In May I took an online writing class from Christine Valters Paintner, online Abbess of Abbey of the Arts and author of The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom. She led those of us on the Zoom call through a series of writing exercises, and I want to share one with you because it was surprisingly easy and the yield satisfying. Paintner showed us how to write a 5-line, 11-word poem called an Elevenie (also called an Elfchen) by giving the prompt for each line followed by about 20 to 30 seconds to write that line.
Line 1 is one word that identifies an object, a thing. Line 2 is two words that answer the question, What does the word from Line 1 do? Line 3 is three words that answer the question, Where or how is the word from Line 1? Line 4 is four words that answer the question, What do you mean? Line 5 is one word that answers the question, What is the outcome? Of course, you can interpret these prompts fairly loosely.
Here's what I came up with:
Green
Joy tapped
Deep deep down
Life spirals up out
Dance
Maybe you will try it?