Vox Populi
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Maryfrances Wagner: Prompt
I ask my students to write a secret on a slip of paper. Anything someone might consider a secret. We’ll get ideas for your next story. Stacey tilts her head to think. Brandon looks down at his desk. Here is a box, I say, to put them in. Can we make some up? Of course. I expect you to make them up. Can it be someone else’s secret? Yes. Here is my secret. I fold and toss it in the box. Will it still be a secret if we write a real one? Perhaps. Someone might guess which are true. Do we have to read our own? No. The box becomes a folded flurry. You can add more tomorrow. What if we want to tell a real secret? Fine. Don’t tell me if your secret’s true. I’d be obligated to tell. Can we read a few today? Yes. My mother is really my sister. My cousin’s in prison, not away at college. I am not a citizen. My dad is cheating on my mom. My mom’s boyfriend raped my sister. That’s enough for today.
Maryfrances Wagner, a retired high school English teacher, is the state of Missouri's sixth poet laureate. Her collections of poetry include The Immigrants' New Camera (Spartan Press, 2018).
Vox Populi 
Thanks to all of you who related to this poem in some way.
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