Writing Exercise #17

Today's ghost line is:

Wall me up alive in my own body.


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(This ghost line is from Margaret Atwood's "Helen of Troy Does Counter Dancing")

Writing Exercise #16

Ingredients:

1. what you stole

2. what you should not have let him/her take

3. what you want back


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Write an apology list poem. To everyone. One per line. DO NOT list who the apology belongs to. If you broke mom's favorite picture frame, write "broken picture frame." then let that image graduate into something else, like, "cracked third grade smile." If you stole someone's car, let that graduate into, "the missing engine." see?!?!? that's IT. None of these have to be real. Except for the things you listed in #1 & 2. When referencing #2, of course, it is an apology to yourself. The importance here is in the specific details. And in keeping each apology as private as possible. And in never actually writing the word "sorry" or "apology." After all that, figure out a way to squeeze some of the lines into a poem about what you wrote for #3.

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(This exercise was inspired by my obsession with creating new lists to mine from.)

Writing Exercise #15

Ingredients:


1. a bad day

2. an act that requires deep concentration

3. a small space



First off, don't choose a day that has the potential to ruin this day. Cool? Cool. Now that we have that all cleared up:

write a poem or story in third person. You don't get to be "I" in your worst day story. You have to be He or She or the man or the woman or the girl or the boy or the invisible dog.

Describe the atmosphere of the worst day (#1). What fruits weren't in season? What song was caught in your hair? What animal was in the road? What word was painted on the butcher's wrists? What stepped off of the train? Which one of your teeth snuck away? If you don't remember, that's even better. MAKE IT UP. If you do remember! Lie! Perfect.

Narrate yourself through this day. What was your heart doing to avoid all of this (#2). Narrate the importance of its ignorance. Finally, pick something or someone (real or not real) that was waiting for you when you got home. Where, exactly, was it? (#3) Oh, and don't tell what the thing was doing there. This should be left between the thing and the reader.

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(This exercise was inspired by A Series of Unfortunate Events.)