Playing With Abstract Poetry
Abstract poetry is a form of poetry that prioritizes the auditory and emotional impact of words over their literal meaning or conventional grammatical structure.
Prompt 1 – The Warmup
Write for 2 minutes about something troubling or sad.
Write for 2 minutes about something using the opposite emotion: joyful, hopeful.
Write for 2 minutes on something from nature, something from the natural world.
Keep that writing nearby for Prompt 2.
Why write an abstract poem
“Science has shown that when we engage in play, we increase brain activity in the prefrontal cortex, where creative thinking happens.
“You are not striving for perfection. You’re striving for perfectly unpredictable.” — “Words Gone Wild,” by Dr. Finnian Burnett, Writers Digest, Nov/Dec 2025
Prompt 2
Write an abstract poem, using only the words you have written in Prompt 1. Write for 15-20 minutes. It doesn’t have to make sense. It shouldn’t make sense!
Intro to Prompt 3
Homophonic: Words that sound alike, spelled the same, different meaning
Rose (flower) and rose (past tense of rise).
Or, sound alike but different letters: carat, carrot, caret (blinking cursor)
Examples
Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood: “The shops in mourning” where mourning can be heard as mourning or morning.
Thomas Hood, Faithless Sally Brown, birth & berth and told & toll’d
Homophones of multiple words are known as oronyms.
Examples of oronyms:
ice cream and I scream
depend and deep end
this sky and this guy
some others and some mothers
night rain and night train
my newt and minute
Prompt 3 Mistranslation
This exercise is homophonic translation: Changing text in one language into another language, with no attempt to preserve the original meaning.
Translate one of the following poems any way you want. You can use the method of what it sounds like. Or what the shapes of the letters suggest to you. There is no wrong response.
Your translation does not have to make sense. Have fun with this!
1. Můj manžel a já jsme stáli společně v nové nákupní centrum
která byla čistá a bílá a plná možností.
Byli jsme chudí, takže jsme rádi projít obchody
protože to bylo jako chůze přes naše sny.
V jednom jsme obdivovali kávovary, modrá keramika
mísy, opékače topinek velký jako televize.
2. my eggenoot en Ek het gestaan saam in die nuwe winkelplein
wat was skoon en wit en vol van moontlikheid.
ons was arm so ons gehou van om te loop deur die stoor
sedert hierdie was soos stap deur ons drome.
in een ons admireer koffie vervaardiger se, blou pottery
bakke, toaster oonde as groot as televisies.
Credit to writing teacher Terry Ehret, who first introduced me to abstract poetry and homophonic mistranslation.
Contact Marlene at cullenmarlene – at – gmail if you want the languages and translations for these poems.
Just Write!
