In Praise of the Unlikely
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Praise poetry is almost ubiquitous in world literature. Another trajectory of poetry over time has been the inclusion of an ever-broadening field of what can be brought into the complicating, expanding vision of the lyric. This writing experiment (I prefer offering an “experiment” to the more dutiful “exercise”) combines these two variables in a way completely accessible to beginning writers, yet still interesting to the more experienced. First, without any preface, ask the participating writers to make a series of lists. Be inventive with these—have them write down some colors, some sounds, animals, abstractions, flavors, household objects, places… Make one of these lists “ some things you can’t imagine writing a poem about.” You might give some examples—a cockroach, the scent of an armpit left on a coat. (You will want, as you’ll see in a moment, to find your own examples.) View exercise