| Submitted by Ann Gasser (adapted from a Jack Myers exercise) EXERCISE: Using A Common Object, Functions of the Object, Plus Insight
Choose some common object and make a list of all the functions
you can think of for that object. As an example, Ann used the word "sand."
sandbox
footprints in the sand
sand castles
sandpaper
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shifting sand
desert sand
sand tarts
cat's litter box
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sand to walk on
in sunlight
in moonlight
during a storm |
The insight depends on what you think of as you write about the object. It should relate to something else to give the poem another layer of meaning. Ann's example: THOUGHTS ON A SANDY BEACH - by Ann Gasser © All Rights Reserved Sun stabs down--
hot daggers from a hostile sky.
Wind sandpapers every bronze body,
blows sand into eyes and mouths
works its way into hidden seams.
Humans are sand tarts today,
baking, well-oiled and glistening,
sprinkled with sand.
Sandy children collect shells,
build sand castles with turrets and moats
decorate them with treasures from the sea. I watch the scene, the shifting sand,
and feel like a footprint in the sand of time,
waiting for a magic turquiose wave
to make me disappear--
to wash me back
into the sea that is Eternity. |