Compose a short to mid-length poem told from the point of view of a worn-out tablecloth. Don't think too much about it, but try to give the tablecloth a distinct personality. Avoid using modifiers such as "worn-out" -- in other words, show instead of telling.
Compose a short to mid-length poem told from the point of view of an angry French fortress. Don't worry if you don't know anything about fortress architecture or wars that took place in France. Concentrate on the feelings instead of the historical details.
Compose a mid-length poem or short story from the point of view of the cross (either the symbol or a physical cross) complaining about its captivity under non-Christian rule and urging a crusade. This activity can involve as much or as little research as you like.
Write "two lovers about to be separated" at the top of a blank page and "springtime as the sexual union of air and earth" at the bottom. Write an essay, poem or short story the length of the single page that begins with a description of, or scene between two lovers about to be separated and digresses naturally and seamlessly to a description of springtime as the product of a sexual liaison between air and earth.
Write a mid-length story that involves three characters: an adulterous mother, a vindictive father and "the snow child." Do not use these descriptors to name or describe any of the characters -- show it in their actions or the descriptions of them. Give them names, if you like.
The Poetria Nova espoused a view of poetry as an area of rhetoric, and to this end de Vinsauf structured his treatise around the five canons of rhetoric: invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery. Special attention was paid within these to the subjects of amplification, abbreviation and figures of speech and thought. In addition, the Poetria Nova aimed to provide comprehensive coverage of what de Vinsauf considered to be the three major elements of a poet: imitatio (or the study of great writers), ars (study and knowledge of the rules of the craft of poetry) and usus (diligent and regular practice).