The 20 Exercise Poem Activity

For this next activity, we are going to use Jim Simmerman’s 20 Exercise Poem creation directions below. Follow the direction below to create your own poem. Begin the poem with a metaphor. Say something specific but utterly preposterous. Use at least one image for each of the five senses, either in succession or scattered randomly throughout the poem. Use one example of synesthesia (mixing the senses). Use the proper name of a person and the proper name of a place. Contradict something you said earlier in the poem. Change direction or digress from the last thing you said. Use a word (slang?) you’ve never seen in a poem. Use and example of false cause-effect logic. Use a piece of “talk” you’ve actually heard (preferably in dialect and/or which you don’t understand). Create a metaphor using the following construction: “The (adjective) (concreate noun) of (abstract noun)…” Use an image in such a way as to reverse its usual associative qualities. Make the persona or character in the poem do something they could not do in “real life.” Refer to yourself by nickname and in the third person. Write in the future tense, such that part of the poem seems to be a prediction. Modify a noun with an unlikely adjective. Make a declarative assertion that sounds convincing but that finally makes no sense. Use a phrase from a language other than English. Make a nonhuman object say or do something human (personification). Close the poem with a vivid image that makes no statement, but that “echoes” an image from earlier in the poem. Finally, add a title based on what you have written. Feel free to revise your poem afterwards. Use the attached poem “Moon Go Away, I Don’t Love You No MorePreview the document” as an example of the activity. The second assignment is :Part I – First Thoughts In as many ways as you can, write the word or phrase to end these sentence: Her eyes are as blue as… Waves unfurled like… Hot as… Leaves crunch like… Everyone in the class try to add at least two words/phrases for each line and post to the discussion. Write the first words/phrases that come to your mind. Now look at the list you have generated. What’s tired and old, and what visuals are most striking? Part II – Fresh Similes or Metaphors Next, use this list that the class has generated to create new similes or turn these three lines into metaphors that contain striking imagery and that are not familiar or used before. Post your new simile or metaphor for everyone else to read.