Besides being challenging and fun to do, these activities can produce some strong some strong poems.

For best results, paste the activity into your word processor, or print out a hard copy. Then write quickly and freely, trusting your imagination, hunches, gut feelings. When you finish, read the poem. When you're ready, share the poem with a partner or in a small group.

As you work with these approaches and techniques, you'll begin to sense how you can slice, dice, and blend them together in poems you make from scratch.