Here is an aleatory experiment that originates, in part, out of the tradition of “call and response.” It’s also collaborative, which makes the endeavor perhaps double fun…and double serious.
Step 1
Find a partner. While one of you comes up with 30 questions, the other writes them down. Then, switch roles so that you have 60 questions total. Do this quickly. Do not hesitate. Improvise. Whether or not you know the answer to the question does not matter. Just pose a series of questions, and try to make them as unrelated to each other as possible. Examples:
How many days are in a year?
What’s inside a black hole?
When will I die?
Why yellow dotted lines and not green dotted lines?
Do plants remember?
What does your tongue feel like?
When will I know when my poem is finished?
Do you believe in kindness?
Are goats your friends?
How come Dad never phoned me back?
Step 2
In a similarly improvisational manner, take turns coming up with answers and writing them down. Again, 60 in all. The answers should not be answers to the questions posed in Step 1—they are just answers. Examples:
The roof of my mouth.
Not right now, I have to go to the grocery store for milk and eggs.
Yellow is a divisive color but not as divisive as orange.
Do seeds?
Of course he’s my favorite child!
Too many to count.
A busted ear drum.
Inwards and outwards, but never topsy-turvy.
Because Aunt Maggie said so, and she should know because she invented the game!
Teddy bears that aren’t named Teddy.
Step 3
Once you have your questions and answers, cut them up into strips and put them into two separate piles: one for questions and one for answers. Or you can use hats or bags to hold your questions and answers.
Step 4
At random draw a strip of paper from each pile/hat/bag and put them together. Question first or answer first—it’s up to you! Let the revelations abound!
Step 5
Keep drawing questions and answers and matching them up. In essence, you have the makings of 60 couplets. Maybe this will turn out to be one long poem—because in the flurry of asking and answering you tapped into fruitful subconscious connections. But also try mixing and matching answers and questions in an intentional way. Learn by playing with what works and what doesn’t. Example couplets:
What’s inside a black hole?
The roof of my mouth.
How come Dad never phoned me back?
Of course he’s my favorite child!
Do plants remember?
Inwards and outwards, but never topsy-turvy.
When will I die?
Not right now, I have to go to the grocery store for milk and eggs.
What does your tongue feel like?
A busted ear drum.
Do you believe in kindness?
Do seeds?
Step 6
Build a poem made from all or some of your couplets. Or draft a new poem(s) using one or more of your couplets as a start. Or incorporate a couplet(s) into one of your old draft poems.
