Mark Strand’s prose poem, “An Event About Which No More Need Be Said."

Writing Exercise 1: Inspired by Mark Strand prose poem, “An Event About Which No More Need Be Said.”


An Event About Which No More Need Be Said

I was riding downtown in a cab with a prince who consented to be interviewed, but asked that I not mention him or his country by name. He explained that both exist secretly and their business is carried on in silence. He was tall, had a long nose beneath which was tucked a tiny mustache; he wore a pale-blue shirt open at the neck and cream colored pants. “I have no hobbies,” he explained. “My one interest is sex It can be with a man or a woman, old or young, so long as it produces the desired result, which is to remind me of the odor of white truffles or the taste of candied violets in a locating island. Here, let me show you something.” When I saw it, saw how big it was, and what he’d done with it, I screamed and leaped from the moving cab.”

This writing exercise is inspired by Strand’s prose poem, which comes from his book, Almost Invisible: Poems. The beauty of poetry, and of this poem in particular, is how precise and powerful it is--and how efficient. In eight sentences, Strand’s narrator manages to intrigue us, shock us, and leave us wondering. Who was this prince? Was he really a prince? What exactly did the narrator see? Did the prince expose his penis? Or some other part of his body? What did he do to himself? Did he tattoo his penis? If so, what did the tattoo look like? What happened after the narrator jumped out of the moving cab? Was he hurt? Did he run for his life? And what happened to the prince that night and over time?

Exercise: This poem could also work as the first paragraph of a short story. Please write out the poem  and count the words and the sentences to see how much is packed into one paragraph. Then spend no more than 20 minutes writing out at least one more paragraph to this story. In doing so, try to answer at least one of the following questions (you can also answer some of the questions above):
What did the prince want the narrator to see in the cab?
How did the narrator spend the rest of his night?
How did the prince spend the rest of his night?

Let the reader’s desire to be shocked and scared drive your writing.