A toolbox of words

An idea that you might like to try, a gentle way to introduce some poetry into your creative journal.

Pick up any book and let it fall open. Allow your eyes to jump and skip around over the page until they stop on a word. Write that word down, or maybe even rip it, or cut it out if that is possible. Keep going, look for more words. After a few minutes swap to a different book or a magazine until you have a handful of words.

Perhaps some of the words just make you smile. Some of them feel good on your tongue, some make you curious and others might be strange or unfamiliar, inspiring you want to find out what they mean. It’s all good.

Now put the words somewhere safe, maybe into a box, so that you know where they are when you need them. You now have a unique resource that you can play with and add to any time you feel like it.

Try making some one line ‘poems’ by stringing some of your words together.

Maybe put a few of those lines together to make a longer poem. Playing with words is a bit like playing with paint, a bit of this and a dab of that just to see what happens when they mix together.

The results might surprise you.

I pulled some words out of the box above and played with them:

“The desert nomad dreams of overdue weather and the hidden pleasures to be found in savouring a bowl of steaming broth.” 

Your poem might feel finished and ready to be written into your journal, however you may want to play some more. Perhaps the words inspire you to write a longer poem or a story. Maybe they causes a prickle of memory for you and you find yourself painting in swirling colours …

So many possibilities from just a few words that caught your eye.

(The idea of a box of words comes from the book ‘Inner Excavation:  Explore yourself through photography, Poetry and Mixed Media, by Liz Lamoreux 2010).

Written by Pam Wakefield