Here’s a quick writing exercise for a cloudy Tuesday.
Try starting with one of these first lines and writing for five minutes. Write quickly, so that your inner critic doesn’t make too strong an appearance.
Yes, two of the first lines are actually a line and a half, and two of them include images of rain, but aren’t they good!
1. Rain drones on outside like a businessman’s stories
2. You are distant, you are already leaving
3. I have become expert in the telling of lies
4. It rained all night. The rain drew me a picture.
5. Sometimes the air alone is enough to send you flying
I don’t have any prizes to give out for guessing the poets/poems, so here’s where the lines are from:
1. Dom Moraes, ‘French Lesson’ in ‘In Cinnamon Shade’, Carcanet
2. David Constantine, ‘You are distant, you are already leaving’ in ‘Selected Poems’, Bloodaxe
3. Alicia Stubbersfield, ‘Venus Speaks’ in ‘Unsuitable Shoes’, The Collective Press
4. Jane Duran, ‘When I Slept’ from ‘Breathe Now, Breathe’, Enitharmon
5. Nicki Jackowska, ‘Reducing the Dose’ from ‘Lighting a Slow Fuse’, Enitharmon
Andrew Oldham's Boneyard 