Fun with Words

FUN WITH WORDS

--adapted with permission from an exercise by Dick Holmes, English Program for Internationals, University of South Carolina at Columbia

PUZZLE POEMS

Directions

Taking turns with a partner, make puzzle poems by combining items from the list of items below. In one turn you may select one whole item, a part of an item, or a word or a few words of your own not on the list, and (if you like and it's appropriate) punctuation. Try mainly to use the list as your source of words. According to the meaning you want to express and the grammatical requirements of your poem-in-progress, feel free to change the form of the words on the list, for example, from past tense form to present tense form, from singular form to plural form, from verb form to verbal form, from adjective form to adverb form, etc. You may also want to change pronouns.

is not a dreamand disappearhow strangeas words find

brings backthe real storywhite boatsone by one
inside my headalone inboth I and otherserenely

turn gracefullynot aamong the starshave just come

flow intoof theirstands alonefree from

the possibilityin bits and pieceshands thata voice

created by thethe whole landscapeall of themblossom

and I'llofeach treecome to them

andmy dreambut thewhat isn't

ascending intois made toyou realizeat the edge of

and someonethough we didn'tclear theyou are all

in your windthe bigwhere thepeacefully

isfor allthe mysteryit shines

writingwhere it's goingis the trueslowly the heart

are growing likebehindwe saidthe falling

includesyou realize thethere youof your

glide byneither I nor youshinestouches

by moonlightof seasonsthe wind blowsyour

the timeits new weightof the deepwashing ashore

your faceI seeyouyour fingerprintsfind

to be born and liverolls in like abecomesparkle

are all there isas real asbirdsa breeze like

you werefrom the faceseverything turns intonight which is not

herestillnesswe haveeven more than

like abut grows withcrying in theand the

though manygreen banksdarknessdance

gone in a minutewhat onein the gardenlike yellow

where it comes fromin the pinesafter weeks of rainhalf moon

Examples:

Frank Diaz & Ibrahima Kebe DiopMai Nguyen & Juan C. Ceballos

FreeI see you walking like a dancer

The wind blows in your face

How strange the wind blowsYou are ascending into the darkness serenely

turning gracefully in the gardenThe birds crying inside my head

gliding and ascending among the pinesThe real story is not a dream

free from everythingYou were gone in a minute