writercises | EXERCISE: Title/First Line/??? Challenge? (Reply)

original posting: Wed, 20 Sep 2000 21:18:47 -0400

Quick, and a little bit quirky...

Consider the phrase:

I bought a jar of pickled smiles

Notice that the end of the line is unfinished. It might turn into a new line, it might just get used as a title, it might have something about about where you found that jar, who sold it to you, what kind of price did you pay, or something like that.

(Incidentally, who does sell such things? An odd little grocery story on the edge of never? A god(dess) quite pristine? Perhaps a tiny little wart of nastiness that has been stealing those smiles from your children and canning them with a dash of vinegar? Or the smiling businesswoman who always has an overabundance of them to give away? Who?)

Anyway, take that phrase. Let it resonate in the mind, perhaps tickle your tongue a bit with it (are those sweet gherkins or dill as ever?).

Then, write a bit!

[what rhymes with smiles? tiles, miles, biles, Giles...]

Go ahead, you know you want to open that jar!