June 8, 2014  Prompt #39

For this week’s Sunday Shape, we turn to the triangle. Here’s a chance to examine language closely (and playfully, perhaps) and link images with people, actions or memories with abstract ideas.

Instructions

1. For five minutes, jot down associations, phrases, and images that come to mind when you hear the word “triangle.”
2. Read what you’ve written and underline a phrase or sentence that stands out.
3. Write that phrase on the top of a new sheet of paper.  Write for 15 minutes.

Further Writing

• Choose one of these phrases as your springboard: Love Triangle. Bermuda Triangle. Research Triangle. Musical Triangle. Triangle Fire. Write for 15 minutes.
• Write a triangle poem of four lines.
  • Line 1: one interjection or command
  • Line 2: two adjectives
  • Line 3: three nouns
  • Line 4: four verbs

Variations for Writing Groups

1. On individual index cards, members write down a word or short phrase from each of these categories. a) A setting. b) A person or animal. c) An object. For example, “City park in the early morning,”  “Black dog,” and “Baby carriage with a broken wheel.”
2. Keep the three sets of phrases in separate piles. (Or, mix them for another variation.)
3. Members choose a card from each pile and writes the phrases, one each, on each side of the triangle.
4. Write a piece in which the three phrases appear, connect, or interact.