I had to do an assignment for my poetry workshop class in which I created a writing exercise, so I thought I'd better try out the exercise for myself before I share it with my class.
Here is the exercise, which was inspired by the poem "Reason looks for two, then arranges it from there" by Lyn Hejinian, and then what follows is my doing of the exercise. Enjoy!
Exercise:
- Prepare yourself with writing tools and a way of keeping time, and the time (30-45 minutes, more is also okay) and space to write.
- Use this site to select a random word, or point without looking at a page in a book (or at anything with words on it) to find a random word.
- Set a timer for five minutes and start writing, using the random word as your prompt: do not stop writing until the timer ends; do not stop to correct mistakes.
- Now, read what you wrote and pick out something you like best about it—that is your new prompt.
- Set a timer for five minutes and write again, using your new prompt.
- Read over this new freewrite and pick out something you like best about it—that is your new prompt.
- Set a timer for five minutes and write again, using your new prompt.
- Now spend the remaining minutes reading over this new freewrite and distilling a poem out of it, whatever that looks like for you.
- If you have more time, repeat the five minute freewrites as many times as is fun before distilling a poem out of it.
drop
drip drop goes the rain what rain there was rain. The rain is gone. The rain made the sprouts. or the watering made the sprouts. There are rats outside. the dog hunts the rats. Here comes the cat. I know it’s Suesse, not Brunhilda, though we thought for a minute it was Brunhilda. Maybe it was with the bird. But the rats are all Suesse. This isn’t very disconnected at all. Are they ever. there may be a flea on my arm. If ever there is a feeling, now I think it is a flea. The dog thinks that, too. Yeah, this isn’t very disconnected at all. Are they ever? You can really basically always see the train, the trail, from one thought to another in freewrites, that’s something of the fun of it. But the poems, the one poem in question, isn’t quite like that, I don’t know the thread. But I guess it feels like a freewrite because I believe there is a thread for the writer. But Lyn Hejinian works to fight against that. Oh my, I forgot I should check, I should check on the cord. I hope it’s okay. I guess that’s the thing. Like there are other thoughts between the sentences, but not every thought makes it onto the page. The mind moves faster than the fingers. But sometimes I’ve thought how hard it is to think and write at the same time, how I can’t think of something that I’m trying to think of while I’m writing. Should I add a note about not crossing out mistakes, not stopping to fix mistakes. But the truth is I do. Like I fix a random wrong word, like I just wrote i instead of o back there in random, so many letters ago, and I wrote maybe instead of many, but I fixed them both. Maybe for the next one, I won’t fix them, if I can stop my fingers from doing so.
the mind moves faster than the fingers
just about wrote fater. This time the computer auto corrected. I should perhaps turn that off. Oh it could be interesting to take every other sentence from one of these freewrites and see how that makes a poem. And maybe work then on each sentence so it can be a poem itself. I do think I don’t won’t stop crossing over, fixing. but i will make a conscious effort not to, even as I don’t stop writing. don’t stop can’t stop won’t stop writing. always keeping on writing. never stopping writing. i do want to go to the thing but I think I won’t be able to go to the thing, but maybe I can go to the thing, maybe the timing will work out. that’s a lot to do in a day. the mind moves fater there see I did it again. fater. fater. why is is it harder to type faster. faster. because it uses the right finger, the ring finger is underused. oof I wasn’t thinking of my wrists getting sore, sore fingers can get sore. so my ring finger seems underused, weaker. weaker. weaker uses it. sssss use it. what else uses it. ws ans sss. how do you writs esses. esses. there’s are ways, lots of ways there is another one ax. axe. how do you spell axe. boy oy howdy. mario teaches typing. you can find anything online today. anything at all except the book about the teacher who read to the students who just didn’t care, somewhere in the central valley, and someone maybe wrote a book about that, but the internet, the AI doesn’t not know about it, I can’t find it anywhere, it’s as if I must have made it up but I swear I heard about it for real, I swear I even had.
fater
fater fater cricket pater. that was supposed to say chicken. like dinner dinner chicken dinner. what am I thinking of. I don’t know. like i said, I can’t think of a think I’m trying to think of when I’m writing. I can only think of the things that are right there. loser loser chicken dinner. something something chicken dinner. what rhymes with dinner. linner minner tinner dinner dinner stop corrected me goddam google docs. i want to say x inner, I want to say c inner I want to saw q inner e inner tinner y inner p inner. there is a thing there. something something something something, to that rhythm in my head. I think I do know what I’ll try, the every other sentecne thing . fater. fate fate fate fate one who fates, fater. fate is a noun, not a verb but one who fates is one who can verb with a noun. can you verb with a noun. sure you can. lots of nouns are also verbs. name one. ok sure try to think of something in particular again while writing. impossible i had the question earlier if you lose all your memories, are you still you. it kind of came up in that book o fessays too. and I told lochlan about regarding henry. Harrison ford in that movie, or other movies he made around that time, kind of reminded me of my dad the cleft chin, the dad-like quality of his haggard, slightly haggard , hang dog face. hang dog what’s that mean, the jowels. how do you spell jowls i think that might be it. si the hang dog expression means the muscles have started to lose their definition.
The poem, a bit cleaned up:
Drip drop goes the rain—what rain—there was rain. The rain made sprouts. There are rats outside. Here comes the cat; maybe it was with the bird. This isn’t very disconnected. There may be a flea on my arm. The dog thinks that, too. Yeah, this isn’t very disconnected at all. You can always see the train, the trail, from one thought to another here, that’s something of the fun of it. But I guess it feels like one because I believe there is a thread for the writer. I forgot I should check—I should check on the cord. I guess that’s the thing: the mind moves faster than the fingers. Should I add a note about not crossing out mistakes, not stopping to fix mistakes. Like I fix a random wrong word, like I just wrote “I” instead of “O “back there, so many letters ago, and I wrote maybe instead of many, but I fixed them. Just about wrote fater. I should perhaps turn that off. And maybe work then on each sentence so it can be a poem itself. But I will make a conscious effort not to, even as I don’t stop writing. Always keeping on writing. I do want to go to the thing but I think I won’t be able to go to the thing, but maybe I can go to the thing, maybe the timing will work out. The mind moves fater—there, see, I did it again. Fater. Faster. I wasn’t thinking of my wrists getting sore, sore fingers can get sore. Weaker. Sssss use it. Ws and Sss. Esses. Axe. Boy oy howdy, you can find anything online today. Fater fater cricket pater. Like dinner dinner chicken dinner. I don’t know. I can only think of the things that are right there. Something something chicken dinner. Linner minner tinner dinner dinner, stop correcting me, goddam google docs. There is a thing there. I think I do know what I’ll try, the every other sentence thing. Fate is a noun, not a verb but one who fates is one who can verb with a noun. Sure you can. Name one. Impossible I had the question earlier if you lose all your memories, are you still you. I told Lochlan about Regarding Henry. Hang dog—what’s that mean, the jowls. Yes the hang dog expression means the muscles have started to lose their definition.