The Totally Optional Prompt is 'Poem to the Editor'

I checked editorials in some local newspapers, you might need to check your own, and their current issues are state school testing, freedom from religion, religious liberty, the subprime meltdown, and federal spending. The challenge is to write a letter to the editor. To get the letter published the title should make the subject clear, it should express an opinion, have a novel approach to the issue, and have a clever or humorous twist at the end. If it's any good I'm going to send mine in, with the blog URL of course.

Cultural Note: Newspapers around here commonly have a letters-to-the-editor section on the editorial page where readers can submit opinions.

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And a side note: I was stopped at a rail crossing watching the train go by and saw this stenciled on a rail car: 'Warning, this car may fall over'. I suppose some lawyer required the sign but it sure doesn't inspire confidence.

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 one rerun and another, 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, Moon Island

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 'Moon Island' 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.

This is an unusual time of year, days are short, normal schedules are so yesterday, and real attitudes don't match idealized tradition. I hope you are able to keep track of the loose ends and stay sane. Well, at least as sane as you were before it all started.

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

The Totally Optional Prompt is 'Moon Island'

Moon Island is out in Grays Harbor, it's been there for years, and migratory shorebirds have used it as a stopover between Alaska and Mexico. Back in the forties the channel was dredged and the dredge spoils filled in the area between the island and the industrial area, which means it's not exactly an island any more. The filled area became a runway and sewage farm, and the remaining mud flats are now a wildlife area. Shorebirds still use the mud flats, waterfowl use the sewage pond, and there are birds on the runway when winter high tides flood the marsh grass under a freezing fog. So take your pick, an island that isn't, changes that do or don't make a difference, birds adapting, or freezing fog on Moon Island.

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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 one rerun and another, 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, Road Sign Redux

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 'Road Sign Redux' 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', I'll put up the next Totally Optional Prompt. And, thanks for your support.

The Totally Optional Prompt is 'Road Sign Redux'

Take Highway 50 east out of Ely, Nevada, and in thirty miles there's a lane-and-a-half (ie narrow) paved-dirt-paved road north across the desert to the end of Jakes Valley, across Long Valley, and into the bottom end of Ruby Lakes. If you keep going north you get to the interstate between Wells and Elko. The stretch across Long Canyon is a straight-arrow straight dirt road for fifteen miles. From one end you can see the dust plume of the incredibly rare traffic coming from the other end (one time the only traffic was a helicopter coming up the road at ten feet elevation). Out there in the middle of lonesome is a less-than-useful sign:

KEEP RIGHT
EXCEPT TO PASS

I've always been intrigued by this less-than-useful sign. This has got to be a metaphor for something.

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In constructing prompts I try to present scenarios that stir me to think and write, in the above I see three possibilities. I'm also interested in what prompts and scenarios trigger your poetry genes. Leave them in a comment for Tiel, or better yet offer to host TOP for a month.

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 one rerun and another, 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 let the cat out of the bag, and see what's in other poets' bags. The Linky widget included with this posting is a fine way to leave a link to your poem inspired by the 'Birds and Bonds' 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', I'll put up the next Totally Optional Prompt ('Hockey Night' ends by 10pm here on the wet coast, although some games are over in the first period). And, thanks for your support.

The Totally Optional Prompt is 'Birds and Bonds'

Brown Pelicans breed on the southern California coast and then migrate north for a relaxing late summer on the Oregon and Washington coasts. Heermann's Gulls also breed down south, and they come north to steal food from the pelicans and hang out with the local gulls. This has got to be a metaphor for something.

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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 one rerun and another, 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, Road Sign

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 'Road Sign' 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', I'll put up the next Totally Optional Prompt ('Hockey Night' ends by 10pm here on the wet coast, although some games are over in the first period). And, thanks for your support.

The Totally Optional Prompt is 'Road Sign'

Years ago I drove south from Hanksville, Utah, on Highway 95. The highway goes by Hog Spring, crosses the Dirty Devil River, the Colorado River, White Canyon, and the end of Fry Canyon on its way to Highway 261, which continues south down the Moki Dugway to Mexican Hat. Highway 95 crosses the end of Fry Canyon in a wide bend to the left. On the outside of the bend a dirt road goes off to the right and up to the top of the canyon. About 200 feet up the dirt road there used to be a large sign that read:

THIS IS NOT
STATE ROUTE 95

I've always been intrigued by this sign that tells where you are not, rather than where you are. This has got to be a metaphor for something. If not a metaphor then maybe an inspiration?

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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 one rerun and another, 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.