free Association

(Note: We stopped at this roadside attraction ever other summer when we made our annual road trip down to Disneyland when I was a child. I have a picture of me sitting on his shoe and I remember someone was there behind the scenes with a microphone who would say things like, "Hello little girl with the barrette..." We would also stop at Redwood Forest and Sea Lion Caves.

But now, to the words...

From Unconscious Mutterings


365 :: year
Tombstone :: pizza
Dumb :: luck
Intrusive :: medical procedure
Fat ::head
Axe ::Paul Bunyan
Planned ::Parenthood
Spike ::Jones
Bleach ::clothes
Shopkeeper ::Shoemaker


While doing this I thought of a couple things in relationship to writing. The first is that my first thought might not be my best thought because it could be what other are thinking and that would not surprise anyone. I noticed Michael also had Dumb Luck on his word association and it reminded me that sometimes the first connection we think of may not be the most original.

Also, I think this exercise produces some great words or images to add into poems. For example, I cannot think of a poem I've written that has had either Spike Jones or Paul Bunyan. Or a tombstone pizza. This may be a fun way to come up with your own word list because it's all associated with your unconscious.

The link to this is about at Unconscious Mutterings if you want to do one of your own.

Happy Monday. And to all the mothers and fathers out there, happy end of winter break...