The late great poet Lucille Clifton used to say in class, “Let’s shake things up” and “Let’s have some fun.” I loved having her as a teacher, I learned so much from her, about paying attention to word choices and paying even closer attention to detail; being not just concerned about the overall arc of a poem but getting each line and each stanza into its very best shape.
Today, I’m going to share one of Lucille’s exercises. This is one of my favorites – you take the lexicon of one “group” of people or rocks or stars and you apply the vocabulary to an entirely unrelated subject. For example, using the vocabulary of firemen – phrases like “backdraft” and “live line” and “accelerant” and applying it to an unrelated subject, like meditation.
I picked the three that have most “stuck” with me over the years, the ones that I’ve gone back to, when the writers’ block is at its zenith.
Act I: Describe the night sky or another part of astronomy without using any words that are commonly used to describe stars or glowing planets. Use the top 10 misused words in English: ultimate, decimate and disinterested, panacea, literally, chronic, less, enormity, instant and refute!
Act II: Describe the moment that your character is getting fired from a menial job without using the words boss, task or salary. Instead use the language of love: try to include words such as courtship, vow, bliss, smitten, and date.
Act III: Describe a car accident without using any specific terms such as “hit and run” or “routine traffic stop” or “pileup” or “jaws of life.” Use instead the lexicon of cooking, and specifically, baking: try “knead,” and “rise,” and “flour,” and “convection” and “oven” and “frosting.”
Have fun! And share what you’ve come up with, in the Book Writing World.
These are fabulous, Devi. I really love them. Thanks!
🙂
There was no panacea for what ailed the night sky–where we were in the mountains was not quite far enough away from Denver, and the chronic light pollution conspired with the slight haze to make us disinterested in even looking for constellations. When we had driven up, we had expected the ultimate enormity of nature, but we had been decimated by the disappointment of what was literally true. As we opened the car doors and clambered out, it was instantly clear that out night was going to be less satisfying than we had thought. But we could not refute that it would have been gorgeous, under the right conditions.
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When I got the envelope and opened it that afternoon, it was time to renew my courtship with the unemployment office. Again. I made a vow that this time it would be better than the other 3 times this year, but wasn’t sure how I would find my bliss this time. I had just gotten canned from a job that hadn’t exactly smitten me, but when I went down to the state building, I treated it just like a date — new shirt, tie and pants –admittedly all from Goodwill, but I figured that a good washing would remove that weird smell that permeates all thrift stores.
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The fire extinguisher foam topped the twisted black Dodge Dart like the melted vanilla frosting you put on a hot chocolate cake too soon before it’s cooled off. I could see the convection currents wrinkling the air above, and I didn’t want to get too close, for fear of getting baked by the oven. The foam upholstery was rising like a dinner roll made with black flour–now and then a vinyl button would fly off like an errant burned popcorn kernel.
these were fabulous bob! thank you —
loved the one about getting fired the most 🙂
These were fun, Devi and Bob. Thanks to both of you.
Melanie
I liked this exercise – post another one!