Today’s Constraint: HASTY
Today’s poems explored the consequences of rushing—quick decisions, quick encounters, and quick words that don’t quite land right. Some writers framed haste as emotional impulse, others as culinary regret or mental misfire. Across the group, the constraint pushed poems toward moments where speed overrides judgment, leaving behind awkward meals, sharp exchanges, or a sudden retreat into the night.
Today’s poems treated the lobby as a gathering place where odd scenes unfold—fezzes crowding a hotel hall, a moulting python startling guests, strange figures licking lollipops, and even linguistic mischief in the meeting room. The constraint encouraged writers to stage encounters in public spaces, turning the lobby into a small theater where humor, discomfort, and spectacle briefly share the same room.
Why We Worku – to practice noticing. The game gives us a few stubborn words and asks us to make something small and alive from them. Sometimes the result is funny, sometimes strange, sometimes unexpectedly true. In just three lines we try to catch a moment, an image, or a thought before it slips away. The constraints make it harder—but that difficulty is the point. It slows us down, sharpens our attention, and reminds us that even a handful of words can hold a whole world if we look closely enough.
On today’s constraint – The room leaned into sound and play today. With a constraint that almost begs for rhyme and texture, many poems explored sticky, messy outcomes—muddy paths, gummy teeth, failed bread, and chaotic moments that leave a lingering residue. The group clearly enjoyed the playful phonetics of the word, letting rhythm and rhyme drive the poems as much as image. The result was a lively set where language itself felt a little… gunky
Today’s poems played with sheep in two directions: literal animals and the metaphor of following the crowd. Some writers stayed close to the pasture—counting sheep in the night or spotting them on distant hills—while others leaned into satire, coffee-shop conformity, or barnyard politics. The word proved flexible: sheep could be sleepy comfort, social commentary, or simply quiet creatures grazing while the rest of the drama unfolds around them.