I took a writing class last year. The class was about the habit of writing, rather than the craft of writing. As such, it had daily writing prompts and weekly discussions about our writing with various types of exercises to get you writing. One of the class assignments was to bring an inanimate object. I think it was supposed to be something that has special meaning. For my object, I used something that I have on a key chain. It is called a monkey fist.

First, we had to write down descriptive words:

Green, round, lines, ball

Round, hard, small

Clack, whack, but not a snack

Then possibilities of what is it:

Random tool

Strange decoration

A gift from an uncle

Then we had do a blurb of the story of the object:

Monkey Fist

You have symmetry in your shape, like a volleyball.

You are a creation of a beloved uncle. A man who enjoyed creating, and crafting. You are interesting, not because you are useful, but because you are interesting.

Your texture is defined by the way you are tied, and even in tying you have added to the interesting thing you are. As a strange knot, you have no obvious beginning and no obvious end. But there is always a beginning and an end, is there not? Even for you.

Finally, we had to do a ‘review’ of the blurb:

In the Monkey Fist, the author asks the questions you always wanted to ask of an interestingly tied piece of cord. It may be that the answers are there. Or perhaps, you will be stuck in the fist of the authors strange rambles. As the author asks a presumably inanimate object questions about its existence, you may wonder if the author is grasping. The answer to that, can of course be found by reading the grasping, stretching, and tugging questions the author asks the knot, such as “Do you have fingers? You are a fist, after all.” and “Do you hold tight to something, or are you grasping at nothing?” Humor or introspective commentary? You will have to read on to find the answer at the end of the line.