A creativity workshop I once attended focused on the “clustering” technique. Also known as “mind mapping,” this method helped us dig into our imagination and bring out amazing poetry and prose. All it takes is just a simple word or phrase.

Step 1: Decide on a word or phrase. If you’re trying this for the first time, pick a very general topic or noun.

Step 2: Write this word down in the middle of a piece of paper. Draw a circle around the word. As you encircle, focus and think about the word. Be honest in your thinking. Does it remind you of a strong memory or idea? What does the word mean to you personally? 

Step 3: Chances are that another word will pop up in your mind. Write this new word. Draw a line connecting the new and first word. Concentrate on the new word as you encircle it.

Step 4: Keep doing this free association until an idea starts to form and solidify. Then start writing this idea on a new page.

In my example, I used the word “black”:

The color soon brought to mind my photography projects in school and some of the city images I took. I recalled an image of the city drabbed in gray one rainy day. My imagination brought up images of the standard black-and-white corporate outfit, the black asphalt pavements where small puddles reflected the skyscrapers. I also recalled an old riddle about newspapers: What is black and white and red (or “read”) all over? At this point, I knew I was ready for a first draft.

This is my poem after the exercise (without the horrible handwriting):

What is black?
Men in suits and coats
Black umbrellas
Women in tight dresses, tighter skirts
Box-like or bottle-shaped silhouettes
Cross my dreams of the city
Obsidian streets slippery
In the rain, reflecting
A million gray glass windows

What is black and white?
My city through a lens
Visions of streets and windows
Suits and shoes and smoke
Waiting to resurrect in the dark room
Where hands grope, pupils strain.

What is black and white and red?
All hung up to dry, these captured
Frames of my gray city
Old men in black suits talk business ‘til the grave
Women in shoes six feet higher and deeper
There is nothing new at all:
The world seen in terms of what is there,
What isn’t and all the grays in between.

I didn’t have to use all the words and phrases that came up in the exercise. While writing out the poem and editing it, I eventually chose what I thought worked best. The idea of the whole exercise is to allow the mind to keep exploring a topic and until you reach pretty solid ground.

The next time you’re faced with a blank page, try this out. I’ve used this method not only to write poems but also to develop essays, feature articles, marketing campaigns and event themes.