The Switch

Poets & Writers published this little piece called Not That, But This by Natalie Shapero about changing the subject within a poem. It’s an interesting writing prompt/exercise. Start the poem with a line or two about one subject, then switch to another topic. It can be used to create juxtaposition between two images or thoughts, or as a leaping off point for a poem that meanders.

I decided to try it as a writing exercise. I started with a single image and tried to switch to a different topic within the first few lines:

I don’t want to think about Mt. Blanca

casting its morning shadow over the

San Luis Valley. I will think about red-billed green

wood-hoopoes and their loud conversations.

Chatter and cackles and gossip fill the trees,

excited words knock the colors off of their

feathers, becoming the violet and green

of all the foreign tongues I hear while sitting in

a Joburg coffee shop. Unfamiliar vowels and

consonants stick to my sandwich, make

waves in my Americano, smash off my head

as I try grab of them. Some are smooth

and round, others wet and phlegmy.

I can’t hold on to them, they don’t stay in

my pockets no matter how deep I shove.

I don’t have to understand them, I just

want to fill the white space with their rhythms.

It’s a fun exercise. Read the poem from Natalie Shapero, think about your images and run with it…