Poetry Exercise: Imagery

Poetry Exercise: Imagery

Carolyn Forche describes an affair on a train,Plath a room where her life changed. Now it’s your turn: Recall some place thatyou visit often, or a place where you occasionally spend time, but one thatallows your imagination to soar. In a fifteen-minute free-writing session,describe both that place and one or two of the mental journeys you’ve takenfrom there. (Don’t limit yourself: This could be a special spot by a stream, achair where you read good books, or even a movie theater or an art gallery.) Whenyou’re through, go back and circle those words and phrases that do the best jobof capturing the concrete, sensory detail of both the place and the experiencesyou wrote about.

Use these, and other, key words and phrasesto write a poem of 10-15 lines. Remember how virtually every line of TedKoozer’s poem about the salesman included concrete imagery? That’s your goal: Everyline of your poem should contain at least one of the following: description,simile, metaphor, or metonymy.