Zelda's Inferno exercise: "The Action of a Sentence", from Writing Down the Bones. List 10 random nouns, an occupation, and 15 nouns associated with that occupation. Then make interesting sentances.
nouns: red, food, cart, dog, heart, coat, ice, arrow, sign, earring
occupation: a mechanic. verbs: replace, repair, change, open, roll, lift, turn, rotate, pump, test, inspect, weld, hammer, tighten, charge
His heart barrel-rolled in his chest
The dog followed me as if welded to my heel
Her fingers hammered the earring into her flesh
Red changed everything.
There's just no replacement for food.
Why does no one ever repair the stuck wheels of shopping carts?
The button failed, the coat opened, and the purloined merchandise fell to the floor, leading to a shoplifting conviction -- all for the want of a stitch.
Ice welded the gullible kid's tongue to the flagpole.
As the arrow opened his chest and sought his heart, he could only hope the cause for which he was dying was worthwhile.
The sight of the highway sign for Baltimore lifted his spirits.
The dog inspected the empty bag again and again, as if expecting that food would suddenly appear within it.
Hearts open -- sometimes.
The dog rolled lovingly in the April mud.
Ice lifted the rocks as it froze, rewriting geography.
His coat lifted out behind him in the wind, like a pair of wings, like a superhero's cape.