The Totally Optional Prompt is Work

I accumulated these quotes over a number of years. The attributions have not been double-checked and might not be accurate, that would be too much work.

My father taught me to work; he did not teach me to love it. Abraham Lincoln
You’d be grumpy, too, if you woke up and found yourself at work. Bob Thaves
I am a friend of the working man, and I would rather be a friend than be one. Clarence Darrow

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Remarks on the prompt, your latest poetry discovery, or this 'poetry exchange' blog can be made as comments to this posting. Late Wednesday night, between Letterman and Conan O'Brien, I'll post a Request For Poems, where you can leave a link to your poem inspired by the prompt, or any other poem you want to share.

Request For Poems

It's time to throw your hat in the ring, and see what the other poets have on their minds. The Linky widget included with this posting is a fine way to leave a link to your poem inspired by the 'Horse' prompt, or any other poem you want to share. Comments are available if Linky doesn't work for you, or you want to add encouraging remarks, or any other remarks.

Poetry Collections
Poets, such as you, can create a collection of their works in a word processor, such as MS Word, save the document and use pdf Online to convert it to pdf format. A pdf file is half the file size, can be accessed with a free Adobe Acrobat reader and is an easy way to distribute your works to interested readers. Over in the sidebar is information on sharing available poetry collections.

Saturday night, right after 'Hockey Night in Canada', I'll put up the next Totally Optional Prompt. And, thanks for your support.

Totally Optional Prompt by Ted Kooser

This week's prompt is from Kooser's book 'Delights and Shadows', published by Copper Canyon Press. Kooser often presents a straightforward view of the ordinary, something I appreciate and occasionally try to emulate.

Horse

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As per the sidebar we welcome suggestions on prompts and modifications to the site that will make it more useful.

Remarks on the prompt, your latest poetry discovery, or this 'poetry exchange' blog can be made as comments to this posting. Late Wednesday night, between Letterman and Conan O'Brien, I'll post a Request For Poems, where you can leave a link to your poem inspired by the prompt, or any other poem you want to share.

Request For Poems

It's time to show your cards, and read what the other poets brought to the table. The Linky widget included with this posting is a fine way to leave a link to your poem inspired by the 'Liu' Chang-ch'ing' prompt, or any other poem you want to share. Comments are available if Linky doesn't work for you, or you want to add encouraging remarks, or any other remarks.

Saturday night, right after 'Hockey Night in Canada' (go Oilers again, a hex on Calgary), I'll put up the next Totally Optional Prompt. And, thanks for your support.

Totally Optional Prompt by Liu' Chang-ch'ing

This week's prompt is a poem from an old paperback that is written in Chinese. The only English is the translated poems and the title, 'Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty'. The Tang Dynasty dated from 618 to 906. Since I don't read Chinese the only other thing I can say about the book is that it has a red cover. The translations and typos suggest to me that English was not the translator's first language. It's a book with character that I treasure.

On Hearing a Lute-Player

Your seven strings are like the voice
Of a cold wind in the pines,
Singing old beloved songs
Which no one cares for any more.

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Tiel and I sent messages announcing 'Totally Optional Prompts' to a lot of people and places. No doubt we missed a few, so please invite anyone who hasn't shown up yet. After all, more poets makes life more interesting.

Remarks on the prompt, your latest discovery, or this 'poetry exchange' blog, can be made as comments to this posting. Late Wednesday night, between Letterman and Conan O'Brien, I'll post a Request For Poems, where you can leave a link to your poem inspired by the prompt, or any other poem you want to share.

Request For Poems

It's time to put up or … read what the other poets have put up. In comments to this posting leave a link to your poem inspired by the 'Akahito' prompt, or any other poem, or any other way to get there, and one way to get there is to use the Linky widget included with this posting.

Saturday night, right after 'Hockey Night in Canada' (go Oilers), I'll put up the next Totally Optional Prompt. And, thanks for your support.

Totally Optional Prompt by Akahito, circa 730 A.D.

from: One Hundred Poems From The Japanese
translated by Kenneth Rexroth

I wish I were close
To you as the wet skirt of
A salt girl to her body.
I think of you always.

'Salt girls' boil seawater down for the salt.

Questions and suggestions about this 'poetry exchange' blog can be made as comments to this posting. Late Wednesday night I'll post a Request For Poems where you can leave a link to your poem inspired by the prompt, or any other poem you want to share.

Welcome

Welcome to Totally Optional Prompts. We created this site because we miss Poetry Thursday and believe there should be a weekly prompt devoted strictly to poetry. Every Saturday evening (or thereabouts) you will find a new weekly prompt on this site, and by the following Thursday morning there will be a post ready to receive people's responses.

If you'd like to suggest a prompt, feel free to leave a comment either in this post or in the Saturday evening prompt post.

Please remember, prompts are (as Liz and Dana used to say) completely and totally optional. Also please remember, this is a poetry appreciation site, not a critique site. If you'd like to receive critiques, say so in your post. Unsolicited critiques will not gain you a lot of friends (it's just like life that way).

We hope you'll all join in and make Totally Optional Prompts the kind of community we all knew and loved at Poetry Thursday!