Creativity Exercise #3: Cut Up Method poetry

Did you come back for my creativity school?! Thank you. Today I’m going to share one of my favorite tools in my creativity toolbox, the cut-up method. David Bowie used the cut-up method in his songs, which is what originally prompted me to try it. It’s an amazing way to kick start your creativity if you have writer’s block or don’t know where to begin.

The first step is to write a poem, a letter to yourself, or even a creative list of ideas. It can be as basic as it needs to be:

Dandelions are yellow
Forsythias are too
I’m tired of staying inside
Are you?

Apple blossoms are white
Robin’s eggs are blue
spring isn’t cancelled
yet.

Set a timer for 2 minutes. Four lines is all you need to start generating some cool ideas, but I’d try for more so you can see more variation. Write whatever comes out. Next, cut up all the words, and rearrange them. I think it would be quite satisfying for the tactile types to cut up these words and rearrange them by hand, but there’s also a really cool tool you can use here to do it for you. If you’re using the cut-up generator, I’d set the cut up frequency to 2. There’s also an echo generator that I like to use. Repeated lines can be powerful.

Here’s what happened for me when I plopped my first 4 lines in:

I’m tired Dandelions are are too of staying inside Are yellow Forsythias. Are yellow Forsythias.

Nothing profound here, but the line “I’m tired. Dandelions are too” is kind of cool. I never would have come up with that. Here’s what happens when I put the whole thing in:

White Robin’s you? White Robin’s you? Apple inside Are Dandelions are blue spring yellow Forsythias isn’t cancelled I’m tired eggs are of staying are too blossoms are. Too blossoms are.

It’s like something the Mad Hatter would say. If I took out the “too”s and “are”s I think I’d have even more to work with.

I’d love to see what your cut ups look like. Share them in the comments!