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Here’s a fun and somewhat surprising challenge. Grab a hold of your dictionary and thumb through it. Choose between 10-30 words (verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs) that appeal to you, catch your fancy. Now, construct a poem using only those words. You may, however add the garnishments of articles, conjunctions etc. When you’ve finished, see if you’re not astonished to find a loosely-structured theme. It will probably be one of your more obscure poems but wait and see. Your subconscious may be hard at work in your word choices. I’ve done this a few times and it’s a great way of breaking out of a block, even if it doesn’t turn out to be one of your best poems. Here’s mine:
Afterbirth
Crimson sucklings thirst
for silken flesh.
Doves arc into the sky
unfolding hues
that dangle quiet flames.
Anoint her body,
dormant like a
wooden rocking horse,
alone in liquid,
aching for shelter.
Erase the anguish
of crowning.
Balance loss.
I’m feeling a bit dull myself today so I think I’ll work on another one. If you do this and post it, I would love for you to send me the link in comments.
Victoria C. Slotto, Author 