Today we have a wealth of knowledge at our fingertips, sitting in our pockets and streaming continuously. Use it! Go and click the feeling lucky tab on the google search engine. What ever subject comes up, spend 15 exploring the new topic or images and then 5 minutes writing about it or the way it makes you feel. Where you disappointed? Couldn’t find anything new? Got stuck in the google doodles?
This odd looking plant is a teasel, look at its structure and colour, what does the shape say to you? Do you have memories of hill walking or your grandmothers garden? Look at the photo for a few minutes and then begin to write – do at least 15 minutes.
Cut up old magazines and news paper, taking the larger typed headlines. Keep going until you’re board! Now spread the words out and begin to arrange them into a stream or river of words. You can glue them to paper or card and create your poem this way or just see what words are presented too you by the exercise and take those away with you to work on later.
If you do the second option then look at the words, is there and strange but powerful combinations you made from the cut outs? Take these phrases and use them as the starts of poems.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day…. or is it? What is your morning culinary routine? Is it exact with triangles of toast and marmalade or is is a cornflakes in toddlers hair nightmare? What where breakfasts as in your childhood like. Or do you skip the whole affair?
Answer these questions and think on what is you favourite start to the day.
Spend 5 minutes quickly jotting these down, preferably whilst you are actually eating breakfast (or skipping it on the train), then leave the list until the evening when you can go through and begin to construct a poem from it.
What does this photo say to you? Does it speak of war or teenage naughtiness in restricted areas?
Examine the picture for a while and then site down and do 20 minutes writing, if you have trouble getting started just describe what it there in the image.
Reason and logic are wonderful tools to help us understand the world but sometimes they just don’t work or you forget they are just tools and miss obvious things because you rely on them too heavily. Do you have any stories about logic becoming illogical? Or maybe a crush on Mr Spock? Or has it saved your bacon?
Rummage around in your memories, then sit for 10 minutes and write.
If you can not think of anything then see where the phrase, ‘all unicorns are purple’ takes you.
This graffiti was found on boarding in Gloucester City UK, it is a fun yet deep depiction of a deer who’s shadow spells the word believe. What does this picture say to you? Who is the belief in? Who is believing? What is belief?
Look at the photo and then set yourself a timer for 15 minutes and write about the image.
Love them or hate them, cats have near 10, 000 years of history in common with us. They were once worshipped as gods, understandable if you think about communities that where dependent on their grain stores and the damage small squeaky rodents could inflict.
Write about cats! Weather it is your allergy or the fact the hairless ones freak you out! Do you love the purring but not the dead mice presents left on the door step?
Did you grow up with cats?
Do you want them all turned into fur coats?
Write a list of things you like/dislike about them. Then play devils advocate and argue the opposite of the way you feel about them. This sort of exercise can give you an interesting basis for a poem.
Apart from poetry, are you obsessed with anything? Ask yourself the questions:
What are you obsessed about?
Why are you obsessed about that thing in particular?
What extreme actions will you take to sate an obsession?
What do those close to you think of it?
What are their own little foibles in this area?
Set yourself a timer of ten minutes and just write about your obsessions, this may take list form or be coherent paragraphs. Just go with the flow.
Once the ten minutes are up, read the list out. Is there an over all theme within the writing or an innate structure? Use this list as the structure to build your poem on.
Look at the picture above, what does it stay to you? How does it make you feel?
Spend 20 minutes writing about the picture, start off by describing what it is. Once this is done go over the piece of writing and see if there is the seed of a poem in there!