Chance Poetry ✂️ 📜 🖋️
Collage words from a magazine or newspaper to surface the unexpected.
Congratulations on making it halfway! Regardless of how much you’re participating, please take this 3-minute survey to let us know how it’s going!
What will I need?
A collection of magazines, newspapers, or printed text.
Scissors and glue or tape.
Paper or a journal for your poem.
Optional: colored paper, markers, or other decorative supplies.
Steps:
Use scissors to cut out words, phrases, or lines that catch your eye.
Mix up the cutouts, shuffling them without looking.
Start selecting the cutouts and arranging them on paper, letting the flow of ideas guide you.
If you want, glue or tape the cutouts to create your poem, or just take a photo or write them out if you prefer.
Tips, Guidance, Inspiration, and Science
Want to keep going?
Try this exercise with friends or family members and see how different minds create different poems.
Create a themed poem by choosing cutouts related to a specific topic.
Use your newly created poem as inspiration for a painting, song, or other artistic endeavor.
Help! I'm stuck!
Don't overthink it! Let your intuition guide you.
If the words aren't fitting together, reshuffle and try again.
Look for unexpected connections, letting the randomness spark new ideas.
What's the science?
Doing visual “association” tasks can help you build creativity. Olteţeanu, A. M., & Zunjani, F. H. (2020).
Standing on the shoulders of giants
Big thanks to our friends at Another Limited Rebellion for this activity idea. If you’re looking to help your team be more creative at work, they’re here to help!
"Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words."
- Robert Frost