A tactic for overcoming writer’s block by Ellen Gwin

Mood board poems are a tool I invented (I think) to help poets stimulate their senses, get in touch with their subconscious, and seek inspiration.

Mood board poems typically do not hold a lot of depth or emotional weight– they’re typically more akin to aesthetic writing.

Symbols that occur in mood board poems are meant to be accidental or natural, not placed or overthought.

One can use this tool to create poems or seek inspiration for other poems.

1. Stimulate the five senses
   Sight, smell, sound, and touch
   For a breakdown on stimulating the senses please click here
2. Search for inspiration
   Go back through and connect ideas that did not seem purposeful before.
   Then go back and delete ideas/words/phrases that ended up not fitting in
   Once finished, read the poem to find out what theme/topic/idea has been nagging at you to write

Here’s an example of a mood poem by me

My Daydreams by Ellen Gwin
Raspberries in rich cream sitting on silver plates while angels promenade around a whimsical garden. 
Human-like creatures with golden eyes and fiery dispositions drinking Cabernet Sauvignons that resembles blood a little too much. 
Crystal from Czech full of peony petals spilling and over the lavender carpets and floating with the movement of those in skirts.
Delicate hands dancing while feet clumsily find their way to maneuver with a partner. 
Candles on antique sticks dripping onto maple tables velvet chairs tickling my bare thighs.
Pearls and opalites kept in ornate boxes while rosaries and aquamarine dangle from a beaded bonsai tree.
Bumblebees making geometric honeycombs in willow trees living in sweet harmony with kissing butterflies.

In this poem, I used foods to stimulate taste and smell while using whimsical imagery inspired by a garden party in the 19th century to stimulate sight and sound.
From this poem, I realized I had the nature of “good VS evil” on my mind through references I made to angels and blood.
From here, I decide to write poems that use fruit as a vehicle for discussing heaven and hell.