Poetry Exercise : Writing off the Page

[spacedonkey]

This is from Natalie Goldberg's book "Writing Down the Bones".

Take a poetry book. Open to any page, grab a line, write it down, and continue from there. A friend calls it "writing off the page". If you begin with a great line, it helps because you start right off from a lofty place.

"I will die in Paris, on a rainy day ... It will be a Thursday," by the poet Cesar Vallejo. "I will die on Monday at eleven o'clock, on Friday at three o'clock in South Dakota rising a tractor, in Brooklyn in a delicatessen," on and on. Every time you get stuck, just rewrite the first line and keep going. Rewriting the first line gives you a whole new start and a chance for another direction - "I don't want to die and I don't care if I'm in Paris or Moscow or Youngstown, Ohio".

I like daft little ditties

I've just bought a moped
Because
I can't stand the mess and I'm going to snap ...

I've just bought a moped
Because I can't stand the mess and I'm going to snap ...

I've just bought a moped
To make a bittersweet visit to santa's grotto ...

Wow! I just told dh we'd divorce tomorrow.
Perception and reality.
Think this really is the last time, and we need to separate.
Life spiralling out of control, this has been done before.
Is it me? Am I the only one with this?
I can't be alone.

that's pretty blimmin good

Nice one SD!!

Here is mine....the rhythm isn;t quite perfected but here you go!

Canned food causes botulism

Canned food causes botulism? Is it true I ask?
Do I need to eat baked beans bedecked with oxygen mask?
And if I ate some pate would my nose begin to swell?
(Or probably, more likely, would my arse begin to smell?)

And if I eat roast chicken, pre-cooked from Tesco best
Will I catch the dreaded lurgy and end up getting stressed?
If the mayo on my BLT dared to be cursed with egg
Would rogue pubic hair begin to drift right down my upper leg?

If wine were served with dinner and I drank a little glass
Would my baby always be right at the bottom of his class?
What if I fancied a little feast of peanuts and some brie-
I’d feel the eyes of one thousand midwives glaring down on me!

So canned food causes botulism? Does it? I don’t know!
I’ve been around for thirty years and I’m alright you know!
So who is it that says this stuff? Says what to put on your plate?
The next thing they’ll be saying is the chocolate piles on the weight!

And WWB!!

HOOT! That's superb!

“How much of the day does your baby spend crying?”
“Mine slept through at 6 weeks”
“She’s a bitch – must be lying!”

Just wondering for any of the PC brigade -
What is the correct way to address a glass of lemonade?
Is it ‘Good evening, your fizziness, you’re looking well tonight!”
Or will the glass just look at me like I am talking shite?

posycal, your food one is fantastic!

popsy

another thread titles one:-

what time did you go into labour
can't sleep anyone up for a chat
don't know how to cope anymore
breach-ceaserean v active-birth - any experience
perception and reality
nimme's baby has arrived bang on time

Love the food one Popsycal. The last line made me laugh. (chocolate? - weight? -Never!)

any more folks???

I really enjoyed this exercise, despite mine being a rushed off ditty!

Can't sleep, anyone still up for a chat?
Next-door's daughter has painted half my cat
Up at six-thirty, not feeling very chipper
Got a ragged nail, but I can't find the clippers
Can't sleep, anyone get hit at work today?
I did, but he's a OAP, there's nothing I can say
Toddler whining in his cot, too young to count sheep
But truth be told, he's related to me, he probably can't sleep

After the Shopping Trip.
(With acknowledgements to OnZephyrstdayofXmas)

I guess that told me!! "I don't love you" he said,
Staring at me across a box of pirates.
Oh!!!
Sod the naughty stair
Sod the toddler taming
Sod the staring people in the supermarket checkout queue!
Just smile again,
and still love me!

jangly