1] Generate a list of ten phrases in the form "as ___
as ___"
[e.g. "as spontaneous as a child"] where the comparison
is apt. Now go back and replace one term in each phrase with its opposite,
or with a word free-associated from the source word. Discard the five new
phrases you like least; re-order those remaining and add connective tissue.
2] Listen to speech from any source - a conversation at the next table, a lecture, ambient TV or talk radio - and transcribe verbatim only the disjunct phrases and parts of sentences which seem evocative, or which grammatically complete a fragment you already have. Try to end on a note of finality.
3] Start with a newspaper article, or a page from your
diary, or the last page from your favorite book. Replace the key words
with more surprising ones. Tinker till it runs
Assignment #1: The Inexpressible
Assignment #7: Automatic Writing
shmoetry
abandon prose all ye who enter here