Games where you pass and fold paper to make crazy poems and stories are favorites at Frog Hollow. One of the classics is Exquisite Corpse (we didn't name it -- the Surrealists did -- but we like it a lot). Here are a couple recent results by the Friday class that we particularly enjoyed.

I think one reason they worked so well was that I emphasized the idea of continuity. Each line needed to belong with the line before, whether that meant it continued the story or just sounded right. I also encouraged people to write more than a word or two, which they mostly did -- and you can see how weird it gets when they didn't. Anyhow, here they are. Enjoy! Better yet, try this game yourself.

Because of the Oak

I feel good when I run to the park

I also feel good when I play video games

me moo!!!

moo me!!!

And I was mooed, oh I was mooed

I shook my hands and stomped my feet

You don’t know anything! she yelled

“Yes I do” he yelled back

and he kissed the bride

on Wednesday.

I fell

down, down.

Into the pit

of cold winter snakes

“I want to bite you”

he screamed with bared fangs

and ran away

The boom.

boom went the car

stereo so loud it shook the baby

“all the single ladies all the single ladies”

ugh he moaned I hate this song

but he played the song anyway

because he felt like it

he jumped

and he fell

who fell? a owl.

a cat?

No! A rocket ship made of pizza boxes

It’s Harry Potter

Silence is a Verb

I hate silence

he yelled with relish

he sang like a bird

yes, a crow

a crow with dark blue eyes

a cow with dark red eyes

Moo! Moo! Moo!

Ow! Ow! Ow! said the human

but the mountain only grumbled

and shoke and exploded

lava then ash then nothing

it burned on

the flames reaching up

for the sky

for the stars

Yay!

Stop it!!!!!

no I won’t. no no no

I cried to the stars, but they did not believe me

A Few Crooked Words

Really Exquisite Corpses

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