Writing Exercises
Write a poem that's six sentences long. One sentence should be much longer than all of the other sentences in the poem. Two of the sentences should be much shorter than all of the other sentences in the poem. The poem should contain the words "Utah," "ping," "tractor," and the scientific name for an insect.
This reminds me of an exercise that Carl Phillips gave at the Nebraska Writers Conference, actually I guess it's called the Nebraska Summer Writers' Conference, a couple years ago. Let's see, what was his exercise?
Ok, well, I managed to find all five of his exercises buried in an old folder. He offered one per day during the conference. He seemed to be creating them off the top of his head. This is how I transcribed them:
Five exercises from Carl Phillips--Lincoln, Nebraska, July 2004
#1
Compose a poem that contains three types of sentences—statements, fragments, questions.
Use one of the sentence types once, one of the sentence types twice, and use the other type three times.
Your poem should include an animal and something sexual.
#2
Write a poem that is no more than 15 lines.
Use three sentences—one long, one short, one in between.
Your poem should include the word “lamentably,” a piece of fruit, and a piece of dialogue.
#3
Write a three stanza poem.
Two of the stanzas should be consistent in the way they break lines.
The third stanza should have line breaks that are not consistent.
Each stanza should be a different length, but know why.
Your poem should include a terrible wound, a tree referred to by its scientific name, a garment (not on the body it once was on).
#4
Write a poem that is two stanzas.
Stanza one focuses on the argument.
Stanza two focuses on the image/imagery.
Your poem should include a tattoo and a latinate word.
#5
Write a poem that borrows a line (the first line) from another poem.
Use this borrowed line like an acrostic:
each line in your poem begins with a word from the borrowed line.
Your poem’s first line begins with the first word, second line begins with the second word, etc.
The first word of the poem will also be the last word.
This reminds me of an exercise that Carl Phillips gave at the Nebraska Writers Conference, actually I guess it's called the Nebraska Summer Writers' Conference, a couple years ago. Let's see, what was his exercise?
Ok, well, I managed to find all five of his exercises buried in an old folder. He offered one per day during the conference. He seemed to be creating them off the top of his head. This is how I transcribed them:
Five exercises from Carl Phillips--Lincoln, Nebraska, July 2004
#1
Compose a poem that contains three types of sentences—statements, fragments, questions.
Use one of the sentence types once, one of the sentence types twice, and use the other type three times.
Your poem should include an animal and something sexual.
#2
Write a poem that is no more than 15 lines.
Use three sentences—one long, one short, one in between.
Your poem should include the word “lamentably,” a piece of fruit, and a piece of dialogue.
#3
Write a three stanza poem.
Two of the stanzas should be consistent in the way they break lines.
The third stanza should have line breaks that are not consistent.
Each stanza should be a different length, but know why.
Your poem should include a terrible wound, a tree referred to by its scientific name, a garment (not on the body it once was on).
#4
Write a poem that is two stanzas.
Stanza one focuses on the argument.
Stanza two focuses on the image/imagery.
Your poem should include a tattoo and a latinate word.
#5
Write a poem that borrows a line (the first line) from another poem.
Use this borrowed line like an acrostic:
each line in your poem begins with a word from the borrowed line.
Your poem’s first line begins with the first word, second line begins with the second word, etc.
The first word of the poem will also be the last word.
posted by Anonymous at 8:29 AM
1 Comments:
I loved the first challenge, so much that I couldn't resist it. Thanks for posting these.
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