From poemcrazy by Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge:
Jot down in a list the first thing you see when you ask yourself,
If I were a color, what color would I be? (From red to the inside-of-a-watermelon-seed color.)
What shape would I be? (Whatever you see – an airplane wing shape, a boot shape, a parallelogram, a cone, a diamond.)
If I were a movement, what movement would I be? (glide, hop, wiggle, spin)
What sound?
What animal?
What song?
What number? (infinity, googolplex, eight, sixteen)
What car? (Details: year, color, condition)
What piece of furniture?
What food?
What musical instrument?
What place?
What element in nature? (dust, galaxy, waterfall)
What kind of a tree?
What’s something I’m afraid of?
What’s the word hiding my eyes?
Put down the words I am…
Write about yourself using answers to the questions above as well as using strong verbs (such as: spin, clarify, fiddle, fling, dibble, lunge, slug, slam, spiral, rehearse, splurge, balance, value, love, leap, stop, reply…)
Don’t think. See images. Daydream with words. Wander. Define yourself.
If you get tired of I am, start lines with
I will be
I want to be
I used to be
I let go of
I’ve forgotten
I remember