Lightning Poetry

 

Lightning Poetry Exercise

with Elizabeth Walton

Creative Writing Researcher, Macquarie University

Lightning Poetry poems from the Booranga workshop conducted by Elizabeth Walton

Footprints

 

paused by the river watching the trees shiver  

warm scent of red dust drifting from the road ahead  

I turn the wheel with confident hands  

heated thoughts subsiding into the deep  

 

the summer breeze lifts my hair cooling my mind  

my lungs filled with memories of childhood  

echoes of others' memories sifting through me  

heated thoughts recede  

 

content in an infinite moment  

listening to the clocks in my mother's kitchen  

warm scent of red dust drifts from the road ahead  

 

 

© Anne Seebach 2026

 

 

winter coffee

the shock of cold air as I step into a winter morning

balancing two takeaway coffees in a too-weak tray

grateful to be able to walk

on the footpath around the lake

free to slow down, notice water cloud trees

on the footpath around the lake

red-rumped grass parrots are not afraid of me

I slow down, notice water cloud trees

then trip over an imaginary bump

burn my tongue from too hot coffee

at the doctor’s watching pedestrians outside

my tongue burning from too hot coffee

think about the footpath around the lake

how red-rumped grass parrots are not afraid of me

and the shock of cold air on a winter morning

© Claire Baker 2026

Lightning Poetry Exercise
with Elizabeth Walton
Creative Writing Researcher, Macquarie University

Don’t think too hard about this. Write short phrases rather than single words.

We will do four exercises, and it would be a good idea to do each one on a separate piece of paper, because we are going to do things with them. In each of the lightning-fast exercises, we will think about one of these things:

•            place

•            something noticed

•            an action

•            a feeling

Exercise one - place:
close your eyes or look out the window and think about somewhere you have stood at some time in your life. Write four short phrases. Start the with “in”, “on”, “at”, or “by”.
Try to write a few words so the place feels real.
For example:

·             in the kitchen grinding coffee·             

·             on the street waiting for a bus

·             at a parking lot behind the beach

·             in a church quiet room, hoping the baby would stop

Exercise two - something you noticed:
Write four short phrases describing a sense you remember noticing. Try to describe a small detail without thinking too much.
For example:

·             the smell of burnt toast

·             sand between my toes

·             the cold slap of winter

·             the bitter tea when the bag was left in

Exercise three an action:
something someone is doing.
Write four short phrases describing a small everyday action. Use a few words so the action feels like a moment:|
For example:

·             whistling, waiting for the kettle to boil

·             tying my shoelaces at the backdoor

·             looking for the key to unlock the front door

·             finding an old coin on the street

·             reading a message on my phone

Exercise four. A feeling:
Choose one of your lines, and describe, what does this moment feel like, in a few words? Don’t say which line it is, just say a few words about the feeling. Repeat with another line – repeat with as many lines as you like.
Example:

·        ·     The blood drained from my hands.

·       ·         My hands stained black, would they ever be clean.

·        ·     Am I the lucky one?

·       ·        Your voice meant everything to me.

Exercise five:
Choose one phrase from each list and place them together, in any order – or you could try in this order:

·             place

·             something noticed

·             action

·             a feeling

You can repeat some of the lines, and change words here and there, so that the lines make sense.

You might like to leave a lot of space around each line, so you can keep adding more of your lines in. Or just copy onto a fresh page. You can tear your pages up and move them around on the desk if you like.

Then, repeat with some more of the lines. Keep weaving them in.

You can keep going until all of the lines are used, if you like, or you may like the way it sounds before doing that.

Example:

Shoelaces

The blood drained from my hands,
tying my shoelaces at the backdoor. 
My hands stained black,
would they ever be clean? 

In the kitchen grinding coffee,
your voice meant everything to me.
Am I the lucky one,
finding an old coin on the street?

Am I the lucky one,
reading a message on my phone
while I look for the key
to unlock the front door?

Yes, this is me.
I am your lucky
number one, walking in
again. 

Don’t think too much about it.

Exercise six:
Now pick a line and see if you can weave it in by using repetition. Keep leaving space, and remember you can tear the sheets up and move the words around if you like.

•            whistling, waiting for the kettle to boil

Shoelaces

The blood drained from my hands,
tying my shoelaces at the backdoor.
I whistled, waiting for the kettle to boil.
My hands stained black,
would they ever be clean?

In the kitchen grinding coffee,
whistling, waiting for the kettle to boil.
Your voice meant everything to me.
Am I the lucky one,
finding an old coin on the street?

Am I the lucky one,
reading a message on my phone
whistling, waiting for the kettle to boil,
while I look for the key
to unlock the front door?

Yes, this is me,
whistling, waiting for the kettle to boil.
I am your lucky
number one, walking in
again.

And now add in another line:

·             And now in a church quiet room, hoping the baby would stop

Shoelaces

The blood drained from my hands,
tying my shoelaces at the backdoor.
I whistled, waiting for the kettle to boil.
And now in a church quiet room,
hoping the baby would stop.

My hands stained black,
would they ever be clean?

In the kitchen grinding coffee,
whistling, waiting for the kettle to boil.
And now in a church quiet room,
hoping the baby would not cry.
Your voice meant everything to me.
Am I the lucky one,
finding an old coin on the street?

Am I the lucky one,
reading a message on my phone
whistling, waiting for the kettle to boil,
while I look for the key
to unlock the front door?

Yes, this is me,
whistling, waiting for the kettle to boil.
And now in a church quiet room,
hoping the baby would stop
I am your lucky number one, walking in
again.

 

And now, in the final step, combining two of the lines so far unused, and weave them in:

·        ·    the cold slap of winter

·        ·    the bitter tea when the bag was left in

Shoelaces

The blood drained from my hands,
tying my shoelaces at the backdoor. I whistled,
waiting for the kettle to boil.

The cold slap of winter, the bitter tea
when the bag was left in.
And now in church, a quiet room,
hoping the baby would stop.

My hands stained black,
would they ever be clean?
The cold slap of winter, the bitter tea
when the bag was left in.

In the kitchen, grinding coffee,
whistling, waiting for the kettle to boil.
And now in a church quiet-room,
hoping the baby would not cry,

the cold slap of winter, the bitter tea
when the bag was left in.
Your voice meant everything to me.
Am I the lucky one,

finding an old coin on the street?
Am I the lucky one,
reading a message on my phone,
the cold slap of winter, the bitter tea

when the bag was left in.
Whistling, I was waiting
for the kettle to boil, while I looked
for the key to unlock the front door.

Yes, this is me, whistling,
waiting for the kettle to boil.
And now in a church room, quietly
hoping the baby will stop.

The cold slap of winter, the bitter tea
when the bag was left in.
I am your lucky number one,
walking in again.

ElizabethWalton.com.au

Booranga Writers’ Centre acknowledges the Wiradjuri people as the traditional custodians of the land in which we live and work and write, and pays respects to Elders past, present and future.