To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

William Blake

Welcome to dVerse. It’s Sarah here – I’m your host for tonight, and I’m looking forward to spending some time with you.

Tonight we’re doing a mash-up prompt. I want to use a mindfulness technique to open up your poetic brain, and then take it from there, and see what happens! If you have a timer of some kind, you might find that helpful.

First of all, I want you to find a small object. It doesn’t have to have any particular significance – a pebble, an eraser, a coin – anything will do, so long as it fits in the palm of your hand.

Now, set the timer for a couple of minutes, and spend that time really exploring this object. Look at it, touch it, sniff it. Does it make a noise? You could taste it if that seemed appropriate. Feel the weight of it, the temperature in your hand. Really get to know it. If you don’t have a timer, you can explore until you feel you know this thing like an old friend.

Next, I want you to free-write for a couple of minutes. Write about this object, tell me about it, and if new thoughts float in, take note of them and write them down, too. If you find yourself meandering off, that’s fine.

Now, take a breath, and review what you’ve written. That piece of free-writing is going to be the basis of your poem. Is there an idea in there you want to explore a little more? A phrase that calls to you? You’ve used all your physical senses, now  use your poetic sense and write with that.

You know what to do next – link up to Mr Linky, and then enjoy the poetry of dVerse. The link up will be open for a couple of days, and you can always access the poems through it, so come back to explore and comment.