--- R I C K   M O O D Y

1. If your hair stands on end, drop to the ground immediately
Lightning is a very real danger
Veils of rain disappear in midair
Weather can have a profound effect
Copy your source onto a blank sheet of paper.

2. Eat nutritious snacks
Sidestep these unpleasant situations
Do not enter mineshafts
Many who try collapse
Arrange words and phrases in meaningful and surprising ways.

3. Separate the embers, mix and stir the coals
The Plague may be carried by squirrels
Citizens with mental impairment may apply in person
The good news is you cannot become permanently lost
Give the work a title that expresses its main idea.

4. See that the victim has dry clothing
Scanning the landscape for insurmountable obstacles
Cumulonimbus giants, raptor migration
Get that inner-canyon feeling
Beneath title, write "Used chunks of coal to write out  the words . . ."

5. Vast, primordial, impenetrably dark
Mules refused to cross this bridge
The pioneers aimed derogatory and threatening remarks
The planet Pluto was discovered
At the end of your composition:

In low places, things collect.
The men became increasingly disheartened and exhausted.





Interview with Rick Moody