April 28, 2022
Writing Exercise
Life as an Inanimate ObjectThis writing activity focuses on the personification of inanimate objects. The following piece identifies what objects without speech abilities would say if they could talk.
River: I supply water to the Earth and all of its creation, fertilizing land, hydrating the land creatures, and giving refuge to the fish. I am sacred to the world in all three of my forms, and I have lasted for billions of years. I am loud, but also silent, because I feel ill more often these days. I have been accumulating strange foam and goo, peculiar foods of peculiar tastes. As for the fish who reside within me, illness is rampant. I do not know how much more of this I can handle.Tree: I give unconditional refuge to the critters who live within me. Squirrels and birds create their homes on me, and I have no problem with that at all. I am honored to share my gifts to Earth’s creation. My fruit is imperishable, and it arrives every year for all creatures who buffet on me. But it has been rather lonely these days. Some of my brothers, sisters, and cousins have been uprooted and killed. I watch in horror as they are dragged away and chopped up into pieces.
—Conner Tuthill