Pile Poems "Words of Love"

Prompt:  On slips of paper, jot down words or phrases with which you associate love.  Write short descriptions of things you love to do.  Or write words and phrases about people, pets, possessions, foods, nature, places you love, characteristics of love, and or experiences you've had or wish to have of love.  Include objects, smells, sounds, and tastes.

Let these ideas flow freely.  The words and phrases do not have to be categorized nor in any particular order.

Hint (my "Words of Love" pile): swim in the river, sit in a tree swing, sing, nap with my cat in my lap, lollygag, chew chocolate, listen, dance, cuddle, wish, kindness, fuzzy, comfort, sky, listening, smell of hay, stones, feathers, earrings, wet clay, cobalt blue bowl, musty, rosemary, autumn air, gardenia blooms, patchouli oil, Old Spice, silence, rapids, crickets, cat’s purr, heartbeat, wood flute,  sour, salty, buttery, tart

Try It:  Now place your "Words of Love" into a pile and play with the words and phrases, arranging them in different, unusual ways, adding descriptive or connecting words as you will until you find a poem you like in your arrangement.  Record your poem on blank paper.

Hint: Here's a poem created using some of the words from my words of love "pile" on this prompt page:

musty        stones

—silent as salt

cobalt bowl

blue         autumn purrs

crickets

feather passed

tales     to the night

rapids       and rosemary

wait—one

white     gardenia

blooms

P.S.   Try creating other poems from different combinations of your "Words of Love," simply by rearranging the word set.  Or, try making different lists of words you associate with other subjects, objects or experiences.  Then use the above process to compose poems from your piles of words.  The possibilities are endless.

Special Note to Teachers:  This is a great review, evaluation and enrichment tool.  For example, say you've taught a Science lesson on the rain forest.  As a review, and to integrate Science and Language Arts have students work in small groups to brainstorm a word pile from what they remember about the rain forest.  Then ask them to use this process to compose rain forest poems, one as a whole group and then one each individually. To integrate visual art, ask them to illustrate their poem.  This will make a gorgeous, informative, work-product evaluation wall for your classroom or hallway or you can compile the works into an illustrated classroom anthology!

from:  Young Writer's Idea Box, © D. Ellis Phelps (work in progress), 2013, www.dellisphelps.com.  You may use and distribute this page for educational purposes with the above reference.