Invite some fellow poets or writers or friends round, have a stack of poetry books about and plenty of paper and pens!

Sit in a circle and get one person to open a book, choose a line of poetry or prose from it, and then whisper it into the ear of the person next to them. They then in turn whisper it to the next person and it goes round the circle. Once you get back to the beginning the last person says what it is they heard – this will normally be altered from the original and may well be something fresh and inspiring (and hopefully not too rude)!

Write these altered lines down. Once you’ve got a few and you’re bored of the game all sit down with them and try constructing a poem or two from what you have.