Hope & Despair

Write “hope” and “despair” at the tops of two sheets of paper–one word per sheet. Under each, list and/or free-write anything you associate with that term, or which you feel could be used to thematically represent it. Try to fill each sheet completely without stopping. When you’re done, look through both sheets and try to find one item, thought, or image from each that particularly appeals to you or strikes you. Work both of these into a single piece of work: a short story, a poem, a piece of artwork, a journal entry, an essay, or an article. Try to contrast them in some way, or use them to offset each other.