My poetry writing game rules.

[Wichita]

My rules for writing a poem from a single word (which I call the "key word")

1. The poem must include the key word as part of the message of the poem - not as an incidental word.
2. The poem should be written as quickly as possible - less than 30 minutes.
3. The quality and length of the poem doesn't matter but it must have a complete poem structure.
4. The poem must have correct rhythm and rhyme.
5. All words must be real words. Avoid using words like "tis".

[KTC]

I for one have never spent a half hour on a poem. When I do the ones in the poetry game thread, I only spend about 2 minutes on them. I thought the idea was to throw it down spontaneously. Half an hour seems to miss the point of a poetry 'game' or excercise.

[Wichita]

That's true, but I'm including the entire time it takes to find the right words in a rhyming dictionary or thesaurus and the time it takes to put the right number of beats in a line and then make sure that the message of the story makes sense.
I didn't say to just slap/dash a poem together. The finished poem should sound good and look good. OK, it might not take the entire 30 minutes but I did say "less than 30 minutes" - some poems might jump onto the page in 5 minutes. I'm betting that 2 minutes is a little too fast to meet all "my rules."

[Alphabet]

And, what is the purpose? Is it like doing a cryptic crossword - just good to pass the time and make you feel clever/stupid success/failure ? BTW - I love cryptic crosswords. Or a jigsaw puzzle with out a picture or any restrictions on the pieces to use?

I guess what I am wondering is whether you attach to the output of this word-churn in any way, it all sounds clinical and heartless to me - wouldn't an empty method produce empty poetry?

Please do not take this as an attack on your method - I really would like to see the output of one of these, can you give an example of a couple of words you used and the less-than-30-minute-thesauraus-using poems that emerged?

I mean, if it is like gold-panning where you are sifting stones to see if a nugget of gold ever turns up then ok, but do you remember afterwards that they are stones or do you think they are all going to be nuggets?

[Wichita]

Sure.
I moved "Wings" over here from it's own thread.
And here are 2 others: "The Angry Man" and "Beauty."
Do these poems seem empty?

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WINGS

Give me wings
Let me fly
Soaring high
Touch the sky

Soar among
Clouds so white
Never feel
Any fright

And when my
Flight is done
I'll touch down
It was fun

================================================== ====

The Angry Man

An angry man was sitting on a park bench in the park
He sat there looking angry and he stayed till after dark

As people passed him by they hissed and growled and moaned real bad
They looked at him and told him all the things that made them mad

An EMS truck screamed by with its big red flashing lights
Policemen said they had to hurry off to stop a fight

But finally one small person came and stopped and stood and smiled
It made the angry man feel glad to see a happy child.

================================================== ===

Beauty

"A thing of beauty - a joy forever, " is what John Keats once wrote
Helen of Troy could launch some ships with beauty all could note

Beauty is in the beholder's eye or so the story goes
But have you watched a baby smile or seen a perfect rose?

[William Haskins]

Do these poems seem empty?


not entirely, though they are rather light in terms of weight.
that's my main problem with some of these games and exercises.

in my opinon, they subvert the process.

[Wichita]

"they subvert the process"

What are you talking about?

I'm just putting words together to make an interesting poem.

Relativity
--------------
Up. Up.
Where is up?
For me it is the sun,
For the snail it is the pup.

I only write these poems because it's fun.
There is no "process" to be subverted.