Write Together

Writing is free. You can easily borrow a pen and use the back of your utility bill if you haven't got any money. Every Tuesday night I get together with a small writing group. We either compare our work from the previous week and/or write together. My friend Sierra Nelson, an awesome poet and collaborator extraordinaire, taught me this writing game.

The Rules

• Decide how many lines you want your poem to be (let's say 12, for example).
• Divide that by how many people are writing (let's say three people, so four).
• Give each person a piece of paper for their lines (each person has four lines).
• Each piece of paper represents one line of the poem. Write a rule for that line on the piece of paper.

The rules can be about grammar, imagery, meter, on anything at all.

Example: "In this line the speaker is reminded of something from their first day of high school."

or "In this line you repeat one word as many times as necessary."

or "In this line something is falling."

• Once you have all written your rules, put them in the middle of the table and mix them up.
• Without looking at them, take turns drawing one at a time and putting them in order on the table.
• Each person writes a poem following these rules in this order.

Write.
Compare.

You probably won't get a great poem from this exercise, but you'll probably get a good line or two, or an idea, or a good laugh. Mostly, you'll get the knowledge that writing is possible.