Category Archives: Writing Exercise

Try this while riding on a train, subway, bus, or car. At a high speed, the familiar suddenly becomes the unfamiliar. Try writing while riding. Capture the blur. Warning: it is illegal to try this writing exercise while driving in the state of California.

Let these images by Charley Harper lead you into a new poem.

For anyone (either desperately or blithely) seeking writing exercises, check out this ever-expanding collection of great ideas on Amy King's blog a.k.a. ALIAS.

Here's a writing prompt for today.  Imagine that this photo depicts an unusual door.  Describe this portal, your journey through it, and whatever it is that you discover on the other side. Prose or poetry, the choice is yours.

Here’s a list of links to writing exercises from all around the web: My own! Check out the Open Series here on Big Window. Kelli Russell Agodon provides 30 writing prompts for National Poetry Month at her blog, the Book of Kells. Lists of great writing experiments by Bernadette Mayer and Charles Bernstein. At theContinue reading “12 Links to Writing Prompts on the Web”

Write a directive.  It can be poetry or prose. Credit for this exercise goes to my friend Mary Adams.  The model is "After Apple Picking" by Robert Frost.  It should be written as a set of impossible instructions.  Use the second person: "You will see angry bees swarming a phone booth."  If you give thisContinue reading “Open 35: Abstract Map (or Let’s Get Lost)”

  Here's a writing prompt you might want to try.  The idea comes from Pablo Neruda's famous Book of Questions.  Write a poem that is entirely made of questions. (this photo "star, not star."  was originally uploaded to flickr by wacky doodler)

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } (Quijote, originally uploaded by JuliusTheCat onto flickr) Your next poem is inside this photo.  I promise you–it is right here!  All  you have to do is be its scribe.

Here’s a new writing exercise.  Let me know how it works for you.  Feel free to post your results in the comment section below. Here’s a passage by Jack Kerouac about how to get your writing mojo on.  I’m lifting it from the Language is a Virus website.  Let it be your guide as youContinue reading “Open 32: Writing Like a Kerouac”

This writing prompt begins with a photograph.  You can use the one by Travis Ruse that I have posted below, or find one on your own and print a copy.  Draw a  4×4 grid onto the photo.  A ruler is not necessary!  You will end up with 16 boxes.  Write a 16 line poem, usingContinue reading “Open 31”

One of my colleagues from the WomPo list serve asked whether we could think of any poems about furniture. At first I found the concept ridiculous.  Then I remembered having written a poem called "Easy Chair."  And then I remembered another one I wrote called "Scat Sofa."  I felt very silly then. If you’d likeContinue reading “Open 30: The Furniture Poem”

The clock is ticking on this one.  Make a poem out of spam and enter it today.  Here’s the scoop on the Spam Poetry Game, Round 2.  It’s an email from Cecil Touchon. Date: Mon, 7 May 2007 20:42:42 -0500 From: Cecil Touchon <touchon at SPRYNET dot COM> Subject: THE SPAM POETRY GAME The followingContinue reading “Fun with Spam”