Request for Poems: Restart

Best wishes to all TOP participants as you continue, start, or restart your prompt play elsewhere. It's been a fun ride.

Totally Optional Prompt: Restart

Used to be, you had to flip the power switch on your computer to restart it. (You know, if it got hung somehow.) Now, most computers have a "restart" or "reset" switch.

Do you? As a poet, or in general? What do you do to get restarted on a task or activity that you've dropped, and that's lain fallow for a while?

The Request for this prompt will go up Sept. 30, and that will be the last from Totally Optional Prompts. Thanks, all, for the good ride.

Request for Poems: Penultimate

Sorry for the late post, TOPers: there's been illness at my house, plus an escalating workload.

Saturday Sept. 26th will be the last prompt at TOP, followed by the last request on Wednesday Sept. 30th. So this is... the penultimate request.

Totally Optional Prompt: Penultimate

"Penultimate" means "next to last", as in "This is the penultimate prompt from Totally Optional Prompts."

First-comers and last-comers tend to get most of the attention. Do you ever think about the penultimates? Those often overlooked middle children, not-quite-bringers-up-the-rear? Write about them for this week's
Totally Optional
prompt.

Request for Poems: The Hive

Were we bzzzzzzzzy this week, TOPers?

Totally Optional Prompt: The Hive

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to be a hive mind? Does something give you hives?

Request for Poems: "Slowly, he turned..."

What slow turns did our writing take this week, TOPers? Let us know!

Totally Optional Prompt: "Slowly, he turned..."

In Peter Beagle's very fine short story "Sppok" (available in his equally fine collection, We Never Talk About My Brother), mention is made of a series of vaudeville routines centered around the line "Slowly, he turned..."

Whether there ever were such routines or not, I don't know. But it's a great line, and it forms the inspiration for this week's
Totally Optional
prompt: Write a poem in which someone is walking away, comes to a realization, and turns back... slowly. Milk that dramatic tension!

Come back Thursday and let's share some slow turns.

Request for Poems: Homework

Welcome to the last month of TOP. We've had a good run, and I'm happy to be moving on. The Internet's full of great prompt sites, so I have no fears that anyone will feel they can't find a place to share poetry.

So this is your next homework assignment: get involved in some more poetry communities!

Now, let's see the results of this week's homework (don't worry, we're not giving grades...)

Totally Optional Prompt: Homework

Sadly, this is my last prompt. Tiel will be back on Wednesday evening and will have one more month of prompts for us before we close the site.

I've enjoyed my time as prompt thinker-upper, probably because as a teacher I love giving homework!

So, that's my last prompt for you: Write about homework.

Thanks to everyone who's been participating. I always looked forward to getting home from school on Thursdays and reading all the poems. I'll miss that but I'll see you around on other sites, I'm sure.

Request for Poems: Laundry

It's time to hang your poems on the line so leave a link in the comments to anything you've written.

Totally Optional Prompt: Laundry

When I sat down to write this post, I had no idea what the prompt would be and decided just to go with the first thing that popped into my head: laundry. That's probably because I just folded a dark load and have the lights washing right now.

So, what do you have to say about laundry? Do you do your own or does someone do it for you? Do you hang it outside or use a dryer? Do you use fabric softener and bleach?

And what about your dirty laundry? You know those deep, dark secrets. Do you air them or keep them hidden away?

Please join us on Wednesday evening or sometime thereafter to share your poetry.

Request for Poems: From Here to There

Here's the chance to show us what you wrote this week. Just leave a link to your poem in the comments, there!

Totally Optional Prompt: From Here to There

This week try writing a poem that begins with a strong word and ends with that word's opposite.

For example, if the first word of your poem is "beautiful" then the last word should be "ugly."

Hope to see you starting Wednesday evening about 7 EDT with any poem you'd like to share.

Happy writing!