An oldie but a goodie, from Rita Dove via Robin Behn & Chase Twitchell’s The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach – one of the first books I ever bought online, and one I still go back to. As I do to this exercise.
The Ten Minute Spill
Write a ten line poem that includes a proverb or adage that you have modified in some way (right as rain to light as rain, for example), as well as five of the following words:
cliff
needle
voice
whir
blackberry
cloud
mother
lick
You have ten minutes. From right now.
Go!
A Dark Feathered Art 