Vivien’s 2024 Workshop – Boxing Clever

There are boxes, containers and receptacles for almost everything. A ‘container’ can be anything which contains something else or other ideas. Isn’t it odd how we see so many of them and yet don’t really reflect on their potential? Not just for holding material, but inspiring story and poetry. Here’s an opportunity to do just that…

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The Workshop

Exercise 1

Jot down as many examples of ‘containers’ as you can think of.

E.g. Box, bin, pencil case, cupboard, urn, etc.

Exercise 2

For each item you thought of, jot down all the things that might be associated with it.

E.g. Box – chocolates/sweets, jack-in-box, bomb

Bin – rubbish, body, recycling

Pencil case – pens/pencils, detonator, cash)

Bottle – wine, beer, perfume, milk, water, poison

Handbag – purse, notebook, pen, driving licence, phone

Ship – in bottle, engineer, sailor, Titanic/Marie Celeste

Car – driver, racer, mechanic, passengers

Musical jewellery box – jewels, dancer model, melody

Picture – images, icons, hidden messages (e.g. skull = brevity of life)

Exercise 3

Pick a ‘container’ or use one of your own. Write a poem, story, flash fiction, description or anything you like about it or what it conveys to you.

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Vivien Teasdale – November 2024