Word combination exercise

We made a list of ten nouns, ten verbs and ten more nouns. Then we constructed an interesting sentence using a noun, verb and a noun from the list and wrote a short piece of fiction or poetry using that sentence as a title or first line.

Here is a sample of five exercises we produced:

1917

By Lilian Koster

A gap between bricks

In this town’s road

revealed what I thought to be

an old envelope

Perfectly sheltered

From the spring showers

Untouched, even if it had been raining

For multiple hours

Folded in crisp white paper

Addressed to a certain Ms. Lee

A handwritten letter!

Curiosity took over me

Why would it be placed

In a road of bricks?

Surely impossible to find,

And very easy to miss

So I opened it with care

In a place no one would see

I was opening someone else’s

Letter, illegally

And I read, dear Ms. Lee

I know too long I have been away

I cannot bare to imagine

How many weeks here I will stay

The boys are tired, Ms.

We have been working very hard

For the country that we love

We bear many scars

Winning is not easy,

Sleeping has never been so tough

But I promise we are trying our very best

To do our country just

I often daydream

About the day I arrive home

I miss the smell of fresh bread

And the sweetness of honeycomb

I think my left ear broke,

I cannot hear very well

But I can of course still hear

You singing farewell

I know you miss me too

And I, always, you

I hope to see you soon,

Forever yours, L. J. Hughes.

And so I read this letter,

Hoping that he managed to return to Ms. Lee

But the letter, at the bottom

Was dated July 1917.

The star strangled sky

By James Robinson

The star strangled sky hung over their heads; the desert was quiet, and the fire had died. Coldness began to creep up their fingers, it eased onto their noses and their breath began to show. They had lain down on top of a ridge to be closer to the heavens; the place was chosen as the right place to die.

The man looked at his watch, only fifty minutes left until the end. The woman had told him, as the fire burnt down, that she would prefer to have silence before the end – they had said everything that had to be said, everything they had wanted to say. They had chosen this red rocky ground, found a flat area, laid their best blanket down and made love while the sun set. As the last fiery slither of light dropped under the far hills, she suggested they build the fire small, and let it burn out; she thought the last moments should be cold, alert and feeling, not snug, drowsy and satiated.

He wanted to give her this last wish, even though he privately wanted them to get wicked drunk, eat the best food, fuck all night…go out with a bang. But her way was civilised, she was always the civilised one, he shuddered at the thought of what he might have become without her- probably dead already. No, this way was best because he was with her and she was happy, and that had always made him happy.

She broke the silence, apologising for doing so but she had been mulling something over which she just had to ask him. Will it hurt? He said he didn’t think so and that he expected it to be quick. How quick? She said that the process of their bodies breaking down, hearts stopping, brains dying – that all takes time – How quick? He thought there would be a moment of excruciating agony, maybe a split second, maybe a full second, maybe two; but he told her it would be instantaneous.

The death that was coming was hurtling towards them at 30 miles a second from somewhere out there in the dark amongst the stars. The scientists had placed the point of impact to be this continent, it was huge, too huge to run from, it was a planet killer, this was the end.

They breathed plumes of air up into the stars while they held hands and she began to sing a song he had never heard before. Unfortunately, neither of us heard the end.

Minutes dance around the clock

By Reka Furton