Ponge Exercise
Prompt Against Anxiety #20 | from Tyrone Williams, author of numerous collections of poetry, including Howell, Adventures of Pi, The Hero Project of the Century, On Spec, and C.C.
The following is inspired by Francis Ponge, a 20th-century French poet and essayist whose prose poems often contemplate everyday objects in minute detail.
With pen or pencil in hand, along with a journal or diary, close your eyes and walk into a room in your house or apartment. Listen to the sounds in that room and jot down everything you hear (including the sounds of your own body). Then open your eyes and jot down the objects you see in that room. Within the words for the sounds you heard and the objects in the room, look for anagrams (words contained within words by rearranging letters). Write down all the words and their anagrams on a separate sheet of paper and compose a poem solely from these.
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