Thank you for joining us in The Writer’s Playground series!
Here we run through writing games to spark imagination and sharpen your craft.
Today’s Exercise is
Title First, Poem Second
- Objective: To generate a poem from the feeling and promise of a title.
- How to Play:
- Everyone writes down a poetic or intriguing title on a slip of paper (e.g., “The Archaeologist’s Love Song,” “Instructions for a Ghost,” “Map of a City at 3 AM”).
- All titles go into a hat. Each person draws a title that isn’t their own.
- Set a timer for 10-15 minutes for everyone to write the poem that goes with the title they drew.
- Best for: Generating ideas from a single constraint, exploring theme and tone.
Either come up with your own titles (the preferred method), or a facilitator can select a few from the list below. Throw a couple extra in to keep it interesting:
The Cartographer’s Apology | An Astronaut’s Guide to Heartbreak |
Lullaby for a Burning City | The Beekeeper’s Secret |
Field Guide to Midwestern Ghosts | The Post Office at the End of the World |
A Catalog of Impossible Colors | Instructions for a Disappearing Act |
Elegy for a Sunken Cathedral | The Geometry of a Hurricane |
Last Will and Testament of a Botanist | A Brief History of Rust |
The Somnambulist’s Field Notes | An Inventory of a Shipwreck |
Report from the Department of Lost Memories | The Taxonomy of a Final Conversation |
Hypothesis Concerning the Migration of Regrets | How to Explain Time to a Goldfish |
Seven Kinds of Static | Interlude at the Halfway House for Fallen Angels |
Weeds in the Garden of a Grieving Widow | The Ghost’s Automatic Watch |
Notes on the Art of Forgetting | A Recipe for Silence |
The Menagerie of Regrettable Superpowers |
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