Relief Fund
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