Writing poetry does take a certain frame of mind–one in which the poet realizes that small things hold great emotional meaning. We have to trust that whatever comes to mind and heart can help us begin poems. The following exercise is meant to help you find topics for poems and see how well you can do when you write without worrying about how what you are writing will work out. Many poets exclaim that their poems are smarter than they are. Using this exercise, you will discover this, too.

List the Ordinary in Your Life to Find Poems
As an exercise, listing gives the poet practice using exact names, images, and characteristics. The only trick is figuring out a list that interests you, one that is quirky enough for your unconscious to work from emotional associations without you even knowing.

 Here are some light-hearted list ideas to get you started without worrying what you will write about. Your unconscious mind will most probably deliver images that form an emotional watermark while you are busy listing:

7 or more things you see outside a window right now that someone else looking might not notice

7 or more jobs you think you’d like and in detail what you would wear to each of them

7 or more things that are in your refrigerator and why they are there

7 or more gifts you have been given, when and by whom

7 or more occasions upon which you wished you could disappear–name names, places, and actions by you or others

7 or more lies you have told, to whom and when.

7 or more compliments you have given to whom and when.

7 or more ways you would curse someone who has angered you.

7 or more ways you have been complimented and by whom.

7 people you think of right now and why you are thinking of them.

7 or more songs you know and what they make you think of in your life–people, places, events.

7 titles of more lists you could make.

When Raúl Gallardo was studying with me, he made lists from this exercise and used them to generate poems. Here is an example: He sent his list of songs to me and what he thinks of when he listens to them. I made comments in brackets and bolded them in the text. Reading through the list and my responses will help you see where you can find poems in what you have listed. Your poem doesn’t have to turn out to have a list in it, but making lists will have helped you find poems:.

7 Or More Songs You Know And What They Make You Think of in Your Life: People, Places, and Events — A List by Raúl Gallardo

“Don’t Panic Cold Play” – Via Andrea in Milan is not exactly the place you want to start screaming at everybody but that is what I wanted to do when I felt I needed fresh air and I became mute. I put my headphones on hoping to disappear from the world and that is exactly what this song helped me achieve.

“Sing Travis”- Friday afternoon, its dusk and I’m on the highway going back from work. I miss my exit and I don’t care. I keep on going. I could only stop the car when the disc finished.

[Sheila: Re-arrange here, create a title, perhaps “September” would work, and you are on your way to a poem:

September

Sing Travis. Friday afternoon, its dusk
and I’m on the highway going
back from work. I miss my exit and I
don’t care so I keep on going.

Now you keep writing, letting the reader know where the song has transported you.]

“Colorblind Counting Crows” – It is a classic; every time I listen, it acquires new meaning. First it was the song from the movie everybody talked about and I wasn’t able to watch: Cruel Intentions. The only song from hearing over and over that I I went to the piano and got it right the first time. A couple of years ago I ended up feeling like Sebastian.

[Sheila: You have written your way to a poem–the story of what happened to make you feel like Sebastian.]

“Wonderwall Oasis” – We are on a school bus of my only dance in the seventh grade; all night I looked for her. I barely spoke English and I will never know if her name was Fey or Fade or something similar. We only danced for one song. Somebody turned on the radio and that song appeared, nobody knew who this new guy was. The fist time I ever danced so close to a girl.

[Sheila: I believe it’s a poem! See this arrangement:

Wonderwall Oasis

We are on a school bus to my only
dance in the seventh grade. All night
I looked for her. I barely spoke English
and I will never know if her name
was Fey or Fade or something similar.

We only danced for one song. Somebody
turned on the radio and that song appeared,
nobody knew who this new guy was.
The fist time I ever danced so close to a girl.]

“Dime que no Ricardo Arjona” – The proper translation could be reject my date or say no to me. It’s another classic that used to be a great song and then became a true story and she did end up going out with me. When I told her what that song had meant for me, she almost cried and now it’s also one of her favorites.

[Sheila: I think “Don’t Say No to Me” could be a good title for a poem. I think the occasion of the “she” deciding to go out with the poet is a strong one to write from–the poem could include what the “she” says when she says yes and what the poet says or thinks about the song and its meaning to him.]

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Challenge yourself to writing at least one list a day for awhile. Use the ideas I’ve shared here or invent quirky list ideas of your own. Keep your lists in a journal, a box, or on your computer. Read your lists from time to time to remind yourself that you have a unique way of experiencing the world. After a while, when you read what you listed, you’ll be able to select just the right images and then find a way to compress the language into a moving poem. You’ll be letting the items on the list tell you what they are gathering about.

It might help to remember these lines, from “Lists” published in 1982 by Linda Pastan:

I made a list of things I have
to remember and a list
of things I want to forget,
but I see they are the same list.

After you’ve used lists to help you find new poems, extend this week’s exercise by writing a poem about the kinds of lists you keep. You might want to use Pastan’s lines as an epigraph, or try separating out her lines and writing your own stanzas between them to create a poem in four parts. I’d love to see the results, so don’t hesitate to send them into me!