03-01-2005, 07:22 PM
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#1 |
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veritas
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Neither here, nor there, nor anywhere.
Posts: 8,538
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Fun Poetry Exercise
In my 'creative writing' poetry class today, my professor instructed this exercise, inspired by Kenneth Koch, that I found quite fun, and thought to share.
First get some paper, a clock, and a writing utensil, and perform the following steps. To encourage sharing your results, I will share mine, just out of curiosity, and, as some of you know, I do not post my own original poetry. Poem #1: Warming Up Write a long string of lines without stopping, and begin each one of the sentences with "I wish . . ." You need not make sense or unify your statements. Time this step for 2 minutes. My examples: I wish I could wish something witty, like an Ambrose Bierce-like prose. I wish in that ether of oceanic space, the gods would at last share the virtue. I wish the simplicity of architecture could somehow transpass its alleged limits in yet another Renassaince. I wish to sleep without the lucidity of a dream, reflecting the blankness of a clear sky. Poem #2: Still Warming Up Write another long string of lines without stopping, and this time begin each line with the word "Once . . ." Time this step for another 2 minutes. My examples: Once a forest grew beyond the limits of nature's man-made bounds as if directed by wind. Once the moon darkened, blending with the bleak sky that swallowed the stars like a gaping mouth eating pinholes. Once I dreamt of paralysis. Once the ground shook, but air remained still, and we shook, breathing the calm wind. Poem #3: Now We're Getting Warmer This time in your line string, begin each line with "Now . . ." for one minute. When done, write another string for an additional minute, beginning with "I remember . . ." lines. My examples: Now the clouds settle near the ground that fog the eyes like smoke rising above burning forests. Now the great below swallow light where fascinating creatures lurk. I remember when the air breathed easily, or, rather, a great air breathed one in. I remember drowning. I remember climbing a tree that I thought reached the heavens, like a natural Tower of Babel. Poem #4: Lying Write a collection of statements, each of which is a lie. Write non-stop for 2 minutes. My examples: I have never told a lie. I was never afraid of water. Tomorrow the sun will not rise, but will set. Yesterday seems equivalent to years ago. I like immodest people. The ocean drops into space at the Mariana Trench. Never has anyone written something influential. Poem #5: Words List eight common concrete (tangible) nouns in one column, and eight corresponding, unrelated active, present-tense verbs in another column, then draw random lines, connecting one noun per every one verb. My example, lined together: Iridescence lands. Fuschia saddens. Literature drowns. Teacup sways. Clouds wander. River glows. Waves drink. Hands evolve. So, how did you do?
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He who despairs over an event is a coward, but he who holds hope for the human condition is a fool. Albert Camus |
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03-02-2005, 07:58 AM
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#2 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: 15 miles or so north of the city of london
Posts: 2,188
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I wish that words could clothe the world with mystery
I wish for blue skies, clean clouds and a nurturing sun I wish that rivers ran through pristine woodland untouched by man I wish that time was not linear for us I wish for harmony in a world of competition I wish that nationality did not entail jingoism I wish this day would bring something better I wish for understanding between the races, the sexes, between us. I wish that we did not always protect our little corners with such bias I wish that our love for family extended beyond those limited boundaries I wish we could find a world to live in, together, with love Once was never enough Once I had a first thought, that which I can no longer recall Once a child went to school, that child was me Once I believed in a self Once the world of knowledge could be known in one mind Once a story became a belief that changed us all, tarnished us. Once we believed in ourselves, in our bodies, in our desires Once is all it takes Once more, once again, those who rise have really fallen Once, and only once, do we live. Now is the time for the telling of stories Now we should reclaim our origins Now the world will listen, will understand. Now and then, I like to just wander through mind passageways Now where was that line I was going to write? Now don’t give me that, you know in your heart what is true, what is false. Now is the now that can never be found, that is always then or what will be. Now I can stop writing. I love everyone The world loves me back manifold The stars were made for my eyes There is a God that cares for me and loves me, and listens to my troubles I would give everything to bring peace into the world. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever met I love you. The mountains outside my window are covered in snow I would unclothe you like a mind unravelling thought And create poetry with the subtle contours of your body I have never felt like this before. I know it is true. It is the greatest truth I know mountain passes plant pain sea-bed ranting waterfall appeasement breasts calling cornfield tramlines sleazy meandering meadowsweet scorn speech campion flowers endowment
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Faith is believing what you know ain't so - Mark Twain The preachers deal with men of straw, as they are men of straw themselves - Henry David Thoreau The way to see faith is to shut the eye of reason - Benjamin Franklin The teaching of the church, theoretically astute, is a lie in practice and a compound of vulgar superstitions and sorcery - Leo Tolstoy |
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03-03-2005, 02:11 AM
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#3 |
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in a blue moon
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i wish i was happy all the time
i wish i had a cat i wish i saw my brother more often i wish i could read every book in the world i wish i could major in history, nursing, math and have time to hang out with my friends and sleep i wish i knew the mysteries of the universe i wish i would lighten up i wish life was like a never ending sun beam once i was an orthopoedic surgeon once i fell in love and never found my way out once you surprised me once we kissed once the moons were blue once fairy tales came true once everyone was chivalrous once i made you cry once you made me laugh once we were the best thing to happen to each other once i had a very very long ivy once my ivy talked to me in a dream once my brain was perforated and i understood things i couldn't imagine now once i fell in love with life and it took an interest in me too now is the time now is forever now doesn't last now stood still now is pretty yet shaded now would be a good time to begin now it is time to stop i remember mom smoking i remember san quentin i remember morris the cat i remember playing hide-and-seek in the sierra nevadas i remember camping i remember the smell of breakfast and campfire smoke i remember the best days of my life i am always kind i am fascinating i have a long attention span i am focused and never go off on tangents i have beautiful penmanship i am politically neutral i rarely crave food i am unselfish i think of others first at all times i don't like to collect sentimental stuff from people i despise felines of all huge and tiny shapes and sizes i don't want others to be happy i could care less if you're my friend keyboard forgives hugs heal pollution despises memories corroborate decisions forsake plant gorges spatulas fly music enlightens Last edited by amuse; 03-03-2005 at 02:13 AM. |
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03-03-2005, 11:27 AM
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#4 |
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veritas
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Neither here, nor there, nor anywhere.
Posts: 8,538
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Thank you for replying, AP and amuse. I found this a wonderful exercise to stimulate the imagination and allow the mind to flow, ideal for some poets. I hope you enjoyed it too.
__________________
He who despairs over an event is a coward, but he who holds hope for the human condition is a fool. Albert Camus |
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03-04-2005, 01:09 AM
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#5 |
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precious...
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Here are mine:
I wish I were a bird I wish I currently stood in the street of London I wish I were born in the 60's I wish all people were happy I wish I could be with the man I love I wish I never felt sad I wish I were a rock star Once I was an innocent kid Once I felt in love so deeply Once the earth was so green Once an angel stood beside me Once all people were babies Once money never mattered to me Once love was everything for me Once I was myself Once I loved myself Now my love has flown away Now the sky is so grey Now the pigeons aint flying anymore Now everything's blue and grey Now we are parted Now we are strangers Now we are alone though we need each other Now you hurt me and I hurt you Now I know you no more I never stole I never loved him I don't like sex that much I never hate people I never made my mother cried I never distrust you I never wish I were dead I never bite my own tounge I don't enjoy hurting people I like my self I'm proud of myself money sucks heart melts body drinks friend hugs lover kisses beauty slaps mind holds eye licks
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 "there are people in the world so hungry that God can not appear to them except in the form of bread" Mahatma Gandhi
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03-04-2005, 02:13 PM
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#6 |
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Resident Pixie
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Rumi-Nation
Posts: 370
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I wish the land my frame was not a reference.
I wish for unclear amounts of happiness. I wish for bright strands of blooming flowers to creep swiftly up the sides of the castle I wish to reside in. I wish I had more time and less ways to waste it. I wish for a day with no colds, no stuffing up of noses, so that everyone could experience aroma. I wish I lived in the Victorian Era and had a natural birthmark shaped like a tightly laced corset. Once my hand tried to superimpose itself upon my face at an abnormally fast rate, I felt with the pads of my eyes and tasted with the palm of my nose. Once my pharmacy refused to shower me with the globs of bright and dull that tend to ellicit unwanted and exciting changes within the cage of broken eggs. Once a heart was asked to rate it's honesty on a scale where pounds add up to truth. Once a fire in Santo domingo burned out without a living creature near to witness its death. Once the word 'friend' did not have to include 'end' Now I take sickness in with gulps instead of sips. Now is fleeting compared to then, but then is forgotten when faced with now. Now there is a destination for worry and a smile is confusing when laced with actual mirth. Now is 10:31 AM in another time zone. I remember a dog named 'Blue" who used to eat my crayons and out of her would come the most interesting color combinations. I remember faces in a pool of water beside a huge rock that stood in front of a winding forest path. I remember legs of silk, fishnets that did not serve to look like lines of rows of diamonds that obscure. I will feel great about leaving the house today. I am never intentionally unkind. I don't have any urges to spend too much money on sparlky, shining, colorful and aromatic things. I am not impulsive, not compulsive. I eat every day. I work at starbucks and LOVE it. I have no addictions. I have proven beyond doubt that God looks like a hybrid between an apple and a rabbit. My hair is short and blond. fruit massages bricks bleed clocks argue garden gnomes clarifiy gauze searches photographs ripen hummingbirds gesticulates volcano whispers ETA: I can't spell.
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"This has been my difficulty. The difficulty with my life. Those well-built trig points, those physical determinants of parents, background, school, family, birth, marriage, death, love, work, are themselves as much in motion as I am. What should be stable, shifts. What I am told is solid, slips. The sensible strong ordinary world of fixity is folklore. The earth is not flat. Geometry cedes to Algebra. The Greeks were wrong." ~-Jeanette Winterson Last edited by Psyche; 03-04-2005 at 02:19 PM. |
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03-05-2005, 07:58 AM
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#8 |
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Good morning, Campers!
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Czech Republic
Posts: 7,163
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I wish it wasn't final
I wish for impossible things I wish I wasn't such a fool I wish I made more sense I wish you were here I wish for a fairy tale I wish I was able to stop listening to baladic songs when feeling crap I wish I were stronger I wish things would make sense I wish life had a meaning I wish I didn't wish anymore Once life seemed to have a meaning Once was a very long time ago Once I might stop thinking of song lyrics when trying to say anything Once I wasn't able to understand what all the songs were about Once things might work out better Once I might have known what to do Once was a very long time ago Now I'm still listening to balads Now I'm just trying to blow my ears with full blast music Now I feel like running without knowing where or why Now when I thought nothing can hurt me more Now I found out it can Now it did Now I wish now wasn't real I remember the smell of freshy cut grass I remember walking in rain I remember the first day as if it happened only yesterday I remember most of the other first days I remember pain I remember running I remember love I'm not in love anymore Everything's clear I always know what's best You are here I believe in happy endings though I don't wish for them I don't listen to balads anymore Rain falls Love hurts Wind leaves Words hide Lightning sleeps Fire soothes Trees talk Grass dies
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Old-fashioned with a twist. |
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03-11-2005, 04:07 AM
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#9 | |
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Resident Pixie
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Rumi-Nation
Posts: 370
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Quote:
I suspect that I wouldn't like working at Starbucks if in fact I did, however, I am safe since that statement was a lie.
__________________
"This has been my difficulty. The difficulty with my life. Those well-built trig points, those physical determinants of parents, background, school, family, birth, marriage, death, love, work, are themselves as much in motion as I am. What should be stable, shifts. What I am told is solid, slips. The sensible strong ordinary world of fixity is folklore. The earth is not flat. Geometry cedes to Algebra. The Greeks were wrong." ~-Jeanette Winterson |
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03-13-2005, 08:10 AM
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#10 |
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A murder of crows
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I wish to get rid of headache
I wish to fly I wish to find my true home again I wish to sprout roots and leaves I wish to breath with the same rythm as the land I wish the spring to come I wish the summer to come I wish the autumn to come I wish the winter to come again I wish this overandoverandover Once the honey hummed in the meadow Once the air was thick with heat on the moor Once the heather bloomed Once the warm fall brought the fall of the warm -coloured leaves Once I read LoTR and was happy Once the breezes blew and your hair mingled with leaves Once there was no difference between the heaven and earth Once there was a time that came again Once nothing died finally Now the time itself is dead Now the rain weeps Now the summer flocks have forever died in their home Now there is blood Now there is tasty blood I remember waterfall I remember fallling leaves I remember when we played in the dark-deep fir.forest I remember dirt and lots of mushrooms in your hair It is time to sleep There is a moon It is made out of cheese 2+2 equals seven (mod 5) Everyone are happy Sky and earth are still united Everyone remembers the old songs Aga ükskord algab aega.. Truth is beautiful. Moss threads Fox shouts Path remembers Evening arises Song sweeps Clearing runs Daughters of Murueit get high Juniper sleeps Berry laughs.
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If you believe even a half of this post, you are severely mistaken. |
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03-13-2005, 08:50 AM
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#11 |
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Eccentric Rodent
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: WA, U$A
Posts: 408
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I wish I could feel for you
I wish I could be less I-centric I wish I would stop wishing for more I wish I was able to be content I wish I could sing I wish I had enough of a life to not want another I wish you were here all the time I wish love at first sight was mutual I wish I had more time Once I thought I was different Once the world seemed so innocent Once upon a time I liked myself Once the people I knew were loving Once upon a time I was content in ignorance Once the sights I had seen seemed so right Once upon a midnight hour I could sleep soundly Once the air seemed less thick Once I thought this was it Now fear overtakes my mind Now kindness feels like a weakness Now the world feels so out of time Now the nothingness holds me closely in the shadows Now I want nothing more than to enjoy your company I remember when I was intelligent I remember when I didn't talk to myself in anger I remember how I used to like people I remember what it was to feel happy I hate learning new things I never wanted to try to love you I never thought suicide would end well I dreamed of a world of dreamers This planet is big enough for the both of us These words mean more than hours could say Two minutes is like an eternity when you're told Sheets laugh Trash beckons Clock bleeds Rabbit hates Sky screams Floor lusts Hands haunt Hips lick
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To think is to blog is to distract is to stop is to destroy is to die is to think therefore I am not good enough Last edited by Dyrwen; 03-13-2005 at 09:10 AM. |
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05-07-2005, 02:27 AM
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#12 |
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veritas
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Neither here, nor there, nor anywhere.
Posts: 8,538
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For those interested in the fun (since I still find this exercise helpful) . . . *bump!
__________________
He who despairs over an event is a coward, but he who holds hope for the human condition is a fool. Albert Camus |
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05-07-2005, 02:35 PM
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#13 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Lost in a book
Posts: 434
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I wish the world would stop to think
I wish that nature would take priority I wish to hear the stories from Ancient Greeks I wish I had lived to see Ancient Worlds I wish no one had worries or dreams being dashed I wish music wasn’t so commercial I wish I could have met Papillon I wish I could ask the wind its stories Once I was so innocent of the world’s ways Once I didn’t appreciate love Once I was so cynical Once I was bullied and beaten down Once I was weak Once Peter Pan lived in me Once I rode a bike Once is no longer important it’s now next Now the world thrives on success Now I have suffered pain Now books and acting are the most important to me Now I look towards the future I remember thinking that the only way to survive was success I remember loving and then losing I remember the happiest time of my life I remember the fairies Imagination is a waste of time I have never read a book in my life You don’t need looks to survive in this cynical world Love doesn’t hurt No one suffers Media isn’t influential A human can’t feel emotion on the smallest of things I’m not an individual Flower Calling Land Crying Sand Flying Sea Blowing Grass Leaving Fairy Swaying Trees Screaming Love Running Hehe. That’s mine! Not very good, but thanks for doing that because it’s really helped me with a bit of writers block that I was having!
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Books are the carriers of civillisation- Henri "Papillon" Charriere |
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05-08-2005, 04:39 PM
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#14 |
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Drama Queen
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: away
Posts: 4,315
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I wish there was a line to follow, a pattern
I wish there was time to stop and think about it I wish I didn’t need to stop I wish I was still able to think I wish I didnt make those mistakes I wish I had lived it all without caring I wish I had lived since the beginning I wish I had learnt earlier Once I thought I was able to love Once I thought that was the way to follow Once I didn’t want to uniform, but at the same time wanted to be like them Once you’ve tried, you’ll never stop Once more, once more. Once upon a time, there lived a witch Once is less than twice Once can mean uniqueness Now it all seems so dry Now the rain doesnt fall Now the confusion will swallow up everything Now we’re here, but what happens next? Now I only know the screen in front of me Now I think I can make it, but what if I don’t? I remember how weird was the new feeling I remember every summer, and it was always the same I remember things that dont seem to have truly happened to me I remember a lot, but not enough I remember, and it seems so long ago. I am ready to get up and go and build my life I can speak Japanese My hair is so blonde I have had many lovers I am disciplined and tidy I am very inspired at the moment. Box sweeps CD flies Grass runs Fingers dance Paper teaches Ink dies Water lies Tissue runs away
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dead on the inside, i've got nothing to prove keep me alive and give me something to lose |
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07-07-2007, 05:02 PM
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#15 |
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Metamorphosing
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I wish for the day I would ride a bicycle again and go on cycling here and there!
I wish the upcoming Harry Potter book would be something I would love to read! I wish I would start flying like birds, moving here and there freely! I wish sadness never over-comes me and I be happy all the time! I wish that happiness would be like the happiness which arrives as a surprise in hard times I wish all my wishes come true! Once I could ride a bicycle and go to that limka spot and have fun Once he was with me enjoying drinking limka Once we played cricket and I was always made a bowler Once we flew kites and me? Mostly the kite-runner! Once I caught five big kites and was happy Once I thought there was no good world outside my country Once I could easily judge without hesitation between right and wrong Once I was a little child, looking at the big big world with astonishment Now I can't ride the bicycle I loved to ride Now I can't wear that frock I used to wear Now I have too many responsibilities and this is what I hate Now I have come to grips with a lot of things I couldn't have thought of Now, like always, I am as curious as curious can be! I remember how I laughed and mimicked teachers I remember how I cried on little injuries I remember how I teased those I shouldn't have I remember how I hurt those I shouldn't have I remember how much I felt bad for that I remember how that behaviour of mine kept on 'eating' me for a lot of time I have never eaten an apple I hate Mango! Cruel Mangoes! I work part-time at a cafetaria I have murdered Poirot from Agatha Christie's series I am the writer of Lord of the Rings I ask my mirror every night: "How do I look, mirror, dear mirror?" Helga eats Jason drinks Hilda screams Jeff dreams Pippy wails Pensive writes Fire booms Evil roams!
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I sang of leaves, of leaves of gold, and leaves of gold there grew. 
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