20 Poetry Projects Writing Exercise by Jim Simmerman
Hi readers and writerly friends!
Welcome back to my blog! I’m glad you stopped by! This week, I’ll be showing you how to write a poem from a bunch of nonsensical lines. 20 Poetry Projects is a creative writing exercise by Jim Simmerman, taken from The Practice of Poetry, Robin Behn and Chase Twitchell.
In my sophomore creative writing and poetry class, we did this activity and I had a lot of fun with it, so I figured I’d share it with you! Later in this post, I will do a second attempt at this writing exercise with a step-by-step look at my process.
My favorite example of this was “A Thousand and One Nights” written by Margo Roby for the literary journal, Lunarosity. I had this information in my files from school, and couldn’t find the webpage where Margo Roby posted the poem she wrote from this exercise, step-by-step. I did find it on her website so I’ll link that in my bibliography, but if anyone can find the other webpage, please link it in the comments!
20 Poetry Projects by Jim Simmerman
1. Begin the poem with a metaphor.
2. Say something specific but utterly preposterous.
3. Use at least one image for each of the five senses, either in
succession or scattered randomly throughout the poem.
4. Use one example of synesthesia [mixing the senses].
5. Use the proper name of a person and the proper name of a place.
6. Contradict something you said earlier in the poem.
7. Change direction or digress from the last thing you said.
8. Use a word [slang?] you’ve never seen in a poem.
9. Use an example of false cause-effect logic.
10. Use a piece of talk you’ve heard [preferably in dialect and/or which you don’t understand].
11. Create a metaphor using the following construction: The [adjective] [concrete noun] of [abstract noun]…
12. Use an image in such a way as to reverse its usual associative qualities.
13. Make the character in the poem do something he/she could not do in real life.
14. Refer to yourself by nickname and in the third person.
15. Write in the future tense such that part of the poem sounds like a prediction.
16. Modify a noun with an unlikely adjective.
17. Make a declarative assertion that sounds convincing but that finally makes no sense.
18. Use a phrase from a language other than English.
19. Personify an object.
20. Close the poem with a vivid image that makes no statement, but that echoes an image from earlier in the poem. (Simmerman)
I will use these steps when my brain is not behaving, when I have an idea and don’t know where to go with it. There are steps I ignore, but not many. Below is the final draft as published in Lunarosity, a now defunct ezine. I was going nuts while typing the drafts from my old notes. I kept wanting to fix things and get rid of verbs of being. I also had to decipher the original below my first revisions.
I am a concrete person with my writing. When I first tried this, I was sitting on our bed, in Jakarta, because that was my work space. I was feeling downhearted with life — I wrote the first line. I had a small Persian carpet next to me I was staring at while trying to figure out how to do this prompt — I wrote the next line…
1. I am a prisoner without walls
2. among the flowers of my Persian carpet vines/weeds are beginning to sproutOnce I had a focus, a direction, I found the exercise much easier to carry out. I don’t think I can write this exercise without knowing where I am going. It would be interesting to try, though. Randomness has merit. (Roby)
Steps with my first draft
1. Begin the poem with a metaphor.
I am a prisoner without walls
2. Say something specific but utterly preposterous.
among the flowers of my Persian carpet vines/weeds are beginning to sprout
3. Use at least one image for each of the five senses, either in succession or scattered randomly throughout the poem.
They twine and curl reaching for me pulling me down into the fields of silk and wool; as I slide through warp and weft I hear the rustle of thread grasses. My nostrils fill with the pungency of sheep and goats and I taste the dryness of dust.
4. Use one example of synesthesia [mixing the senses].
The dampness of a blue silk river runs through my ears.
5. Use the proper name of a person and the proper name of a place.
Nearby, Omar Khayyam sits writing under a date palm, the white minarets of Nineveh on the horizon.
6. Contradict something you said earlier in the poem.
If a carpet can have a horizon.
7. Change direction or digress from the last thing you said.
The hunt was on; turbaned caliphs on Arabian steeds, bows and arrows slung across their backs, chased a leopard peering forever across his shoulder.
8. Use a word [slang?] you’ve never seen in a poem.
Tally ho and an arrow is loosed never hitting its mark,
9. Use an example of false cause-effect logic.
suspended eternally in mid-air by silken threads.
10. Use a piece of talk you’ve heard [preferably in dialect and/or which you don’t understand].
A thousand throats can be slit by one man running.
11. Create a metaphor using the following construction: The [adjective] [concrete noun] of [abstract noun]…
The towering trees of thought stand in an expectancy of silence
12. Use an image in such a way as to reverse its usual associative qualities.
and I stand in the trap free of danger
13. Make the character in the poem do something he/she could not do in real life.
my arms sliding around the leopard’s golden ruff;
14. Refer to yourself by nickname and in the third person.
Ducky would have run
15. Write in the future tense such that part of the poem sounds like a prediction.
to be hunted forever through threads of colour,
16. Modify a noun with an unlikely adjective.
chased by frozen horses
17. Make a declarative assertion that sounds convincing but that finally makes no sense.
trapped by a web of patterns
18. Use a phrase from a language other than English.
another playmate in the Bokharan fields.
19. Personify an object.
The arrows hum through the staring trees
20. Close the poem with a vivid image that makes no statement, but that echoes an image from earlier in the poem
and I am trapped in a web of patterns.
With a draft to go on, I stopped worrying about the steps. I listed nouns and verbs that fit with Persian carpets and Middle Eastern fairy tales, circled words I wanted to look up for other possible meanings, and started back through this draft, trimming, adding line breaks, making the story active rather than passive. I got rid of lines that I had in only because the exercise asked for them.
I will use these steps when my brain is not behaving, when I have an idea and don’t know where to go with it. There are steps I ignore, but not many. Below is the final draft as published in Lunarosity, a now defunct ezine. (Roby)
A Thousand and One Nights
Among the flowers of my Persian carpet
vines sprout curl twine me into fields of silk
and wool. Sliding through warp and weft,
I hear the rustle of thread grasses, and
my nostrils fill with the pungency of feral cats,
I taste the dryness of dust, and the dampness
of a blue silk river runs through my ears.
A blend and blur of color mark the horizon
spots of russet and black resolving into a hunt
undisturbed by my addition to the scene.
Arabian steeds damp dark with silken sweat,
silent as Attic shapes, prance and wheel
through date palms and trees of fiery-fruited
pomegranate. Turbaned caliphs, bows slung
across their backs, chase a leopard forever
peering over his shoulder. An arrow loosed never
hits its mark eternally suspended by woven
threads. Trees stand in an expectancy of silence
as I move within zig-zags of light and shadow.
My arms slide round the leopard’s golden
ruff and I am bound by threads of color
to be hunted forever through fields of silk and
wool, chased by frozen horses, another
player in the weaving fields of Bokhara. (Roby 2014)
My 20 Poetry Projects poem from 2017
In 2017, my creative writing class did this writing exercise and below is my poem that resulted from it. In the next example further on, I’ve done this exercise again (2022) and I show you my writing process line-by-line like Margo Roby did with hers. This poem was published in Rose State College’s annual literary journal, Pegasus, 2017. It was inspired by Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. If you’ve read it, let me know if you catch all the references! (I have no idea who Caroline Janeway is, by the way.)
Angel
You were an angelbut feathers fall like bowling balls
when the air is missing from the room,
from your lungs.
You gasped when I called you out, a
baffled sound, surprised more so, only by
the startling sensation of your wings being torn off.
Though, that warranted bloodcurdling screams,
and rightfully received them.
You had us all fooled with silken lies,
but Caroline Janeway saw you in the back of Al’s
Pool Hall in Roseville, Minnesota, back in 1994.
And last I checked, heaven wasn’t in the back of Al’s Pool Hall.
She said that you were glued to the lips of some chick in a miniskirt,
that you looked like you’d had one hell of a time.
That’s when I put it all together: you weren’t an angel, you never were.
You’ve always been good at bending the truth, though.
Here I was thinking that you’d fallen from heaven,
but really, I’d just fallen for you.
Solitary walks through silent city streets seem to clear the air for me.
You needed to become a part of my past, but how
do I fix the damage that’s been done?
You had a broken halo and I, a broken heart.
I never knew you could be so savage.
The glittering look of endearment in your eyes was
lust and nothing more. I saw so much more.
You, Cupid, loose an arrow; though it sticks I can
no more than despise you, now.
I pluck it from my side, warm, sticky blood
running down in streams.
Janie would have fainted at such a sight.
I’d stand frozen, watching it all unfold before me.
Your bloodied, pristine, feathers litter the ground.
There I stood, trapped by a web of lies.
Yet, la mia anima è libera, my soul is free.
I feel more weightless, now, than any feather ever could.
Though, I suspect that they feel freed from you as well.
You were never an angel but you fell from grace.
I hand you the arrow, dried blood covering the silver tip.
(Hayes 2017, 61)
Revisiting 20 Poetry Projects in 2022
Steps with my first draft
1. Begin the poem with a metaphor.
My father is a rock. He is strong, stable, and enduring.
2. Say something specific but utterly preposterous.
My family stands trapped, smiling behind the glass.
3. Use at least one image for each of the five senses, either in succession or scattered randomly throughout the poem.
The jagged shards are sharp, threatening to cut me and the irony is not lost on me. Holding up the frame to my nose, it smells of old and the figures behind the cracks are quiet and stock-still.
4. Use one example of synesthesia [mixing the senses].
I could almost taste the film of dust around its edges.
5. Use the proper name of a person and the proper name of a place.
The Payton of San Antonio is not the Payton of Oklahoma City, though she takes their riverwalks with her.
6. Contradict something you said earlier in the poem.
My father is crumbling.
7. Change direction or digress from the last thing you said.
My mother is fluid like a river. Fluid, taking up the shape of any container she occupies
8. Use a word [slang?] you’ve never seen in a poem.
Some would call her flexible, others call her flakey.
9. Use an example of false cause-effect logic.
I’ve made it this far without a mother, I must be fine without her.
10. Use a piece of talk you’ve heard [preferably in dialect and/or which you don’t understand].
She was just ‘round the corner. Just ‘round the corner.
11. Create a metaphor using the following construction: The [adjective] [concrete noun] of [abstract noun]…
The fathomless abyss of my childhood trauma gapes before me.
12. Use an image in such a way as to reverse its usual associative qualities.
I stand at the precipice, intrigued by its enormity and dreadfulness.
13. Make the character in the poem do something he/she could not do in real life.
I dive like a heron, fishing in its depths for the panacea that will restore my soul.
14. Refer to yourself by nickname and in the third person.
Peaches desires more —ambrosia.
15. Write in the future tense such that part of the poem sounds like a prediction.
And the soul food she will soon get, but it’s not what she expects.
16. Modify a noun with an unlikely adjective.
Her just desserts have the gall to be simultaneously acidic and sweet. The second time around, the tequila feels more like a prison than an escape.
17. Make a declarative assertion that sounds convincing but that finally makes no sense.
Atlas reborn, she carries a burden that is far too heavy for her to bear.
18. Use a phrase from a language other than English.
Mi familia es mi fuerza y mi debilidad -my family is my strength and my weakness.
19. Personify an object.
The bottle gazes up at her from the floor.
20. Close the poem with a vivid image that makes no statement, but that echoes an image from earlier in the poem.
Rough draft, assembled
My father is a rock. He is strong, stable, and enduring.
My family stands trapped, smiling behind the glass.
The jagged shards are sharp, threatening to cut me and the irony is not lost on me. Holding up the frame to my nose, it smells of old and the figures behind the cracks are quiet and stock-still.
I could almost taste the film of dust around its edges.
The Payton of San Antonio is not the Payton of Oklahoma City, though she takes their riverwalks with her.
My father is crumbling.
My mother is fluid like a river, taking up the shape of any container she occupies.
Some would call her flexible, others call her flakey.
I’ve made it this far without a mother, I must be fine without her.
She was just ‘round the corner. Just ‘round the corner.
The fathomless abyss of my childhood trauma gapes before me.
I stand at the precipice, intrigued by its enormity and dreadfulness.
I dive like a heron, fishing in its depths for the panacea that will restore my soul.
Peaches desires more —ambrosia.
And the soul food she will soon get, but it’s not what she expects.
Her just desserts have the gall to be simultaneously acidic and sweet. The second time around, the tequila feels more like a prison than an escape.
Atlas reborn, she carries a burden that is far too heavy for her to bear.
Her family watches her, sip after sip, frozen behind the glass.
Mi familia es mi fuerza y mi debilidad -my family is my strength and my weakness.
The bottle gazes up at her from the floor.
Final draft
Trypophobia (Working Title)
My father is my rock. He is strong, stable, and enduring —a stone statue against the dawn.
I stare at the relic of a bygone family — shattered, they stand trapped, smiling behind the glass.
The jagged shards are sharp, threatening to cut me open and the irony is palpable.
Holding up the frame to my nose, it smells of old and the figures peering through the cracks are motionless, silent.
I could almost taste the film of dust around its edges.
The Payton of San Antonio is not the Payton of Oklahoma City, though she takes their riverwalks with her.
And now, my father is crumbling.
My mother is fluid like a river, taking up the shape of any container she occupies.
Some would call her flexible.
Others call her flakey.
I’ve made it this far without a mother, I must be fine without her.
She was always just ‘round the corner. Just ‘round the corner.
The fathomless abyss of my childhood trauma gapes before me.
I stand at the precipice, intrigued by its enormity and dreadfulness.
The liquid gold calls out to me, inviting me in with a false sense of courage.
I dive like a heron, fishing in its depths for the panacea that will restore my soul.
Peaches desires more —ambrosia even.
And the soul food she will soon get, but it’s not what she expects.
Her just desserts have the gall to be simultaneously acidic and sweet.
The second time around, the tequila feels more like a prison than an escape.
Atlas reborn, she carries a burden that is far too heavy for her to bear.
Her family watches her, sip after sip, frozen behind the glass.
She is swallowed up by the pit.
Mi familia es mi fuerza y mi debilidad —my family is my strength and my weakness.
The bottle gazes up at her from the floor.
As you can see from all the examples above, Jim Simmerman’s 20 Poetry Projects Writing Exercise provides an excellent framework for writing poetry. When you follow this process step-by-step, you end up with at least twenty lines to work from.
You may not necessarily keep them all or keep them in order. But surprisingly, this structured writing exercise allows creativity to flow freely. Once you have the rough draft, you can rearrange lines and edit the poem to your liking.
I always enjoy working with this exercise and I’m proud of both poems I’ve written using it.If you try this exercise, please let me know what you think of it in the comments! Thanks for reading this post and if you want to be notified when new blog posts come out, subscribe to my newsletter!
If anyone can find the webpage with Margo Roby’s post with her process on the exercise and poem, A Thousand and One Nights in Lunarosity, or information on the 2004 edition of Lunarosity, please let me know!
Bibliography:
Hayes, Payton. “Angel” Pegasus. Midwest City: Rose State College, 2017. (61)
Krukov, Yan . "A Man in Long Sleeves Writing on a Notebook while Sitting on a Chair." Pexels photo, Feburary 13, 2021. (Thumbnail photo).
Roby, Margo. “A Thousand And One Nights” Lunarosity, 2004.
Roby, Margo. “A Thousand And One Nights” Margo: Roby: Wordgathering. (Blog).
Related topics:
Recent blog posts:
—Payton
Writing Exercises from Jeff Tweedy's Book, How To Write One Song
Hi readers and writerly friends!
Welcome back to the blog and if you’re new, thanks for stopping by!
Today, I’ll be showing you how to write a poem or song from a bunch of common words. By unlocking our subconscious and letting go of predictability and perfection, we can create unique and interesting lyrics.
“Why words? Because I believe all words have their own music and along with that music, I believe words contain worlds of words and meanings that are more often than not, locked beneath the surface.Poetry is what happens when words are opened up and those worlds within are made visible, and the music behind the words is heard.” (Tweedy 2020, 65)
I first heard this concept from Logan from vib3.machine on TikTok who explained using Jeff Tweedy’s ladder method from his book How To Write One Song. It’s called the Ladder Method because of the way you write out the words and link them together on paper.
Keep the words simple
I’m not talking about expanding your vocabulary. I mean, that’s always a nice thing to do in the name of self-improvement, but fancy, multisyllabic words aren’t going to make a lyric better.They’re very often the thing that breaks the spell being cast by the melody being cast when I listen to music….In fact, I would say that most of my favorite songwriters consciously stick to common, simple, and precise language, but they don’t use it in a common and simple way within a song or melody. (Tweedy 2020, 68-9)
He gives John Prime as an example of someone who uses concise, simple, language effectively, that he “didn’t use a log of big words or flowery language and when he did, he always stayed true to the song and what needed to be said over any desire to make himself sound smart or poetic.” (Tweedy 2020, 69)
Word Ladder - Verbs and Nouns
The 6 Steps For Songwriting Using The Word Ladder
Step 1: Come up with a label or word for a specific job
Step 2: List out 10 Verbs to describe the label or job
Step 3: List out 10 nouns you currently see in the space around you
Step 4: Connect the two sets of words in a way is unexpected
Step 5: Write a poem with these connections
Step 6: Rearrange and edit the lines to your liking
Jeff Tweedy’s Word Ladder
Step 1: Come up with a label or word for a specific job.
Tweedy picked “physician” for his example. He listed out ten verbs to describe a physician and then listed out ten nouns from objects within his line of vision.
Step 2: List out 10 Verbs to describe the label or job
Examine
Thump
Prescribe
Listen
Write
Scan
Touch
Wait
Charge
Heal
Step 3: List out 10 nouns you currently see in the space around you
Cushion
Guitar
Wall
Turntable
Sunlight
Window
Carpet
Drum
Microphone
Lightbulb
Jeff Tweedy’s word ladder. Photo by Payton Hayes.
Step 4: Connect the two sets of words in a way is unexpected.
Examine→ Lightbulb
Thump→ Microphone
Prescribe→ Cushion
Listen→ Window
Write→ Sunlight
Scan→ Carpet
Touch→ Turntable
Wait→ Drum
Charge→ Wall
Heal→ Guitar
Step 5: Write a poem with these connections.
“Now take a pencil and draw lines to connect nouns and verbs that don’t normally work together. I like to use this exercise, not so much to generate a set of lyrics but to remind myself of how much fun I can have with words when I’m not concerning myself with meaning or judging my poetic abilities.” (Tweedy 2020, 73)
Jeff Tweedy’s first draft:
the drum is waiting
by the window listening
where the sunlight writes
on the cushions
prescribed
thump the microphone
the guitar is healing
how the turntable is touched
charging in the wall
while one lightbulb examines
and scans the carpet (Tweedy 2020, 73-4)
I find it almost always works when I’m finding a need to break out of my normal, well-worn paths of language. (Tweedy 2020, 74)
Below is Tweedy’s revision of the poem. He says, you don’t have to use every one of the verbs and nouns or put any restrictions on your writing at this point. The goal of this exercise is to warm up your creative muscles.
Tweedy’s revised poem:
The drum is waiting by the windowsill
Where the sunlight writes its will on the rug
My guitar is healed by the amp charging the wall
And that's not all, I’m always in love (Tweedy 2020, 74)
“That’s still a little awkward, but it's enough to jumpstart my brain to where words and language have my full attention again.” (Tweedy 2020, 75)
Logan’s (Vib3.machine) use of the Word Ladder
Step 1: Come up with a label or word for a specific job.
The word Logan picked for his example was “astronaut.” He listed out ten verbs to describe an astronaut and then ten nouns from objects in his room.
Step 2: List out 10 Verbs to describe the label or job.
Explore
Discover
Float
Wait
Voyage
Travel
Learn
Fly
Land
Journey
Step 3: List out 10 nouns you currently see in the space around you.
Basket
Letters
Books
Art
Kitchen
Camera
Floor
Watch
Fan
Bike
Step 4: Connect the two sets of words in a way is unexpected. In his captions, Logan said, “Having your subconscious constantly finding creative unique phrases while you aren’t actively TRYING is super powerful. It’s a habit [I’]m [trying] to develop.” (00:45-1:00)
Logan’s word ladder. Photo by Payton Hayes.
Logan connected his verbs and nouns like this:
Explore → Basket
Discover→ Kitchen
Float→ Floor
Wait→ Fan
Voyage→ Books
Travel→ Letters
Learn→ Bike
Fly→ Watch
Land→ Art
Journey→ Camera
Step 5: Write a poem with these connections. Don’t worry if it still doesn’t make sense. Right now, we’re just writing; we’ll edit it soon!
Logan says in regard to lyric writing, to make it as conversational as possible because it’s more relatable. (Logan 2022, 1:30-1:45)
Here was the poem he came up with from those connections:
I explored your basket
And discovered us in the kitchen
We floated on the floor
And waited next to the fan
You voyaged through this book
And traveled every letter
So I can learn to bike
And fly through this watch
You landed in my art
And the camera we journeyed (Logan 2022, 2:36-2:50)
He said, “I know this sounds like nonsense, but we just wrote something without thinking about it.” (Logan 2022, 2:30-2:35)
Step 6: Rearrange and edit the lines to your liking. For full-length songs and longer poems, continue the process with each stanza. Consider sticking with a common theme, for your first 10 words each time you start the process within one poem or song, but change the words you use for this process with each stanza. Try to avoid unintentional repetition. For poems, see if you can create a rhyme scheme with the words and themes present and make use of the elements of poetry.
I wrote a poem using the Word Ladder
I was substituting for a high school drama teacher when I tried this exercise so, you might notice a theme.
Step 1: Come up with a label or word for a specific job
I picked “Actress”
Step 2: List out 10 Verbs to describe the label or job
Perform
Practice
Dance
Project
Articulate
Memorize
Act
Pantomime
Smile
Transform
Step 3: List out 10 nouns you currently see in the space around you
Podium
Mirror
Pen
Curtain
Piano
Spotlights
Screen
Tape
Carpet
Garbage
My word ladder. Photo by Payton Hayes.
Step 4: Connect the two sets of words in a way is unexpected
Perform→ Spotlights
Practice→ Tape
Dance→ Carpet
Project→ Podium
Articulate→ Piano
Memorize→ Spotlights
Act→ Garbage
Pantomime→ Mirror
Smile→ Curtain
Transform→ Screen
Step 5: Write a poem with these connections
The performance begins with the spotlights
The practice tape is peeling up as I
Dance across the carpet
My teacher projects from the podium and
The piano’s keys articulate a melody
I’ve memorized my position beneath the spotlights
Inside, I hope my acting isn’t total garbage
My classmate pantomimes in the mirror
I plaster on a smile as the curtain opens
We transform from stage to screen
Step 6: Rearrange and edit the lines to your liking
The performance begins with the spotlights
The practice tape is peeling up from the stage
Dancing on the painted wood is nothing like the carpet in our classroom.
For a breath, I think back to rehearsal —the director projecting ques from the podium
The pianos keys articulate the melody of the opening coda
I’ve memorized my lines a million times beneath these spotlights
And still, I hope that my acting isn’t total garbage
The other actors pantomime one another like reflections in mirrors
I plaster on a smile as the curtain opens
We transform from students on a stage to actors on a screen
Here is my final poem:
ACTRESS
The performance begins with the spotlights
The practice tape is peeling up from the stage
Dancing on the painted wood is nothing like the carpet in our classroom.
For a breath, I think back to rehearsal —the director projecting cues from the podium
The pianos keys articulate the melody of the opening coda
I’ve memorized my lines a million times beneath these spotlights
And still, I hope that my acting isn’t total garbage
The other actors pantomime one another like reflections in mirrors
I plaster on a smile as the curtain opens
We transform from drama students in a classroom to actors on a stage
As you can see this process is easy, effective, and creatively freeing. It takes the pressure of your shoulders to create something perfect, especially with the first draft. Having this skill is a great resource for writers both new and seasoned because it gets the words out of our heads and onto the paper and it gives us something to work with. You can edit a bad page but you can’t edit a blank page.
Exercise 4: Word ladder variation using adjectives
“Don’t let adjectives make you think you’re being poetic. An “impatient red fiery orb loomed in the whiskey-blurred, cottony-blue sky is rarely going to hit me anywhere near as hard as “I was drunk in the day.”...Of course, it’s strange how adding words to paint a clearer, more specific image often muddies the image you’re trying to expose. The problem is when they are used to spice up a vague verb or noun instead of replacing that with precise language….”I was extremely frightened by the very large man behind the counter” versus “I was petrified by the colossus working the register.”” (Tweedy 2020, 86)
Step 1: Come up with a location
Step 2: List out 10 adjectives to describe that location
Step 3: List out 10 nouns in your line of vision or that pop into your head (and aren’t related to the location you picked)
Step 4: Connect the two sets of words in a way is unexpected
Step 5: Write a poem with these connections
Step 6: Rearrange and edit the lines to your liking
Step 1: Come up with a location
Tweedy selected “outer space” for his location.
Step 2: List out 10 adjectives to describe that location
Circular
Distant
Ancient
Haloed
Cold
Vast
Bright
Frozen
Silent
Infinite
Step 3: List out 10 nouns in your line of vision or that pop into your head (and aren’t related to the location you picked)
Ladder
Kiss
Daughter
Hand
Pool
Summer
Lawn
Friend
Blaze
Window
Jeff Tweedy’s word ladder variation. Photo by Payton Hayes.
Step 4: Connect the two sets of words in a way is unexpected
Circular→ Summer
Distant→ Hand
Ancient→ Blaze
Haloed→ Daughter
Cold→ Kiss
Vast→ Pool
Bright→ Window
Frozen→ Ladder
Silent→ Lawn
Infinite→ Friend
Step 5: Write a poem with these connections
Tweedy’s poem came out as:
there is a distant hand
on a frozen ladder
climbing through
a bright window
a vast pool waiting
beside a silent lawn
where a daughter haloed
lives a circular summer
one cold kiss
from an infinite friend
away from an ancient blaze (Tweedy 2020, 87)
“It’s not a perfect poem, but it took me only about fifteen minutes to complete, and I really do enjoy some of the imagery that emerged. I actually found a few bits of language that I’ve been looking for to complete a song I’ve been working on.” (Tweedy 2020, 87)
Exercise 2: Steal words from a book writing exercise
This is the second writing exercise in Tweedy’s book. It’s a bit more free-form than the first exercise and can be helpful for getting you used to working with lyric fragments. (Tweedy 2020, 77)
Step 1: If you have a melody, keep it at the forefront of your mind as you read
Step 2: Skim over a page and see what words jump out at you
Step 3: Highlight the words that strike you
Step 4: Keep going until you have a collection of words that sound right with your melody
Step 5: Use an anchor word if one strikes you and pair other melodic words you find with it
Tweedy explains that this process helps put his ego securely in the backseat and forces him to surrender to a process that puts language/words in front of his creative path and he feels free to find them as though they’ve come from somewhere else. He feels more free to react with surprise and passion or cold indifference than he is able to when his intellect begins treating his lyrical ideas like precious jewels. (Tweedy 2020, 78)
He recommends using anchor words if any jump out at you and to find words that go well together sonically. He uses “catastrophe” as an anchor word and uses it to create the following lines:
wouldn’t you call it a catastrophe
when you realize you’d rather be
anywhere but where you are
and far from the one you want to see?” (Tweedy 2020, 79)
Tweedy advises “overdoing it” in terms of coming up with lyrics you like. “Coming up with more than you need is almost never going to make a song worse. Sometimes every good line doesn’t make it into the song you’re working on. But that doesn’t mean you have to throw those lines away. I go back and look at the pages of lyrics I’ve written with this process…and find things I love, even ones I never used, frequently. It helps for there to be some length of time between when they were written and revisited, especially for it to be long enough for the initial melody to have faded. At this point you’re not committing yourself to anything. You’re just creating building blocks. (Tweedy 2020, 79-80)
Exercise 3: Cut-up techniques
“Grab something you’ve been working on and write it all down on a legal pad. Or if you have access to a printer, print it out double-spaced… The easiest cutting strategy is line by line, but word by word or phrase by phrase can provide equally interesting results. Once you’ve cut up your text, you can either put the strips in a hat or turn them over and pull each line/word/phrase randomly. Then scan your chosen poem construction for unexpected surprises.” (Tweedy 2020, 81)
Tweedy says he almost always finds “at least one newly formed phrase or word relationship” that “moves” him or makes him “smile.” (Tweedy 2020, 81)
“Another way to use your cut-up strips is to forget about trying to make random associations and just use them as moveable modules of language. It’s always fascinating to me how much more alive lines I’ve written become when I’m able to have a simple tactile experience reorganizing the order and syntax of the lines and phrases.” (Tweedy 2020, 81-2)
Tweedy provides a comparison of the initial order and finalized order of a set of lyrics from his song, “An Empty Corner”
Version 1:
In an empty corner of a dream
My sleep could not complete
Left on a copy machine
Eight tiny lines of cocaine (Tweedy 2020, 82)
Version 2:
Eight tiny lines of cocaine
Left on a copy machine
In an empty corner of a dream
My sleep could not complete (Tweedy 2020, 83)
“[The second] version is so much more powerful and better overall that I can’t believe I ever tried to sing these lyrics in any other order…Take the time to play with your words. Allow yourself the joy of getting to know them without being precious about directing everything they are trying to say.” (Tweedy 2020, 83)
Exercise 5: Have a conversation
In Chapter 12 of Tweedy’s book, he advises trying another liberating writing exercise. He says to record yourself and someone else having a conversation to see what lyrics can emerge from common conversational language. He shows two examples of this exercise in action and it’s actually brilliant. For the sake of brevity, I’m only including the steps for this exercise but I highly recommend you try it.
Step 1: Record a conversation or rewrite it as accurately to life as possible
Step 2: Take the important and surprising snippets from the conversation
Step 3: Arrange those snippets to amplify or give them new meaning
Step 4: Read it aloud
Step 5: Rearrange and edit as necessary
Other poem and song writing exercises in the book
Some other exercises Tweedy recommends in his book include playing with rhymes (in an unexpected and new way) and pretending to be someone else and channeling their essence when writing songs or poems, which takes the pressure to be vulnerable and perfect off the writer’s shoulders. He also recommends songwriters collect pieces of music, either in the form of mumbled songs, hummed tunes, instrumentals you play yourself or digitally, or music from other artist’s songs and advises songwriters to learn other people’s songs like the back of your hand, so you can take them apart and create something new with those parts.
Additionally, he advises writers to “steal” elements of songs such as themes, lyric fragments, chord progressions, and melodies from existing songs and make them your own. He strongly advises writers to loosen their judgment and allow the creativity to flow freely.
He explains writer’s block as he sees it and provides four conflicting tips for combatting the “stuck” feeling that comes with being creatively blocked: “1) start in the wrong place, 2) start in the right place, 3) put it away, and 4) don’t put it away.” (Tweedy 2020, 144-49) By all of this, he means rearrange song parts until they sound like a good fit for that part of the song, work on fragments or start from the end if the beginning is stumping you, walk away from the piece if its just not working and “keep punching” until you push through to the lyrics you’re looking for.
That’s it for my guide, on writing a song or poem using writing exercises from Jeff Tweedy’s book, How To Write One Song. I hope you enjoyed it and that this process inspired you to try this in your own writing. If you do try this method, post your work in the comments below so I can see how it helped you! Make sure to check out Jeff Tweedy’s book and Vib3.machine’s TikTok for more information on songwriting! Thanks for reading!
Bibliography:
Hayes, Payton. “How To Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy.” Thumbnail Image, November 6, 2022.
Hayes, Payton. “Jeff Tweedy’s word ladder.” Image, November 6, 2022.
Hayes, Payton. “Logan’s word ladder.” Image, November 6, 2022.
Hayes, Payton. “My word ladder.” Image, November 6, 2022.
Hayes, Payton. “Jeff Tweedy’s word ladder variation.” Image, November 6, 2022.
Related topics:
Screenwriting For Novelists - How Different Mediums Can Improve Your Writing
Experimentation Is Critical For Creators’ Growth —In Both Art and Writing