One of the great things about poems, I think, is that they can be extremely short. A fun idea for a writing warm up, or even for a short workshop session, is to come up with one word poems. Yes, such a thing can be done! Here is one by Roger Stevens, published in his recent anthology Off By Heart, in which - ahem - I also have a poem:
A Poem That Despite Being Only One Word Long, Can Sometimes Make a Crowd be Quiet, and can be Easily Understood by a Baby
shhhhh....
Now of course the poems isn't really only one word, because it has an elaborate title. Calling it a 'one-word poem' is therefore a sort of joke. The workshop challenge, then, is to think of a word to serve as your one-word poem, and to give it a long, interesting title. Here are some of my own examples:
A Poem That My Mum and Dad Recite When My Sister And I Ask Them If We Can Get a Puppy
No.
A Poem That, For Some Reason, Can Make Rather Immature Children, and Some Adults, Laugh
Bottom.
The trick here is not simply to parrot a dictionary definition of the word; it is to think of a funny, interesting way in which that word plays a part in your life. It might help if you provide a list of potential words for children to use as their one-word poems. Here is a quick sample, just off the top of my head:
- Yes
- No
- Maybe
- Quiet!
- Ouch
- Yum
- Wah!
