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).