The One-Minute Poem

To honor National Poetry Month, I offer you a smidgen of spontaneity: the one-minute poem.

A high school friend and I sometimes wrote these poems (or 5-minute stories) on stagnant summer afternoons when we were tired of swimming, or wandering the aisles of Tower Records. The poem-writing filled little gaps of time where we laughed, amazed each other, and were nudged beyond our normal ways of thinking. Here's how you can do it:

1) Gather a friend or two.
2) Locate things to write with.
3) Find a timer. Set it for 1 minute.
4) Write.
5) Don't think.
6) Stop writing when the minute ends.
7) Read your poems aloud. Just enjoy hearing how they sound.
8) Repeat.

I'm always surprised by the writing that happens when I take away the rules, the criticism. My editor's left brain takes a break, and my right brain gets to float around, happy.

In what ways do you succeed when you leap instead of plan?