On another website where I whore myself, I found a very interesting little writing exercise, which I am giving all of us for the coming New Year’s and Eid holidays. It goes like this:

Below is a list of ten words. You must work these ten words in to a) a poem or b) a piece of short fiction. Neither can be longer than 500 words, although most poems are going to be far shorter than that. Each piece must be complete in and of itself, even if it has the ability to become part of something larger later on. It should stand alone.

The words:

tango
distil*
egg
master
blue
ardent*
whore
option
leaf*
death

*these words can be used in any conjugation of the root.

Have at it, writers all.