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Beat
The Blank Page Writing Exercise
February 2003
"A Room of Your Own"
An Example Poem
Submitted Work For This
Exercise
- Rooms stay in our memory - spaces where significant events occur. I want you to think of a room you once knew well but no longer have access to. Perhaps the room you slept in when you were a child, or the room you made love in for the first time.
- Draw a sketch of that room, by which I mean a physical plan as if seen from above, rather than an artist's sketch, noting the position of doors, windows, fireplaces etc. Try and remember as much about the contents of the room as possible and add these to your sketch.
- Spend about ten minutes on this process so that you build up a detailed sense of how that room was arranged.
- Then turn over your piece of paper and freewrite for twenty minutes. By freewriting, I mean writing whatever comes into your head, allowing the words to flow, without trying to consciously direct them.
- You may find yourself writing about the room you've been remembering, or memories that the room has triggered for you, or even something entirely different - don't worry about what comes out.
- Look over your notes - have you surpirsed yourself? (always a sign that writing is going well). Do you seen any potential for developing the piece into a poem?
- Drawing the sketch plan helps to ground thoughts, rooting the writer back into a place and a period in their lives that was important to them. It encourages a focus on the specific and concrete.
- The benefits of this approach can usually be seen in the second part of the exercise which often results in a rich and powerful retrieval of memory, whether the piece is about the room itself, or whether the room has simply acted as a sensory trigger.
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The Afternoon Sun This room, how well I know it. This room, how familiar it is. Here, near the door, was the couch, They must still be around somewhere, those old things. Beside the window the bed ; . . . One afternoon at four o'clock we
separated by Cavafy |