A great creative exercise is to write a poem using words from a random word generator. (Here’s the one I used.) I asked it for 20 random nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, all of which were “common,” “average” or “somewhat uncommon.” I managed to use 18 of the 20 words in my poem.

Escape velocity

I shagged one idiot after another in college,
sequentially working my way through the academic territories,
eying English, art, math, chemistry majors.
The lustiest were the rocket scientists,
ready to redeploy quickly (if unevenly),
magnetized, baffled by the attention
of an unplugged musician,
a silly guest whose scrawled notes
contrasted with their ordered formulas.
Plus, their roommates were chafed.

Variation: Set a time limit of 10, 15 or 20 minutes. This forces your brain to make quick associations. It’s especially fun to do this exercise in a group and see what different approach each person takes to using as many words as possible. I did not time myself on this poem, but spent probably 30 minutes on the whole exercise.

In case you’re curious about my word list, the poem appears again below, with my random words in bold. (I didn’t use “ethically” or “clipping.”)

Escape velocity

I shagged one idiot after another in college,
sequentially working my way through the academic territories,
eying English, art, math, chemistry majors.
The lustiest were the rocket scientists,
ready to redeploy quickly (if unevenly),
magnetized, baffled by the attention
of an unplugged musician,
a silly guest whose scrawled notes
contrasted with their ordered formulas.
Plus, their roommates were chafed.

A final note: Be careful not to read too much into these poems–being outrageous is part of the fun. 🙂