| No. 1 | Reference to falling. |
| No. 2 | Reference to walls tumbling down or being broken through. |
| No. 3 | Eyes as location, e.g. “In your eyes.” |
| No. 4 | Eyes or other physical features as capable of speech, e.g. “Your eyes told me.” |
| No. 5 | Arms as location. |
| No. 6 | Reference to specific clothing, e.g. “That dress I like” or “You had your blue jeans on.” 1 |
| No. 7 | Reference to a touch, kiss, or smile. |
| No. 8 | Reference to the desirability of another’s body or specific body part. |
| No. 9 | Reference to lovemaking. 2 |
| No. 10 | Testament to truth or reality. |
| No. 11 | Reference to being shown something by another. |
| No. 12 | Reference to the arrival of an answer. |
| No. 13 | Reference to divine intervention and/or fate. |
| No. 14 | Reference to general consensus, e.g. “So they say.” |
| No. 15 | Admission of not knowing something previously, e.g. “Now I see.” |
| No. 16 | Admission of not knowing something presently. |
| No. 17 | Acknowledgment of something’s longstanding existence, e.g. “All along.” 3 |
| No. 18 | Declaration of never having felt something before. 4 |
| No. 19 | Admission of helplessness, e.g. “I tried but I couldn’t look away.” |
| No. 20 | Nighttime as setting. 5 |
| No. 21 | Solitude as setting. 6 |
| No. 22 | Togetherness as setting. |
| No. 23 | Reference to another being unlike anyone else. |
| No. 24 | Reference to a time period previous to having met another. |
| No. 25 | Reference to a future extensive time period, e.g. “Until the end of time,” or “For the rest of my life.” |
| No. 26 | Reference to considerable change, e.g. “Everything is different now” or “Life has just begun.” |
| No. 27 | Reference to salvation and/or rescue. |
| No. 28 | Declaration of something/everything being done in another’s honor, e.g. “It’s all for you.” |
| No. 29 | Declaration of amorous feelings in regard to depth, volume, and/or metaphor/simile, e.g. “As deep as the ocean” or “You fill my heart.” |
| No. 30 | Admission of need. |
| No. 31 | Declaration of another being the only thing one needs. |
| No. 32 | Declaration of being made for another. |
| No. 33 | Declaration of disinterest in consequence or public opinion, e.g. “I don’t care anymore” or “No matter what they say.” |
| No. 34 | Reference to the things one would do for another. |
| No. 35 | Reference to what outside persons cannot or would not do for another. |
| No. 36 | Comparison of outside persons’ actions or capacities to those of one’s self, e.g. “Like I do” or “They don’t know you the way I do.” 7 |
| No. 37 | Declaration of not giving in or fighting. |
| No. 38 | Declaration of giving in or not fighting. |
| No. 39 | Declaration of unstoppability. 8 |
| No. 40 | Promise of never leaving and/or declaration of trustworthiness, e.g. “I’ll stand by you” or “You can count on me.” |
| No. 41 | Declaration of steadfast amorous feelings, e.g. “Love is here to stay.” |
| No. 42 | Assurance that fear is unnecessary. |
| No. 43 | Reference to another’s absence. |
| No. 44 | Reference to a relationship forbidden or star-crossed. |
| No. 45 | Declaration of wanting to leave a lover for another. |
| No. 46 | Declaration of wanting another to leave a lover for one’s self. |
| No. 47 | Admission of foolishness. |
| No. 48 | Reference to one’s own wrongdoing, e.g. “I should have treated you kind.” |
| No. 49 | Knees as location, e.g. “You’ve got me on my knees.” |
| No. 50 | Declaration of a lackluster life experience without another, e.g. “Skies are gray without him.” |
| No. 51 | Declaration of improbable survival without another. |
| No. 52 | Plea for forgiveness. |
| No. 53 | Plea for another to believe in one’s self. |
| No. 54 | Plea to not be left, e.g. “I’m begging you to stay.” |
| No. 55 | Plea to be taken back. |
1 Reference to plain or dress-down attire can convey authenticity of feeling, e.g. “A ponytail and no makeup” or “Just a t-shirt on.”
2 Also declaration of future lovemaking, e.g. “The things I’m going to do to you.”
3 Pairs well with Prompt No. 15.
4 Also vague reference to another’s effect on one’s self, such as “What you do to me” or “The way you make me feel.”
5 Late night specification can create a dark, desperate atmosphere, and a request or wish for “One more night” can indicate wistful realism.
6 Pairs well with Prompt No. 20.
7 Disdain for outside persons may add further conflict and tension.
8 Can refer to a person, persons, or a feeling.
Amanda Bloom has work published or forthcoming in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, matchbook, Narratively, The Cardiff Review, and elsewhere. She was a 2017 Pushcart Prize nominee and a finalist in the 2018 Iowa Review Awards, and she received a Connecticut Artist Emerging Recognition Award for fiction in 2018. She is a fiction editor at the New Haven Review.
image: John William Waterhouse, Dante and Beatrice, 1915