4. Living Poetry 3
Add an adjective in front of all the words you
gathered
Write a poem
5. Living Poetry 4
Write down nouns and verbs on post its or index
cards
Go around the high school and label things
Write down the combinations that you and the
others have created
Write a poem
6. Living Poetry 5
Try putting only one, two, three or four words on a
line. You are more likely to use words you really want.
7. Living Poetry 6
Who were you in my dream?
What did you hear?
What were you wearing?
What were you eating?
What did you want?
Why were you hiding?
Who was with you?
Where were you going?
8. Living Poetry 7
Seek, spy, and stalk.
Record a random conversation.
Turn it into a poem.
9. Living Poetry 8
My real name is
Yesterday my name was
Tomorrow my name will be
In my dream my name was
My (mother, father, friends, teacher . . .) thinks my
name is
10. Living Poetry 9
“Poetry has an interesting function. It helps people be where they are.”
“All of my poems are suggested by real life and therein have a firm
foundation . . . No one can imitate when you write of the particular,
because no others have experienced exactly the same thing.” –Goethe
Walk somewhere alone. Look. Listen. Feel. Experience. Write about
what’s around you, using all of your senses.
Create a poem.
12. Living Poetry 11
Find an atlas and look at some maps. Make a list of
place names you like. Begin to imagine a planet or a
country or an island where you’d like to live.
Begin to paint this place with words.
What color is the sky? Are there rocks, hills,
mountains? Are there trees? Describe and name the
flowers. Place yourself there. What does the ground
feel like under your feet? What kind of person, or
being, could you allow yourself to be there?
13. Living Poetry 12
Go outside and turn over a stone and list in detail
what’s under the stone.
14. Living Poetry 13
Pick one color
Notice everything and write down things that are that
color
Write a poem
15. Living Poetry 14
If I were a color, what color would I be?
What shape, sound, animal, song, number, car, piece
of furniture, food, place, element in nature . . .
Write a poem
17. Living Poetry 16
Make a wordpool of feeling words, going on opposites
Then choose an image/picture
Choose a feeling from your list. Look closely at your
image and find a detail that seems to express your
feeling. i.e I feel as still as a white water jug.
Lastly, write a poem
20. Living Poetry 19
List feeling words
Can focus on oxymorons
I feel as disturbed as
As peaceful as
Expectant as
Enraged as
Jubilant as
21. Living Poetry 20“Sometimes part of writing a poem is as simple as looking carefully
and bringing things together through simile and metaphor.”
Take an object and think about what it looks like. Describe exactly
what you see. Look around you. Does your lampshade look like a
ballerina’s pink pleated skirt?
Write
I see
It looks like
The pine tree looks like a torpedo
Write a poem based on what you have seen.
22. Living Poetry 21
Where do you need freedom in your life? What part
of you is longing to be expressed that you’ve ignored
or shut off for fear of failure, fear of success, no time,
or because you’re being overly responsible?
Ask that part of you to speak.
Write a poem.
