Writing Exercises

Hello,

I'm leading a local community writers group called Writer's Block in Boulder tonight and thought I'd make my prompts and exercises available on the web so that those who can't make it tonight might still participate and so anyone can see how I approach exercising our minds in poetry.

The group is meant to spur ideas and give us tools to reach deeper into ourselves to pull the words out. Please feel free to utilize these in your own writing spaces, to alter the prompts to your liking for your uses and to reply with pieces that were inspired by these exercises! Thank you!

Speed Metaphor -
Take 1 minute on each and create a metaphor for each word off the top of your head.
Share your favorite with the group or in the comments below!

Word Bank:

*Returning
*Silence
*Growth

Other Words:

*Simple
*Tyranny
*Ache

Examples:

Returning is a silent film on rewind in the basement of your mothers old house, we drink local beer and act like no time has passed. Returning is an empty smile from a well intentioned stranger walking through the ghost town in morning fog. Returning to you is the goosebumps on the backs of my arm that rise only when truth is being spoken.

Silence, a snowstorm that slows for no man’s shivers
Silence waits for the perfect moment to fold me into itself like dough.
Silence is the moment after the sirens finally fade.

Growth is nothing more than an anthology on a shelf, a cold pat on the back for never burning out, half hearted apologies for someone you can no longer own up to, someone you don’t see in the mirror, Growth is the vines that crawl up the side of these bricks you’ve been hiding behind for years, waiting for your escape, while they await an opportunity to hook vine to flesh and leave behind seeds.

The Difference:
Take 2 minutes each or make up your own comparisons.
Share your favorite one with the group or in the comments below!

Comparisons:

*between memories and regrets
*between love and lust
*between mind and soul
*between you and me
*between pain and pleasure

Example:

The difference between love and lust is as stark as the contrast of belly laughs and teeth in bare skin. Though both may satisfy that which hopes to watch us float away from this ground, we fly off the handle for different reasons every time, do I need the parts of you I can see, or the parts I can’t?

Rhyme it out:
Take two minutes to choose one or more of the words below and write a short rhyme either about this word or using this word. Try to keep a rhyme scheme as long as you can or choose an A/B/A/B format. Perform the rhyme or rap it to a beat if you can.

Choose a word to start:

*absolute
*advice
*behave
*capacity
*cautious
*demand
*deserve
*emerge
*elevate

Example:

My conviction absolute
your observations are astute

but don't try to be cute
or dilute my pursuit.

I'm feeling like the fruit
growing ripe enough to loot

hug the soil they pollute
I'm just aching for my roots

Imagine: (4 minutes each or choose one)
Try to create vivid images of what the scene would look like.

Scenarios:

*How the forest looks from the perspective of the tree

*How homelessness would look for you right now

*What does it mean to be “free” and “brave” in America?

*What does it look like when you are content...?

Example:

(Pine describes the forest to the human)

As day breaks the light passes through us in thin beams to reach the earth,

and I stretch my branches out in the wind, to greet the warmth, feel the constant

vibration of my family passing nutrients beneath the soil, lifting each other up.

Just because we are stationary does not mean we are stagnant
this motion, barely detectable feeds all life on this planet, and we know it.
We have been moving in slow motion for longer than linear time has been applicable.
You can feel this energy flow beneath your feet, tiny human.

I can see the valley and canyon below booming with life and
spring growth as the last of the storm melts around my roots.
I hear the birds calling out that they are coming home and I

reach further toward the sky to catch them as they land, saying "nest here"

This unity is our purpose, to sway and burn as one,
to support the weakest branches or turn them back into earth.
The saplings and old growth help to keep the balance and levity 

stirring onward in attempts to keep you all breathing

Here I stand to serve this land
from near the tree line on this range,
so it was planned, I'd lend a hand
and bare witness to coming change.

Writers Block meets every Wednesday night at 9-10pm
at Block 1750 at 1750 30th st, Boulder CO

A different poet leads the group each week with
prompts and exercises to inspire participants.