Experimental Poetry 5: Random Prompts

Poets are always looking for inspiration for their writing. Sometimes, an idea, or phrase or picture will jump onto your head. It's easy to write a poem from that kind of inspiration. At other times, the old writer's block sets in and you struggle to find that great idea for your next poem. It's then you might need to force it a little. Here are three more methods:

Method 9: Random Words. There are lots of free to use Random Word generators online such as this one and this one. Select one and use it to create a list of random, unrelated words. Any one (or all) of those words might be the one(s) that prompts your next masterpiece.

Method 10: Random Images. It's easy to find random images. You'll find them in magazines and coffee table books, and many poetry groups routinely post photo prompts. You'll also find them all over the web. Go to Google or another search engine and type in Random Image. Up will pop at least 4 unrelated images, and at least one should inspire you to write poetry.

Method 11: Reverse Images. This time, once the have the images in front of you, write instead about the opposite, the reverse of the image or the idea it represents. Think about that object, person or idea in a strange or surreal alternative context, where it couldn't possibly comfortably exist. If you see hate, write about love. If you see peace, write about conflict.

We'll explore more experimental poetry methods next time. Keep writing!

Steve Wheeler 

Image from Flickr used under a Creative Commons licence

Previous posts in this series:

Experimental Poetry 1: Found Poetry
Experimental Poetry 2: Stream of Consciousness
Experimental Poetry 3: Fake Translations
Experimental Poetry 4: Overlapping Voices