I'm sure this never happens to you, but there are times when I don't feel very creative. A few years ago we'd just had a new baby (our second), bought a house (our first), and were busy managing a thousand new details. I felt like I had nothing to give to my writing. And life hasn't slowed down any since then. All the busywork and bill paying leaves me feeling like all the creative juices are dried up.
But no matter how un-creative I'm feeling, there's one creative writing exercise that never fails to fire up my writing.
Why We Need Creative Writing Exercises Like This
Over the last ten years, I've worked with thousands of writers, and in that time, I've there is one thing that stops more people from writing than anything else.
“This is so bad,” we think after one particularly difficult sentence. “Why would anyone read this? Why would I want to read this? I thought I was better than this. I thought I was talented. So why am I producing such crap?”
And so on…
Sometimes, writers don't even allow themselves to go through this kind of painful monologue. Instead, they put off writing altogether, procrastinating until the very last minute, then whipping something together that may not be very good but at least it's done!
So while you can still use daily journal writing or creative writing prompts to jump start your writing process, the creative writing exercise I'm going to talk about in this post is designed specifically to combat that kind of perfectionism.
Where Does Perfectionism Come From?
Perfectionism begins with pride. “I'm so talented how could I not write the next great book? Bestseller? More like best book of the century.” (Full disclosure: this used to be me.)
Or, for the slightly less narcissistic, “I may not be the best, but I have the best idea. And what's more, I care the most.”
Unfortunately, this kind of pride doesn't survive “contact with the enemy”: the blank page.
I've watched so many writers be humiliated and completely demoralized by the process of writing.
“I never want to do this again,” they confess to me, usually when they're about two-thirds of the way through writing their first book. “Writing is horrible. Miserable. I'm horrible! Why did I ever think it was a good idea to write this? to write at all?!”
Neither of these two postures—pride and despair—are helpful if you want to create great work.
What's missing? What's the secret ingredient writing in a way that both displays your natural that is both an absolute joy to write and your best possible work?
The secret ingredient is PLAY.
That's right, the same thing that toddlers are so good at is the key to writing your best work.
This Writing Exercise Brings the Joy Back to Writing—Here's How
How do you play with writing?
Two words: modernist poetry.*
Pioneered by poets like Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot, modernist poetry often makes very little sense. In fact, it can sometimes even seem like gibberish, like a Rauschenberg lithograph.
And that's what makes it such a great exercise. Because it allows you to play with words in a way that the perfectionistic side of your brain won't be able to stop.
5 Steps to This Writing Exercise
I've broken it up into five steps so simple a two-year-old could follow them:
- First, get out a blank page. Feel free to open a new document on your computer, get out a pen or a blank piece of paper, or even whip out your old-school typewriter (the preferred method!)
- Next, write the first word that comes to your mind. When I did this exercise this morning, the first word I thought of was “Boom.” Why not?! So I wrote it down.
- Then, the hard part: write another word. Why is this hard? Because for this exercise to work, the second word must be random and disconnected from the first. This will completely piss off that perfectionistic little writer in your head. Do it anyway!
- After you write the second word, write a third, fourth, and so on. After a few words, you can start a new line. It doesn't matter where you break the line. Just do it when it feels right. And as you write, don't forget the most important step of all…
- PLAY. When you do this exercise, write with the sounds of words in mind, not their meaning. Try out movie/historical/song/literary references, mashing them up with gibberish rhymes (e.g. “Twain's hammersaw is bringing me low slow like a long bow“). Make up new words. Pay attention to the sounds of words. Try to come up with the most random noun you can. Then, put it next to a list of five verbs. DON'T use punctation (unless that sounds fun to you, of course).
*I'm of course using the term modernist poetry very loosely here. Good modernist poetry is about much more than random gibberish strung together.
Embarrassing Examples of My Own Attempts at This Exercise
To give you a sense of how your poems might look, and to hopefully give you much room to improve upon, here are two of my worst attempts at this exercise (for humor's sake, it's best to read these aloud in the sincerest voice you can muster):
Boom story
Simple reason hides
the only response to holiness tears
and I'll love you I'll love you
Asparagus dream tell me I'm happy
Bromate the worn door
Catalyst of evergreen
I'll sing it all dusk
Thiery weeps
Allspice leaves
Kroner folder brning
Someday I'll participate in
wishful thinking
Amazingly bad, right? Here's the next one (I actually like this one):
bloom you folly seeking
pinwheeling song stealers
float your lilly feelings
youround a hold
and follow
the starring
problem holder
Ready to write yours?
Why This Creative Writing Exercise Is Genius
When you finish—after ten lines or a hundred— read your poem out loud. You'll probably be surprised at how good it is!
That's why this exercise is so perfect. Because when you try to write badly, you free up your creativity and end up making surprising connections.
Sure, some of your lines will be horrible, embarrassing, and never to be read again. But others will be much better than you expected.
Finally, with your new playful spirit, you'll be able to go back to your work in progress with a new level of creativity.
How about you? Do you ever play with words? Share in the comments!
PRACTICE
Ready to try out this creative writing exercise? Use steps above to write a modernist poem. Make sure to PLAY!
When you're finished with your poem, post it in practice box below and offer feedback to three other writers. (Come on, it can't be worse than mine!)
Have fun!
Sounds like a great idea and definitely worth a try. I’ll be going to a writing retreat in June, so I’m printing this out to take with me. My goal will be to use this exercise to get the creative juices flowing. Thanks for the playful nudge!
Wow, Joe. Though new house and new baby are exciting additions, but are STRESSFUL (she says from experience).
Creepy sushi dancing
Wisps of smoke prancing
Die, bastard, die!
Comforter comforting me now
Wash adrift the sand
Turning pages of my life
Sandals wanting time
Laughter make it mine
Wanting more
Wanting less
Wanting…
This is good brain relief. I like your choices Marcy.
Thanks, Susan. You should try it. It was FUN!
Hahah, I love that you started with creepy sushi! What a random thought: wonderful!
Yours is certainly more together than my little pieces I wrote, but I didn’t want to have to think too much longer. It’s the weekend lol
Glad you enjoyed it, Matt. I really did like creating this.
Interesting exercise. My perfectionist brain and definitely my English teacher brain are unsettled by the idea of it, but here goes:
Feathers stream
Rockets spread unseen
Lockets touching foes unbreaking
Feathers spray and need
Feed the blue buttons
Wow. That is terrible. Fun exercise though.
Hey, I think it’s great! I really liked the “rockets spread unseen.” Kinda creepy and majestic. 🙂
Thanks. I wouldn’t have thought of it that way, but glad you did 🙂 Thanks!
There could totally be a song for that one.
Maybe a new Bruce Springsteen original?
I can hear it now!
Ha! This is great. Feed the blue buttons, but not the green ones, those pigs.
Haha! Thanks, Joe. Strange what comes out when you’re not thinking ahead.
Never tried this before, but it sounds like fun.
boast most helpful dope
lean bean is really mean
come down come around and be the day
play as we may all the day
nachos ate grouchos at the grill til morning light
with fright in the night she wails while he’s in jail
This is FUN!
Thanks
I LOVE that line–“nachos ate grouchos at the grill til morning light”
Fun stuff!
Players weep on trees
Into the gilded forest eggs cry
Maybe in the future planes will crawl
If only I know when I die
Agonizing grapes pull a ward from the hen
Please have the finish, each screams
One tangle of empty forges after another
Flip and fall to hell
Eight and every page of guards
Death and door come to yield
Of my apostles one hath died
Never rise again
Open girth weighs the justice
Golden feathers flim and glide
Beguile the dragons in my ankles,
And you will be the saint of pyres.
Forest justice ever black
Into my heart slack and die
Make sure the door is locked my friend
The statue thief’s here.
Chinese bells tassels scarlet swaying winds on horseback in Mongolia
Leather gauntlet falcons grip with strong talons
Cheese drip curds steaming face bent good and hot
On a cold winter night on the mountains
Snow-covered steppes step back front door and look out to the horizon horses drive towards the mud and centre of our camp
Girls wrestle in embroidered helmets on
Lacquered heads black as silk satin and moth wings
I was listening to a documentary on medieval China while I wrote this. It’s scary to do this, but very interesting.
Longing
A wisp of memory
Fading fast
Tinges of red and orange
Surrounding the evening
Memory escaping
Irrelevant now
Nothing necessary
Sustaining
Pain
Useless to my wellbeing
Forget
Move on
Look at the flowers
They don’t weep
Yesterday
Does not exist
There is only
My happy heart
Free
Beautiful
Open
Bright
Sad
Free
(i.e. I loved it!)
(Love your summary! Thanks)
mm, beautiful is right!
i love how you have the single-word lines.
powerful.
wonderful to see a longing end in freedom!
Thanks Matt…
I loved the flow of it! Very nicely written!
Thank you Lisette!
Lifeboat don’t sink
Speak louder dishwasher
Don’t ignore the soap
Once upon a time
I lived in a treehouse
By the sea
In a boat
Eating popcorn
With my best friend’s sister
After we met
By the seashore
Watching chickenwings dance
Like chiropractors
Eating mustaches
I think I’m weirded out
By this poem
The end.
I love that chicken wingsdance!
This poem paints word pictures. (Smiling)
I’m glad it made you smile. 🙂
Joy, I loved it! I like having your name above your entries… It’s like titling every thing ‘Joy’!
I especially like the line ‘speak louder dishwashwer’. What a neat personification you do there!
Thank you, Matt! I’m so glad it brightened your day. 🙂
Clapping
Wind blown hair
Sudden smells
Dirt caked fingernails
Keep the blood flowing
Listen well all of you
Faded days of youth
Slowly crawling down my hands
Drops slither down the lines of them
The sidewalk will end
The days do grow short
The sun will someday set
You better start running
Nothing will keep your heart beating
The terror of the inky blackness
Slipping towards you
Like a unseen hand
Pulling towards the sky
Silent breathing
Eyes looking
Holding on to something
Anything that seems like hope
Dropped from a hundred feet
Slammed on top of the fear and anger
Of those looking for it
Never to be found
Whispers in your voice
The voices try to speak
Lovely idea, tried doing this but end up with like freewriting exercise, not poetry. I wonder if I’m doing it right though, would someone mind to let me know?
As you can see, mine is more like a threads of words that sort of rhyme imperfectly together, I’m not sure if I’m doing this exercise right.
Should we rush the next word without 2nd thought like in brainstorming/freewriting, or should we take the time to ponder which next word that can describe the previous word & 2nd word must rhyme?
Is it ok if we have spelling errors, i.e. we make up some words along the way?
Thanks, this is my piece:
boom clap boom boom pow fowl fowler
spoiler lier spelling error rubbish gibberish
nonsense random blank space getting better
improve dance fun run hike trial fire hire never
say never Justin Bieber tin dean jean man
motivational speaker fooler fuller occupational
redeem receipt resit deceive deceit damn realm
delve elf power grip rip drip dip sip nim numb
rum wine alcohol dollar dine sky high fly fry
rye nice buy fine nine mine fine right cents
sense make fake bake aiks ache cite poetry
poem focus circus amazing Britney Spears songs
Hi Alisa 🙂
You’re definitely not doing it wrong! Art is, almost by definition, to be defined by the artist (that’s you 🙂
I’m guessing you were going for the rhyming and that the author’s mention of ‘sound’ guided you toward that specific type of sound/poetry. Well poetry doesn’t have to rhyme, certainly doesn’t have to have any lines working with each other…. but one beautiful thing is that it CAN!
The best part about this is that the rule is there are no rules. Needless to say you did it perfectly. I laughed out loud at this, “
Seems right to me. I think theepoint exercise gets the brain off the right wrong good bad wagon and allows for the revolving of the word flow wheels, creates writing momentum.
Thanks so much guys for the positive enforcement, was pretty fearful actually that I’m doing this wrong, especially after I’ve read many other writers’ comment on this page which seem like poetry to me.
spaghetti soon twitches
forknife held below
knight night gnight
long vacuous overwhelming consistency
contstantly
spaghetti
but that is that
how too yearn is rending still
vacuum
space
unrelated frequency dulled roar riptide rush
bloated watermelon belly
crying infants smiling sadness
empty full
long the two fight
hug me hurt me hide me rid me
of the actions of the past
the ones so now long forgotten
belkin summit of faith
radioplate maneuver fan
running walking stillness complete
grain texture paper thin neighbors
credit cards fight
plastic battles are the swimming seagulls
sleep yellow over long side ways
dream a dream
facesfacesfacesfaces
who
questions keep chanting smoke signals
carrier pidgeons wood pidgeon harry potter
sunrise sunsets
full to empty nevermore
ravenclaw harry potter slytherin dauntless
teen fiction rests above elbows not betwixt
brains are concrete
solidly cementing gray matter into dark matter
elmer’s legends trip the nation
glue that murdered many
factionless fathers forget daughterless mothers
highlighted on paper
numbers alone
notetaking has never neared the precipice
starbucks mcdonalds Disney world
songs of the weekend
amazing handsome always
faith
window clotheshanger lightpole crosschair
living lives left of lines
leaving lines write of lies
Wonderful images Matt – “brains are concrete…..” love this.
Thank you Jeanne!
“notetaking has never neared the precipice.” Not sure what it means, but love the sound of it. Great images throughout.
thanks Tom! i have no idea either. of course, as an english teacher you and i could likely come up with something for it.
eg. there has never been enough note taking; notetaking is only as good as the bottom of the mountain… etc
lol, thanks again Tom, you’ve become faithful at commenting on my non-make-sensory posts!
Spaghetti sounds good right now… Great job Matt!
haha, right?!
it’s not that late, and it sounds real good to me too :))
thanks for the comment, lisette!
Anytime! It could never be too late for spaghetti!
Better not let any psychologists get a look at this free-association writing we’re doing here – they could have a field day!
Here’s a snippet of mine – what it reveals of my inner demons, I have no idea:
Fuchsia correct killing thyme
Sun son jumping giants handle fun
Haricot wimples forget-me-nots queen rapier juniper lungs
Yesterday warrior bungle contemporary sweat linguine
However, having done that (and a few more lines of equal gibberish), some of the words resonated and I wrote an actual poem – not normally my thing at all. Here it is:
Celebrity cooks, killing thyme,
Randy writers, striving to rhyme.
Fossilised footballers, can’t keep them down,
Rejected representatives, doing nothing but frown.
My box is just full
Of these unwanted folk.
Won’t somebody tell them
They’re nowt but a joke?
I loved both of these poems Alex! In the first I especially enjoyed all the crazy nouns. Haricots? Wimples? Juniper lungs? Awesome.
And the second is almost just as crazy! Representatives and footballers in your inbox? Great image! These were lots of fun, Alex. Great job!
For clarity, Joe, where I come from “box” means “television” …
Alex, I so enjoyed hearing your thought process during the writing, and then also enjoy the writing. Thanks for sharing!
Those were both very enjoyable poems! That was great! Thanks for sharing!
Interesting explanation,
Spices, are the most common flavore used to give the recipes a good taste
ninja use nunchaku
whack the baby
whack Bruce Lee
write a song
sing sing sing
on stage rap swim fly
dragon in the pond
fly fly up with balloons
land shaolin master punch
matrix blue red laptop iphone smash
medicine pills poets ted
choose give up fly disappear
forrest musics guitar horses flowers bill gates
wheat weed whip whisky michael jackson fly
fly fly fly
Ooh, I like this….
Cane Shut up curl
Keep try hop run
Jury Jig try dig
Methos fin help learn love
Delve done truck hug
mushroom bathroom in a line
mask violate stop came in time
grab grapple free sew line slow
feverish tinkering mess all over
feet globe car shadows
blank squeeze fan
top red bump in the road
cemetery almost done
pancakes shuffle indentation
Firstly get away
guitar laying down
fluent strings play
pencilled
drawings in graphite
where it weeps
the songbird
relents
ongoing tide
in long ago
fields of green
someday wishful
thinking may happen
This brought a smile to my face….
This is beautiful! Thank you for sharing!
when I wrote down my ongoing may happens, I was thinking it was a long month! with a bunch of things happening in May… and it’s not over yet!!! 🙂 great minds think alike!!!
Ripples sunlight
rocking across time
forgetting wisdom teeth falling out
left and right and interdormand
rushing giants planting tin cans
frequent sighs undeserved highs
racking up moments laughing
hate spinning monumental focus
pointless and proud
Rollercoaster Dreams
I’m beaming at the seams.
Moving quickly at the speed of light
I’m crawling out of my skin with fright.
People screaming, I hear
My turn is getting near.
Do I actually want to ride?
There’s no where to hide.
I take a seat in the rear
Everything is becoming clear.
We take off with a jerk
Maybe closing my eyes will work
to keep me from getting sick
Maybe that’s the trick
My stomach turns
My heart burns
http://www.shesallsmiles.com
To free write and simultaneously rhyme is no mean feat. I am envious of your ability! Wow!
Oh! I love roller coasters, so I especially liked reading this! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Now that’s marvellous for a quick writing exercise!
What a good peice of writing, I wish I have the same ability of writing.
Would be a great Rap song!
Cute piece!
I’m beaming at the seams!?! This is gorgeous!
Love this!
I want to steal juniper lungs and sandals wanting time…
After just putting the words that popped up down, I wanted to then use them within a line, so did it really quick to stop my conscious brain having any of the fun! It has made me want to go back to poetry after years away…..
Credible, cheerful, possible cream
Cauliflower people, treading mice
Like flowers popping tears tear in soulful
Cake will play because foe
Archipelago chant swear carry notice
The archipelago of my fractured mind
Gives chant to each spiralled thought
I swear I will sin again
Carry the panniers of hope
Until I notice the emptiness.
This is harder than it seems
trees shoot out light beams
its rays cause puss to ooze from ears and eyes
multicolored tears soon begin to fall
easy to say not to do
brain filters raise defeat and letters emerge from holes galore
Okay yea this was weird and maybe not right
so I’m off to the kitchen to fetch a bite.
May attempt this later I might, but it will be well into this night.
Cool! multicolored tears soon begin to fall, trees shoot out light beams.
I don’t think there is a right way to do this exercise. You write what comes to mind and cool/ weird things start happening. 🙂
yea my editor was fighting me all the way.
This remembers me of the last scene of Frank, with the song I Love You All. He creates the song based on loose phrases about the place he is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOt6ppIBOd4
Pace
Breathing rapidly
Tongue twisted around silk
Silently contemplating
Ifs and ands?
Forever is temporary
Tonight will change forever
Night falls, dawn cracks
Missions are possible.
Writing gibberish is a wonderful way to loosen up the old writing muscles. I have been doing this for years. I call these exercises “SOUPS” (like a minestrone of words 🙂
Here’s a ‘soup’ I prepared earlier:
I have hooks for ears.
A fox for breath.
I am alive but not for much longer.
Passion over, I followed the posts,
but lost her in Hades.
The last words she spoke
tore at my soul
and were consumed in flames.
I have tesserae eyes.
And here’s one I just did. (So much fun!)
How the red fruit
became a violent blue.
Cause and effect.
Holodecks and bears.
There’s a fly buzzing around my antlers.
Drinking heavy water
by the container ship full.
(Preface – This was ridiculously fun…)
Sisyphus expels fiction
Portable headstones rumbling nowhere
Fused opinions laugh at sweat
Mangle Josephine and Scarlet and Rastafarian hats
(Not even sure if that is a word, I continue)
Rain doesn’t come here
Snow doesn’t come here
Pacifists don’t come here
Snaggletooth and mulberries are frowned upon
over there though their new wall and
attempt at visibility works
Voo doo doll paves the way
So this is how this works?
First shots. Not a dunk or
lay up
Hula hoop falls down the hips
Too many EL Fudge cookies
leave her belly trapezoidal
Try again
later
I like it!
I’m not sure if this was what it was supposed to be, but what the heck.
Here it is:
Wings darkness glow beauty
Eyes hear broken staccatos
Brainless batteries contain wealth
Eat hearts oil and sadness
Pray stay with contrite expectations
I can’t save me, why save you?
Breathe a breath, save yourself
Talk up to the sky, Sing to the clouds,
You are alone, we are alone, let me be
Alone
Hold a chainsaw gently against a pine tree
Keep a cigarette between the teeth, but don’t blow
Thoughts a whirling, don’t slow down, keep thinking
No regrets but no life as well
Don’t fail, don’t trust
Printers lay out a formal foundation
Of ink splattered on a page, rhythm to it
Like bongos, tambourines, a circus of stupidity
Why the formality? Just breathe.
Ok, I doo’d it. I tried to disconnect just write random words. The app I used has a Hemingway mode which will NOT let me go back and correct. So here it is in the raw:
fabulous bang twins supperbanner
moon mistriss cold laubchlaunch
cart bicycle haeart hart fart
fifteen minutes foervroforever as arghhhh
terry telephone wizards stupid magic
radar neck crackle creakle arthritis
ouch ouch ouchouch
age apain in the ass
still random
arrggghhh fifte en minutes!!!!
ocoffee coffeecake
telephone terry newspaper crossword
kids running on the street raining rain falling
umbrellas red and blkblue
morning gratgrey drizzle falling
people walking coffee holding starbusks and caribou
barns and noble refugee
writing nonsesnenonsense geern of spring
why do I keep connecting words!!!!
I’m a sentence pig
that should be green of spring
random words hah
blue whit umbrella pblue cap pink shirt white pants black man pololder
cell phgone smartphone everine on a phone
This is fun, I’m curious what app you use for the Hemingway mode?
Do you like it or does it tend to just force more editing after the fact?
draftin.com
This was gold! Thanks for tuning us into this part of the brain again. I had some rhymes and even a made up word that I had to write down. Some of my words were more connected than I realized after close examination. I think I’ll do it again and keep trying for more and more obscure nouns and verbs. Very fun.
Here’s my first attempt:
Buzz fuzz no flibbery
slippery to trees knees
acid foreign plastic pom
Dom cray lips bend send
Growl fowl my Galaxy bar
forage skip tip mandible
crime time yes Fall
Plenty of rhymes and certainly some connections. Fun connections too!
My favorite line is “growl fowl my galaxy bar’
I decided to give mine a title. Very fun exercise.
Writed
Hat hormonster tea says
That is yours ill elcaire
Crane frejuices hotdog on
Very long train blank your eye
Free fee to honk poink grr
Grass hit shovel to joy
Little carber yet kinger
Questest am I
HA! I feel like I’m reading a combination of Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss! I enjoyed how you verbified the word hotdog – as in the “crane frejuices hotdog on”. so many wonderfully unique and made up words, as well as not being constrained by grammar: “Questest am I”
Well done!
Thanks! It was very fun!
After first draft, I felt happy. I added some connecting words.
Cormorant Languishing on the rocks
I watch from the theater of trees
carrier, freer, flier
beyond, a boat on the foam, full of hope, stable
before, a blue jay, sneaky, to the wren feeder, pecking, tipping,
flapping to stay afloat.
I get to Barnes and Nobles and realize that there most likely will not be a prompt today from Joe, new baby and all. So I said why not do Fridays again. So I did. I have no idea what this is but it was fun, which I think is the whole point.
I am a sentence pig.
I grovel in words.
I wallow in phrases.
I show fields of green using appositives where paragraphs are ecstacy.
I long for chapters.
I pray for a novella
Oh my what would I give for a novel.
A tome of sci-fi,
of memories of west Texas,
of a curmudgeon just mumbling on a keyboard.
Well, there sort of was! But I’m glad you wrote this instead. This is publishable Gary! The first line and last two lines are especially wonderful.
A very creative piece with a lovely touch of humor.
Beautiful and such talent in this!
Wow! This is such an intriguing metaphor. I love it!
I loved this exercise…it felt great not to criticize the words I wrote…freeing…thank you!
Trees avenue go
Paper pens and doors
Wooden leaves swing
Flowers sign loudly
Anger rises
Mad men scream
Wishes take turns
Mashed potatoes scream, cream and laugh
Head full of noise
Make it right, write
I’m pretty good at being random so here I go ….
random atom batman cat
living loosely bill need a boosty
can’t fathom random matter
rather ponder infinite father
you know, y’all, this random thinking
has my inner brain’s eyes a-blinking
tac namtab mota modnar
line one backwards written
makes even less sense
this is only a test of my
inner randomness
but
random it is
scary it is
i think i thunk i thought
it was kind of fun
but book seems
long way off
still
Fireworks miss you
the forever paper friendly happy
I’ll make the move rain
oil painting tell me story
earthquake end
new house cucumber fence
Gerber thinking crazy daisy patio fan
and glue smile together
sunshine hides at hard rock
flirty guitar stage tony danza
ongoing may happens
Heather Guidry
Carefully crafted canvas,
smeared by my own hand,
as I tried to perfect the image.
Beacon of light,
luminous thought.
Darkness tamped down.
I think this ended up being more cohesive than random…random words do come to mind once in a while though, and I make note of any interesting ones if I come across them (in order to use it later on).
——————-
Uncertain eyes look to yonder
Over the gleaming horizon of sparkling grays and blacks.
No whites.
Just in between – the uncertainty of color.
Managing stark cold hands,
Voices linger behind bedridden backs,
Calling “Up! Up!”
Back to who we are.
The dark suits hang on dressers,
Image of the callback days of loose shirts,
Untucked and fondly wrinkled.
Memories of play.
The uncertainty of color persists.
Harboring Lost Thoughts
By Kiki Stamatiou a. k. a. Joanna Maharis
The doormat brings with it it’s own excuses
For harboring lost thoughts
Of my vengeance.
Forever embraced by the hallow deeds
Of raspberries filled with scornful melodies
Inside their core, their bitterness stings
My tongue with a sourness overcome
By vicious melodies bombarding my
Mind so listlessly.
I’m melting in the sun so filled with
It’s buttery decree.
I’m left dancing outside like a mundane
Archer taking aim against vicious levities
Of the outright political game.
I’m embalmed with the crucifix burning
My flesh with starved convictions.
I’m famished by the powers withholding me
And feeding me to the hungry sharks
Swarming around my cage.
I’m lost in a watery grave
Where only the sadistic survive
The maze of the harpoon.
Dying carp freeze in the ice.
I’m withholding my heart
Until tomorrows spring.
For I’ve learned to dance in the snow
When the burrow brings forth it’s own song.
Let the rich melodies pour out of your
Grave, and bring me into the hourly tides.
I’m ever floating across the lake of your
Misery.
Allow me to bring my party hats, so I can
Topple over you mind with the fruitfulness
Of lush shrubbery with all their essence.
I’m driven by the fires burning up my soul
With evergreens throbbing against my heart.
For they bleed out the grail pouring forth
Unto you, my friend.
If only you’ll learn to hobble once you’ve
Been stung on the foot by a bee.
I create my own task master.
For it is none other than me.
I’m left standing there holding your
Heart on a pole.
I’m ready to consume the vilest taste
Of your herbs, if only you’ll sedate me
So I no longer have to feel the pain
Of your leaving me behind.
I’m drifting in the foulest pools
Of consciousness when the melody
Stops breathing.
I’m the delft parted across the sea
Of the fires.
I long to be cast aside by the nets
Holding me prisoner to the night,
But the song they choose to play
Is the feverish hours of the stars
Blinking their light into my eyes.
I’m gone overboard, because I lost
My grip on life.
I’m sailing across the sea with no one
To guide me to you.
How can I bring for the misery unto
You when you’ve left me nothing but
The hollow log I sleep in on a cold night.
The waters thirst for survival in the grave
Of your rite, but I’m left winded after
Trying to tread on water for so long a tide.
I’m sifted by the breathing fire coming
From your nostrils when the harpoons
Engage themselves in the shark meat
Ready to be pounced upon.
I’m the grave holding myself prisoner
To you.
For I know nothing else better than
To sing of the wisest miser ever created
By the Creator himself.
I’m strong, but I’m fragile all
At the same time.
Help these seeds grow you left
Planted in my heart.
For they torture me at night with
Their bite.
I’m helpless in the darkness when
Striving to breath in wicked breaths
Of fire.
Every time the rain goes away,
You take a piece of my sight with you.
Each day passing by me, I’m overcome
With the hunger to seize your wild heart,
And devour it’s passion with my tired spirit.
Bring me back into the lion’s den
So my song will continue to be heard.
Let me be the one who lets you into the
Coasting plight of this miracle dancing
Before us.
For the captor is none of than the waves
Crashing upon our heads when disease
Of the soul echoes on in the realms of the dead.
© Copyright, Kiki Stamatiou, 2015
Time stands still
Until it can tip no more
And then the days move on
Until you lips bleed lore
The birds hone down their beaks
And the water is low
The boats begin to leak
With what failed to show
I hope with all kindness
Genuity and trust
That we lack what makes us better
That is
Until we know what we have lost
Because with pride comes the end
And as they say
The end is the beginning
It’s only in the new start
Can we begin to see meaning
Fickle beans tasty trophy
Force winds and rings tomorrow
Gentle sabbath soaring greenly
Froth and spirits sending dreams of chairs and inspiration
Karma subtle and sorcery bright as foggy lenses
Crime and candy dabble in forts of cheesecloth and dandelions
Bear crawls for when it has none
Thanks for the idea. It was a lot of fun!
This was a lot of fun!
Hippo java maps connects
My boom excites telephones
Rapidly energize terribly memorized
Backpack table cama pillow candles little tables
Life stipe’s the dog and kidnaps the night
Relentless stripes remarkable marbles scattered
Where is the man
That purposely punched pilots
Of spoiled roses
And oscar cigarettes
From the steps he fell
Fluffy clouds float
Don’t look him in the eye
It’s the devil in a goat
Frolic in the fields
The sweater astrewn
Dream catchers above
Still wondering about the man in blue.
(Yeah random and fun exercise)
Busted bread gulls gaping gushing Gucci over moonbeans
Muppets bruising, black buckets belting, bucketing, melting,
Droplets pelting, pelts,
Cigarettes high, rise of smoke of fabric blokes
Muscles choke, mice pedal, broke,
Wrappers soak
Wrap me up, warm, torn, tongue worn and eyes sore,
Fingers of lore, written in pores, shivers delivers
Knuckles raw on wooden doors.
Sloshed and moshed and fever caboshed
Rick Rack, thistle, high jack, delve, dig, seethe, heave
Wrist watch, moss, laden toast
Butter creamed and curdled and hurdled at strangers
On bikes
Come in
Be gone
Be sworn this is yours
Its ours – our seething mess, our rubber ringworm test
Of time.
Culture gone forgotten
Who what am I
Where do I come from
Here, there, I cannot be from everywhere
Lost in a line
Pen investigates
Discover insight, delightful
I am
Content with me
Practice moon
green deliverance when I loved
full but empty
I thought I knew, I knew what I thought
signing sounds on the wind
christmas, crackling flowers
druzy quartz sleep
grey is silver
a song isn’t a voice
love is in crisp leaves in autumn
smell pain and loss
red, blue and purple veins
sing a song of merry and bright
scream shadows and lust
revenge and deception and outrage
meditation out of a void
experience touch and sound
walking children forest
dark blues
gasping for love
remembering you
remembering us.
Love killer season pie
Melon dew drop
Hug me lemon pink dye
Books rob heart man
Warmth in the blue snowflake
Stars drown in lake boat
Shy girl dress up dress out
Dark sunlight blue sky
Catheter betrayal
Why bottle bowl spritz spoon
Long bright breezy
Simple calm sound
Magazine in the trash
Water never drunk
Purple towel, folded, untrusted
Never betrayed
Like he had
I trusted him in the bed
And not the towel
But the towel never betrayed
He did
Food is food.
And I am I.
Phones are cool.
See eye to eye.
Don’t you know how good it feels.
To finally be as free as a bee.
Love is hate and hate is sorrow.
Yolo my friends so be okay.
Piglets are weird and so are bowties.
But don’t be afraid, my sick little fry.
Yolo my friend, you don’t know what it’s like to be me.
I am a fry, and so are you, bee.
Okay okay where should i go if ye who wanders,
Not to far from thee.
I am pretty cool, not gonna lie. Omg um yeah cool.
Love is food and food is love and i am asparagus.
Cheese cheese wonderful cheese to yee who wanders…
I’m not really a twat just it’s complicated, okay?
Life is stars and stars are life yasss queen work okay
Tyler oakley is stupid and kinda is not a queen
So is joey and shane and grade
I should be a teacher cuz im cool and i grammar right
Piglets are dumb
No they’re not
What am i saying
Okay okay i’m okay
Fault in our stars is actually a good movie
Wattpad is awesome
I long to no longer long.
I long to chase my shadow
I long for that moment
when the sun takes its light
and the shadow becomes one with darkness.
I long to stand in darkness,
panting and laughing at the absurdity
of my chase.
life fleeting
ships
red burning
winter’s deep
asparagus
peel back the layers
while
finding the bird’s song
pinecones
a layer of dust
she breathes until dawn
shining on your back
my heart
crumpled
i pander to your soul
the most esoteric fragments
of my fingertips radiate
and suddenly
we are one
Huglesnort prediction elevation
anger redevelopment spitfire unadorned
clickity-clack barn meadow racer
acclimation result
thinking adhd motherhood
replace
learn
become
Aldrenation replicated meshining verbiage dumper
whisper down the swallowing stream,
aloft from the earth,
sea green angelic melodies,
no desire for the smothering day,
nauseating glimmers of a sense of feeling,
but there is no more
there is no more
Okay, I gave this a try. Here is what I came up with:
Singing a rain of showers
Holding the clovers
Wishing upon the jar
Look the seeds are brining
Fool heart incontent
Slam slimming silliness
Shapes come by hard
Shall we ride now pard
Hope do not despair
Poop on the stairs
LOL Okay, I’m done.
That was fun. I might try this daily to get the juices flowing.
Thanks Joe
Chris K.
Holes always look to never
Emptiness knows no more clever
On life’s machine I lever
So pull no more punches
And ties no more sever
Never say ever
Today is much better
Present gifts push tomorrows buttons
So no loving all of a sudden
Butchers chop no muttons
Or see self esteem plunging
The pen is an extension of my hand
So stretch your arms out
do it
dance to life’s music
or die
in life’s silence sight.
I was really skeptical for some reason when starting this exercise. I was doubting myself and the process, but something happened to me once I got going and this is what I came up with. There are definitely some crap lines, but true to what Joe claims, there are also some keepers!
Lust crust stuck to my nose.
A seed planted where wild things grow.
Now I have no room to breath.
Rub elbows while desires seethe.
Polarity creates a daunting rift.
Between extremes I seek, I sift.
Close my eyes and there I find.
The alleyway that is my mind.
Wedged between a corner store.
And failing rotten tavern door.
Graffiti art laments the day.
That all we see should turn to grey.
Hypodermic desperation.
Apathetic consternation.
Should I share my deepest thoughts?
With the naked body I’m draped across.
Rejection looms beyond the mist.
Savagery consumes our tryst.
Explosive climax from both ends.
Meets the middle spectrum trends.
Morning brings mundane expressions.
Forgotten by the twilight lessons.
Of what to do when passions raw.
Begin to rip, and tear, and gnaw.
Thanks! That was fun!
Here it is:
fast taken long yellow road
funny laughter dog takes a wheel of cheese
boom goes the cat in winter
wintery gloomy sad and desperate
final dinner sees broadcast
trucking along in the winter
snow capped feelings
it’s all allowed
it’s all aloud
cheese strings of death
scary and morbid
spooky and wrongly written
bitten apple snow and white
I stumbled upon this post two years later, but thought I’d join in the creativity. Arriving fashionably late to the party…
Miraculous Ezra writes now
And never did he whistfully boast
Loud cymbals dampen darkness
Lulled by sweet melancholy trees
Torn amber flickers in kerosine
Forgotten resorts listless in new days
Harpoons by night
Enslaved carvings hangers of folly
Miracle girl
Paisley lover
Blinded and languid forever mine
Shells and shambles balloon or fray
Liquid ignition and lusty eyes
Pooling careening cereal magic
Employing adoring your bickering teeth
Pliable queens of utmost sincerity
Important or pleasurable it matters not
Sandy hearts quake and shudder in time
Me foolish window was astonished
Right poster under my keyboard tried to be sympathy
Pen afterward might seek another coaster
Hello if my chair help me to kick the wire off
vegetable sicks coal sky
FUCK PERFECTIONISM
words trickle ever so light
sounds seem sharper tonight
emotions cutting edges
thank God for freedom
long walks
nighttime stories
laughter
the world moves slowly
in the distance i see
a perfect stranger in front of me
she wears nothing but black
with a devious smile & ready to attack
eyes as sharp as daggers
but a laugh so beautiful it puts my french horn to shame
she walks with pride in every step, taking her time
soaking in her surroundings
gratitude is an action word
and to be breathing today is more than I deserve
what are your interpretations? i’m interested
Ton bam landfill mining on a truck
Unsure what the jar has struck
On the grass a settle petal
We sat lavishing flowers in sight
To old and young,
They all played
In songs of mass and greed
We stood like pires
Eating the way for those saddened
In the dormant spaces of their lives
Unlucky and solemn
Truth be told we aren’t the saints
That paper sent us through disdain
Random, chair, purple, millenium falcon, buzz, silver
Double, fingers, contact, nod, blank, empty, crack,
Jump, tweet, snore, light, cat, breath, duplo, criss-cross
Applesauce, orange, wood, song, island, coaster, basket,
Egg, video, stupid, dumb, nonsense, soda, dim, car, morning,
Awake, early, email, thoughts, tasks, day, ahead, drudge
Time, scared, moron, promising?, not, dictionary, web, blog, feather,
Kettle, knife, bowl, lunchbox, time, slow, poor, worthy, light switch
Ceiling, floor, table, rug, avoid, tray, card, lego, figure, television,
Books, breathing, silly, impossible, another avenue, keep, trying?,
Exercise, practice, hi-low, plug, outlet, moving, awake, resolve,
Undecided, laundry, dust, webbing, sad, afraid, anxious, inferior,
Awful, no use, boring, coffee, progress, no, banana, wii, hat,
Swallow, fingernails, click, snap, bulb, roar, big, engine, fast,
Dawn, light, street lamp, trees, branches, dark, binoculars,
Slow, view, pop, nothing, inhale, exhale, move, suddenly,
Time, a.m., what, meaning, tires, pavement, stop sign,
Text, edit, white, black, housecoat, feet, decision, waste,
Possible, not, last, minute, keep, forward, sometime,
Expression, money, job, administrate, look, busy,
nothing,
Pain and failure
easy to come
difficult to go
it’s just a phase, really?
Coldplay- hope and kindness
generosity and love
music
happiness, calmness
crazy ideas
implementation
overpowering fear
negative to positive
long lost dreams.
words, words, words
time not enough
lost in transition
waiting to be found
curious minds
to care or not to care
here or there
now or later
to create or not
don’t know
New excersize for me, but what fun. Cant say mine makes a bit of sense, but here it is:
Running through the leaves
Hyper on my life
Hoping past hoping that pain will be
Put to rest
Open wide
Feel free
Slide in home
Cheaters tea
Pain and failure
easy to come
difficult to go
it’s just a phase, really?
Coldplay- hope and kindness
generosity and love
music
happiness, calmness
crazy ideas
implementation
overpowering fear
negative to positive
long lost dreams.
words, words, words
time not enough
lost in transition
waiting to be found
curious minds
to care or not to care
here or there
now or later
to create or not
don’t know
It seems difficult, yet you must face it, feels likes it never going to end, but you have to get to the end to prove that, when it looks too long, all you need to do is to walk all the way to see how short it actually is…
Such is life, we must learn to overcome our fears daily; be rest assured that every unpleasant situation will definitely end, and walk confidently through every daunting and challenging experiences to see how helpful they have been.
I think that’s what I’m going to do…. I’ll keep overcoming the fears, enjoying the process, and celebrating the fulfillment of my writings so that someday, I’ll look back and be amazed at how much I have written in a short time….. I hope I’ve been able to walk through these few lines to show that my writings can become better.
So after my Physics lesson I wrote this for fun..
Your soul was embedded within every particle of my being
Thus with a kiss my body caught alight
From one phase to another my bonds broke
Until I was one with the air
You lifted me up
Drifting aimlessly, until you breathed me in slowly
I flowed inside of you, through every inch of you
Until you were consumed by me
I brought you life
Full I fell in well of will
But
There is alot n lots thrill.
I love this exercise: it’s fun and it greatly helped with my creative slump. I had a go at it. Here are my results (warning: contains swearing (hope I’m not breaking any rules).
Watch out for the smack attack; making a jam.
If you’re in first class, I’ll put some glass in your ass.
Vroom vroom bam, doing the jam slam.
I’ll beat you till you spew faecal; coming out like treacle.
Gonna end this poem like I did your dick.
Don’t forget this brutality; my formality is a fatality.
Next time I’ll beat you with a stick. (damn right that was sick).
Atop my tower
Gazing in despair
at all my hands wrought.
I strove to raise
a better order.
Slowed by hubris
of the oligarchy.
Heads rolled as I pressed on,
the weak cowed into place.
Behind my back
they plot my fall.
I am betrayed by all,
and I betray all.
All I want
Is to shout
Really loud
Because I’m so mad and sad
Since I was bit by a turtle when I was a young lad
Make me clap
See me slap
That ugly turtle face
It’s such a disgrace
messing up that place
… well this was fun.(Ps. I love animals I swear, it’s like my hand wrote on its own)
I thought this was really good. You seem to have a flair for poetry.
EAGLE
proud victorious free
Soaring high above trees
Beady eyes watchful frilly
It was fun to be silly
the treasure
of sound
by dancing trees
from the swinging wind
the treasure
of smell
by dropping water
from the falling rain
the treasure
of taste
by refreshing life
from the rising sun
the treasure
of sight
by coloring sky
from the varying lights
the treasure
of smell
by blossoming petals
from the growing flora
Post modern poem
Sketch elephant shoe
Badoom badoom baddom
Jukebox millionare
Becky with the guitar hair
And suddenly, I’m soaring
Poop boop and cute
You’re raining and your snoring
Gravy pad thai pouring
Luke warm Jonathon cold
Badoop badoop badoop.
Spirit rider
Pickle in syrup
Jump out of your skin
Pull the rope to freedom
Roar like the sister wind
Waves of emotion
Perfectionism sucks….
Chewy
Furry boy
Big boy
Bad boy
Loveable boy
Playful boy
Handsome boy
He’s my boy
Loves to look outside at the pretty birds,
Wonder what he would do if he were to ever catch one?
Headbutting, bread kneading little boy
Fat boy, furry boy, does he know how much I love him?
Chewy is my handsome, loveable, furry CAT
Eerie palms swinging
in the northern breeze
Endless summer leaves are playing
to the wind
The relatively of relatives
just brings me in
this awful place of hill
where sun does not shine
either on your door or mine
I still hope that the city dream
would tell me to sing
But I can’t do the party animal
I can sing all the genres of dreams
Let me do this
for you
She was standing over there , chewing her gum , when the old man stumbled on his face on a rainy day , and she sarcastically started to laugh louder, louder and louder , and merly she was trying to help him , what a sorrow to be such sarcastic and regretful at the same time , the man was barley looking at her with eyes full of shame .
So I take a random word. Then write another word disconnected. And then just let it go. Sounds really good. just clarifying.
Emeralds form in my heart
Rubies and rainbows show in the dark
Crazy molasses engraved in my skin
Elevated munchkins makes it harder to kin
Justice prevails, to you I love to hail
I am a woman and you are a male
Courageous enough to show that I care
This is goodbye, get out of my dare
Baby diapers are
Fuel for cars
Carnation corsage for her
Hotrod partner
Swimming is fun for
Cats who like to skate
Honorable mentions for
Meticulous wheels
Of happiness outfitting
Our highways
Thank you for this. I’ve been wanting to write but don’t really know what to write and where to begin. This was an enjoyable way to begin though. Here is my very first attempt with this exercise:
Surging pain for the demented brain
Never underestimate the fate of the absurd
Words have meaning but why do I care
Follies of life and static despair
Where is the bag of time wasted
When do we trade this agenda for mourning
Laugh and you shall see
The tears that run through me
For I can’t believe anymore
I had faith but realized it was fruitless
Time can heal but I still remain rootless
Fly in the breeze to separate thoughts
Grounded for life until I take flight
Energize your procrastination to delay the inevitable
Chaos ensues we are the idols of temptation
That is amazing
liked the last two sentences
Energize your procrastination to delay the inevitable.
Wow great!
Wow!!! This is really great! Your choice of words is inspiring! (It makes way more sense than mine!)
What a nice exercise, I like how random it is. The results are terrible though 😀
mirror is a random word
stars and rainbow windows
the wet dogs sleep maroon
Mr Swish is waterbottlishly pale
I like to be sad
sometimes is never as good as trees
the lasagne contains the summer
and Brutus runs as top speed drummer
cats wail in narrow alleyways
I like words
radish radish softly blood
when cavernous halls sing
piano and the taste of iron
my key hole is black
chocolate leaves verbs are missing
Jesus is not here today
my mind spins spoons
running time out of setting
stage work and French class
under the weapon shot Kenmare
ink blood navy feather table blue
glue sandwich green ocean cold
my door is open splashing
No! out of tune
like the big fish
and the past and the future
we are laughing
laughing still
Jeopardy, what’s this word
A lot to think about this torn world
He wouldn’t even talk to me
A new topic to envy
Wishing upon my diaries
I never went fishing with such families
Climbing stories and craving lamenities
Leverage powers of beauty custodies
I am a woman, or maybe just a girl
Crying in depth for when I twirl
With sentiments of a wiggly ride
Slowing down with a sudden pride
Louminous hearts so bright as to see
to jolt is to wander, an unending tavern
While darkness hold to what it is told
Lies the secret where truth never gets old
Shall I perish?
How bout today? How bout tomorrow?
Tired as the dog who journeyed restless
Chasing the devil who stole sight nevertheless
Allow the highness to judge you of what you are
Or what you could have done to save someone drowning
Its u and me today.
But not tomorrow.
I do this fun exercise now and then whenever i didnt have the motivation to contine my WIP or there werent just any ideas coming up.
Reading my peoms, I sound smart ass to myself. It’s like reading something very fine and well thought – “Wow, those words are deep!” – but really there’s not much of an effort put there.
It really was fun and helpful.
Thanks, Joe
Spring like morning
Dust like wind
Feel your mind
Wander within
Think about
The emptiness inside
You will find nothing within.
Broken wings,
like a strangling theme.
Wanting to be green,
In a deserted dream.
The wings that I wear,
Were once white and fair.
Now stained with despair,
they look dark and glare.
Rubbing the stains,
To get them off.
I end up realizing,
My hands are also stained dark.
I love this idea and the freedom it brings. Here is what I strung together.
Maine bears eat ice cream
From the hands of children
To see if they will cry
They lick it sweet and
Suddenly find
The tree and rope
to hang it by
The furry feet of mothers fretting
Will keep us busy and fight
for meaning in the night
Crazy but fun! Thanks Joe.
This is such a fun poem! Main, bears, and icecream? Oh my!
Boldly the endless
nighttime waits
For tricking tears
and synapse connections
Stop fearing
It longs to hold you
To free you
from your body’s
Fleshy envelope
Break apart
Shatter in the glass
and be free
Darkness passes.
It feels so mysterious. I love the flow of this poem. Thanks for sharing!
I might have missed the point of this exercise by taking so long, but here’s what I wrote.
demolition garden
fate a residue keeps its promise
some people are far under sea
I imagine their tents are ragged
live to starve when she eats the fire
bowly poley nobody likes me
sad that sailboats aren’t more popular
what a waste now, people don’t care
salvo codec lips eat the rose thyme
we live in a deceitful world
where presidents are from TV
where poetry sucks
and the ends justify the means
never say always, it always is never right
so say the sunken swollen sorry sallow sot
air at the mountaintop is thin
but the sun can be beautiful on the clouds
he with he and she with me
how many hidden sets they give to them
when their own did that with him and me
she didn’t even reply to those dark deeds
boat in the fog she leapt off
as always, nobody cares
air is filled with water
matter is filled with me
suck it
and the morning and the evening were the twenty-first day.
I spent way too much time making it unexpected, but it sure was fun!
Apple. Alms. Rib cage nuns fall in the
Dark of day looking for a way
Today a heart thaws and hurts raw
World blurs feel so small
A doll on a staircase childhood memories like sand in my hand
Words burns towards nothing
low blow Angry frothing
doe eyed Cocoa dark
Honey in the night
Rib cage tight pretty sight
Mage bites a knife
Circus call backstage brawl
Crawl away skin bright tonight
Black and blue and purple too
White elephant fly high die specify
Ivory burst sorts retorts shorts
Reaching his knees these people
Stones and moans groans in pain
Worthless street rat in a fancy shy
hat die in glory tell his story ain’t an allegory remembered by none no friends till the ends funeral flowers every hours sours his name sins weigh a ton everyone cries lies say they won’t forget about that I have my doubts. Someone shouts in the back
Golden boy rusted never suspected
Him of this sin never let it
Rejected motivations dissected
Like a frog in biology class
That was never kissed missed
So close to last year’s Christmas
Laughs burn the tongue so young
Last laugh worth frothing nothing
If nobody to share it with.
Love board it happens
Phone rings now
Can marker paper love
Water flowing randomly
We are present
We are absent
Could I be that
Picture flowers
Girl getting moving dancing crying
Where do you go
Am I funny or am I not
Is it real or is it not
Hello simmering thinking
Eye arises clicks sees
Silent tears no fear
Heart strong quiet warrior stone
Black white words shine fight conquer
Breathe die live
Bell rings toxic fume
Mystical ramblings and foes
Fantasy reality illusion. Dreams.
Kitten Birmingham fossils share
Brimming torture fairly there
Wither so the bees dew frown
Spinning fruit from wayward cow
socks and parrots collide until
Fevers surging writing well
Cancel pain from yonder square
Fancy prancy all the daywear
This is a great idea for starters like me. Thank you.
Roar ocean loud
You powerful prudent proud
Dusk towards fire
She goes nowhere
Leaves burning astray
I’ll love you today
Tomorrow stars will play
Dark fading day
Fairies sing lilac tears
I’ll wait years
Flower: of mine planted in the
Ground: To grow and stretch and
Beach: itself in a truly fine
Wood: That aromatic substance is not
Amiss: To a fresh pressed garment sprayed with
Starch: A garment that sits up around the neck and chaffs the
Chin:
I’ve got a terrible cold right now and my head doesn’t feel quite right, but I thought I may as well give this a go. It was very fun once I got into it! Here is my first one, not really sure where it all came from but I suppose that’s the point!
Stumbling tumbling with yet
dawn lawn on shallow peaks
some yet speak but some yet don’t
humbling lounges
spiraling peaks
Who might
Shoe might
Shulamite miss
With wide brass buttons and
a harrowing kiss
close quarters
“Shoe might
Shulamite miss”
LOVE it! Are we talking Abishag here?
Exercise #3
The lights are out.
The coffee has been drunk.
The phone is ringing,
The computer is on.
The dog is snoring
and so is the cat.
The paper came
The news was checked
There’s a desire for dreams.
No great imagination here!
I love the passive voice here:
“The news was checked”
So, here is something that I managed to write, using your prompt and my brain working with no expectations whatsoever :D.
Bridge monologue news anchor
Lies and tries the fifth
Heavy headset rumbling
Pantless actor’s face
Words blasphemy roll
Fear the enemy no 1
Danger we all face
Heartless jerk in mic
Eyes empty on the cup
Thoughts on a coffee sip
News anchor sitting up
Weather forecast amiss
Raining lies wash away
Truth in it’s making
Realise the bridge monologue
Of the puppets and a puppetier
Strings and strands
Pulled by the fifth king
A Lie
Delightful smiles
Optimistic
Non-stop fun
Take a break
Wipe the few that escape
Overwhelmed
Rest your mind
Replenish energies
Youthful spirit
Ignite a flame
Make the most of the day
Funny jokes
Incessant laughter
Never breaking
Every day the same game
excellent is word you want to hear from people for you
Pakistan is my lovely country:
Mirror can describe you face not your personality, attitude, behavior and inner soul:
I don’t really know what does this means but I enjoy it:
Make it top
Stop
Evil drops
Crops and the bots
I care
Bear the pain
Cain ain’t rain
Main system
Get together
Love it better
Leave the mice
Spaghetti
Leave it
I can’t
Bear the pain
You should know
For you
Closed
When I awake, I see the light
And if I don’t, then it is night
Too much tv is bad for the mind
Just spot the difference
Then you will find
Love is blind
But so am I
Like a diamond
In the sky
I wrote this poem for you
Because the internet told me to.
I wrote this in Messenger and immediately sent this to my sister. Ahhh well.
In a dark forest far far away from the truth. A deadly husband waits alone for his wife. Alone, and drunk in despair, dream terrors at night are his companions. And now the end is coming soon. Everything he wanted for his life was to receive some love, but now it is too late, all too late, all is doomed.
… A little disturbing but really fun to write!
Stop drop tired
blop glop ayer
what is that
this is so bad
cringe
crude brood
read and brood
tense happy angry and sad
all the reaction when I read
will they be there when you read
my story
the end
My violena
major upgrade senior quality
Ten thousand hore radishes eating popcorn
why must I beg
I shall not go to the zoo with monsoon
rain brian burger main
chimpzoobam
chichichinese
why must I be the source of misery
misery alli oop
Arcana my cana chi cana
everybody jutsu ray
say ray gun rain
May scary play
of course the dang blang
demented as a hoodlum
I acquire a plan tum
Jump off the cow
Into my arms
You dog
Thanks a ton! this was amazing and fun! I always wanted to write something of this style and finally i got to know the mantra. here is something that I wrote just in five minutes. Thanks to you.
sound of the soul loud and clear
shines so bright in the dark sky
never blame it for your actions
close you eyes and feel the sensation
try not to tame it
free bird flies high so does the soul
far from the destination
but closer to the realization
breathe in breath out
let the peace be all yours
I feel like I should print this and read it again from time to time.
I did this one a couple of days ago foe similar reasons(i felt stuck but wanted to keep on writting)
I am at the edge waiting
I know i must jump
I want to jump
But I pause
There’s rocks down there
My bones will shatter
There’s water down there
My lungs will falter
But there’s also grass
And a whole new life
Maybe I wont die
Maybe it wont hurt to crash
I wanna jump
I’m gonna do it
So Help me god
Faith as my fuel
I can do it
I’m doing it
I jump
*****
I enjoyed writting it. It felt like describing a dream.
Thanks, Mr Bunting! This exercise is fun indeed. It took a decade for my next ‘poem’. I’m weird at it, so here it is. 🙂
Babyloon
unserious this, please
logger dee, logger done
twisty legger gum
lettuce risen, damage dome
fractions munchies calleth sie
Zed makes weatherly weasels
in to the suncorn megadeers
and teenage tentacles
to whiperdone and tiny
bababas riped with abstract peopees
how is the glue Hank achieved?
bristing breaching broth
reacus propelled pud-ding
liberation fungae, clouds of joy
champion of life is tot
pocket oh, the last escape!
jurney knocked china ware
spacege cracks inself
wieseldorf a bee
an a, a c through tyne
enterprise euny pewney cow
need a shrinky sauce
brutalized canvas steer
globe around is fear
or is ith, dearling tooz?
cangashnouze statues work
pensil hack up underdust
cut off the deal me a ninja skill
Greetings to all from Slovenia!
Grand new start
Beautiful beginning
Sunrise so peaceful
Ready to work
Writing at best
Looking forward at the rest
Same spirit of fluency
Guided at best
Straining night
Wine before dawn
Cat goddess is the only oath
Book stacks are craving for fire
Peony blossoms yet nobody cares
Illusion you saw
Weaknesses I sought
Fade away
In the songs of white birds
You are here, my darling,
Wander in the wild
Lesson #3
writing practice assignment #2
“modernist poetry”
compare final plans with initial brainstorm
prepare night fight right, is it delight?
brisk frisk makes fakes angri-nervy
singing ringing hinging binging etiquet
music in my ears famous woodwind quartet
there are no saints here, only strange and queer
people from the steeple, who wait for the second shoe
drop that gat Looey, watch out! it’s gone kablooey
lotta hooey if you ask me
take your “poem” and climb up a tree
distract compact and also retract
I break I bend here lies the end
Reworked this and I like it better.
Lesson #3
writing practice assignment #2
“modernist poetry” version #2
compare final plans with initial brainstorm
prepare for night fight, am I gormless or gorm?
brisk frisk makes fakes angri-nervy
singing ringing hinging binging topsy-turvey
music in my ears famous woodsy wind quartet
beef steak and kidney pie, finger bowls and pretty etiquette
there are no saints here, only stranges with not-a-clue-ish
people from the steeple, waiting for the second shoe-ish
to drop that gat Looey, watch out! it’s all gone kablooey
if you ask me it’s a lot of hooey
take this “poem” and stare at a fractal
distract compact and also retractal
I break, and broken I bend
here lies welcome, this is the end
This poem is for my daughter who’s always curious with everything
Hovering into the screen
Wide eyes, feelings melting into one
Dawdling like a cat purring in the ground
Screaming, gnarling feisty feline
Up she rose, up she goes
Totally immersed into the pooling water of depth
How was she to know when the music stops?
How was she to know when all things would last?
She’s just there, staring, sitting into the bewilderedness
She’s just there, feeling the tick of the clock of eagerness
Now and then, the bell will rang
But she would not bear the raging sound
Alas! The time has come to an end!
And then she stood again
She prowled into me with eyes like diamonds
Snuggly, relaxingly came into my embrace
As I slowly uttered these words as I say
“ What do you have been dreaming my dear?”
“ Come here my darling”
“ Let’s venture forth and sail”
smooch pooch
when coffee quivers
write out of sight
down deep delving sleep
hope for now unturning
turn twist toasting
tumble flip and sigh.
Sleep short sweet shiver
sleep soon surest shout
ships and skips come shooting
through a starless sky,
bible black, and blue.
My love
Your not alone
Running in the the uphill battle
I will be silent
Till the day I die
Take me somewhere nice
Bring me the horizon
Seize the day
I see star
My chemical romance
Leave me blind
My love
I’d like to write a love letter in your arms
I hate you, I love you I don’t want you
Just give me a reason
A war inside my head
Broken open
I’m yours
Yet I’m still broken holding-on
Sanity Chaos Dreams
Living life in what seems
Spiraling up then down again
Always moving never proving
Ive told that little girl before
When you grow up this will be no more
But here I am yet again
Drowning Swimming oops..Suffering
I promised her on many nights
Those thieves would never steal her light
I need to fix this make it right
I promised her we would always fight.
I really don’t know what i came up with..!! 😀 may be a mordern rap. Here comes my first attemp.
Shape the wire
practice at office
Door with the write privilege
is the politics of the car
auto made of cabbage taking charge
meet the idea of mid-brain
avengers of the scent
shop is the pickup
app that chirp
fan could walk
cloth sing, spoon flap
motor of fish
rain bike was a fraud
[bump horn]
Sun just honked
Font that wireframe
zoom at the article
contestant can check
smile with smule
run for the missed ad
be like a snail in Facebook
Phew said Phil from boomerang
He blew a thrill so slang
Confused so full of twang
Bulbous frills swing till I sang
So many pills in my hand
Crazy in love til I’m mad
To show how much good to the bad
Filled with surprise till I hang
Dead from the ceiling fan
That was fun!!
Muten gelingen traute Versagen
zeig nicht genügend
Sinn sinnieren transzendental
tausend brillieren versanden zum Ziel
ohne ein Leuchten Paläste und Schwärme
Sanftmut verwundbar zertreten im Staub
Großes gebären Brombeeren nur Mut
Taglicht gesendet rasch kräftezermürbend frömmelnd vergleichen
plaudern zum Troste Rüschen gereichen
…well, it’s German, my second try, but I certainly had fun and I loved most to play with the sounds – the most incredible words flowed out of me, interestingly many quite oldfashioned words that I never use in my day-to-day language. Wonderful! I take it as a beautiful wordfinder and certainly as a good practice whenever creativity seems to be sleeping 😉 Thank you!
Just amazing! is all I can say!!! this method relaxes that internal ‘perfectionist’– completely sacks it really.
I kind of like my rendition…sort of poetic:
Picking Up Down It goes
Where up your nose
Silly as it seems to be
Why ask what happened to me
Tip toe in the dawn tulips
A blip goes blop and ends in slop
Why whistle when the wind wildly wings where
No one sings
Purple dermis does a do for you
Far away it scatched and sizzled
Sinking Rising over the rainbow
Far Far Away working while we wink
This tis tarry til tall tail tell
Signs sickly sink sound
Down dares deeply distressed
Crossword carries Carmel convenience
I think this exercise was great fun! Here’s one I came up with
Cant handle the night
Hope is a nightmare
Dressed in leather and steel
Lace and taffeta laugh at the night
Boots stomp on the moon
Sheep smell the fear of the farmer
#1
hoorah lets get there
somewhere to get free
and have a bit of coffee
and shall not have to pay the fee
for everything there is free free
#2
waves of the sea
always in motion
they are always at work
is everyones’s notion
when there is a storm
they are at commotion
when you find that
you are stuck up in emotions
peace to the heart is what we get
on observing the waves devotion
wire put
fire truth
pour lyre
soar drier (i had to work so hard to not write higher over here)
mere crier
sheer liar
pasty admire
hasty prier
Foam scared blue
Love you too
Don’t dive in
Love is mean
Floor jump sky
Feet can fly
Disconnected
My heart has fainted
I wish it was worth it
I wish I was worth it
What do you think? I have mixed feelings about it
Halo on high
Silver stag midnight woods
Time slows
Bittersweet snowflakes hang
Mutual missing
Longing stinging wind
Howl under night’s cowl
Wow.
Reading all the poems here and then looking at mine= definitely not motivating 😉
I’m going to post it anyway though…
Fall candy sweaters
Makes me laugh
With sadness
Pencils destroy me
Coffee an addiction
Of despairing minds
Paper is linked with
Letters and words unmanageable
Glasses of kindness
Fill my heart with joy
Speakers speak with perfectionism
Destroy me
When people stoop
Or slouch and bend
So stand straighter
I dream as I lay
From last night’s play
I wore armor
That feels warmer
To fight the enemy
And win for my army
I shout in victory
That has become history
this was a terrible one
I blink aim and target
With knife that made me feel joy
As clear as death
Dad claim bed
Shout stop gloom
Laid slain in clean mid marsh
Shave hand and claim bold
Chomp stop and dance
Awesome exercise, perfectionism is definitely a force to contend with.
Mind tool freak teak speak geek
Hello computer find me where you roam
Ventually you step through the foam of life and home
Recover not what you once knew but what you will
Whereto are the masters of the abyss
End of new comes strength and resilience
Btw this is was supposed to be gibberish
Foiled again damn creative mind
Here’s my poem using random words:
Folly fools eat forest leaves
Lyrical leaves fall gushing blur confusing watchers
Birds tweet longingly to distant hills
Falling wings soar endlessly
Fragile features form in tree tops amongst the clouds
Dropping tender tears onto branches
Sip my nectar slowly
Here is my try at it:
Telephone mushroom giveaway
morning eagle closet
green danger value rose
entry speeding blank tube
window future whispering hidden
modern trembles plastic jokesters
parables onion storm demanding
eternity venues zero mixtures
nibbling honesty general spanning
blowing thrust inclement product
Nothing could be more embarrassing than this one. But it’s fun, life is better when you’re laughing.
Water in Mumbai,
Happiness sensation.
Awkward moments!
Formed creative bonds
Made artistic expressions
Experience art and architecture
Different bond with passion
A joyful trip captured.
Work hard and travel,
Wellness through satisfaction.
Enjoying writing having fun!
Forget limits and recapitulate childhood,
Free as an infant,
could go to everyone in the neighborhood.
Let me start by saying the last word of every line was the random word. Except for the last line, the last line is the name of the poem. And this is probably dumb sounding but it’s more of a KIDS’ poem, so it’s supposed to be weird and maybe funny. I don’t even know if it counts as a poem because the last word of every line doesn’t rhyme, but whatever. It’s more like a bunch of incomplete sentences… Well, here goes:
UNFORTUNATE
Heard Biscuit, my dog,
Biscuit had my shirt.
I had bed-head,
Had slept in my closet.
Ran into the sink,
Last night at the skating rink.
Got home on the bus,
Sat on a pencil.
Broke a mirror,
And a doorknob.
Tripped on a bouncy ball,
Lost a yo-yo.
Can’t watch TV.
Popped some balloons.
Found dirty headphones.
My dog ripped a pillow,
He tore up the grass,
Messed up the rocks,
Then chewed my sock,
Ripped the head off my doll,
Crashed my model airplane.
But when he sits on the chair,
I know I’m not totally,
Unfortunate.
It’s true; it is a fun exercise! Here are the words I wrote down, and I did a bit of straightening up to them:
Ghouls smile to girls
Like wolves they twitter
Whitewashed curtains
Behind wreaths and dolls
But teenage games
Have copious spice
Like a box of ginger and flowers
Crumbs and cables
Goad ghosts
But we worn-out tires
Hair stiff split flat crooked and parted
Await the amorphous death
Bright as the moon
I enjoyed the exercise! Thank you for posting! Here’s my first attempt . . .
Bum with rum
Tantalize your mind
Bust a move, not original, but worthy of movement
Sound-ra-la
Post much sound waves, talk a lot
Be free, run far – don’t get caught
Smile with style and hitch it
Beyond my dreams, I live
Trees and stars
Black as night, right as rain, clearly not original but descriptive
Abate do not rate
Something inside squirms
Bringing the A back
A time line stopped and reset
Refresh to start over
Again with the A
Stoic empathy
Brave beyond fear
Sympathy sucks, love is real
I don’t know exactly why most of these things popped into my head. But they did. So here you go. Enjoy!
Apples!
They shall rue the day
For morning comes after night
Red blood shall rein true
For the night is young
And we shall bogey to our hearts content
Cease and desist all intrusions!
For it takes only two to tango
And one more to be rude
Yay verily!
For the day is short
Shorter than expected
Because it’s like that
And that’s the way it is
Pity the fool who’s never watched the A-team
Ed Sheeran should be King of Westeros
Spoiler Alert!
This life weird
Annotations are key
Antonio Banderas is lord
Shut the gates!
Let’s do this!
Logang for life
Thank you
#Pleased
Holy shower devours hours
Mannequin brains strain until they fade
Believable bars of sand can afflict the conscious
Markers of grain make gains upon the day
Optimist birds float upon dandelions of smoke
Golden spires of ancient dust reflect unjust days
This exercise is amazing! Here’s my poem.
Pineapple chair doodles peanut
Can flair mixed poodle rut
Dinosaurs weep
Tiddlywinks sleep
Day draws long of noodles or cuts
Freckle
Pickle
Fun
Page flip harness his slip
Face diet checkers whiz hip
Munch lid ponder
Wide-eyes wander
Doorknob squishes priss lip
Peace
Crease
Run
I wrote this in the comments section. The starting of each line is the word I came up with. Then I fleshed out with minimal thought. Wonderful exercise thank you!
pain is inevitable
life is complicated with hopeless promises
curry stimulates the senses painting yellow stars in the brain
strife fuels courage fueling greatness
peel the skin of perfectionism and expose the priceless flaws
foam bleeds white cuddling bubbles and picturesque mirage
brain fiends optimum success but the line above average houses gold
fight the fear of failure
white knight throwing worded spears
village like happiness no technology just you and the greenery
procrastination insidiously creeps up on you, quick stop while your ahead
vacuum your mind of negative thoughts
barely stop and you’ll be a perfect writer!
duck boomerang never laughing
macabre brain riot
question volume tomb belonging
boom zoom doom and gloom
square leaping sawing bouncing boinging
quitting smoking in the morning