Request for Poems: Get Surreal

TOPers, how's surreality looking these days?

Totally Optional Prompt: Get Surreal

Merriam-Webster defines "surreal" as "marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream". Wikipedia says that surrealist works "feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur".

Surrealism is not made up of completely random elements thrown together any old how. A surrealist creation has its own coherency, its own mood, and its own imaginative logic.

For this week's

Totally Optional

prompt, I'm offering mostly visual inspiration. Browse some famous surreal artworks at

Mark Harden's Artchive

and some contemporary surreal art at

Thrilling Wonder: Surreal Art

Come back Wednesday night or Thursday morning and let us know how it felt to get surreal!

Request for Poems: Smoke and Mirrors

Well, TOPers? Were you blinded by the smoke, or dazzled by the mirrors? Or did you go somewhere else altogether?

Totally Optional Prompt: Smoke and Mirrors

Check the sidebar: Sue of Tumblewords has listed a new collection with us!

Sue's also responsible for this week's

Totally Optional

prompt: Smoke and Mirrors. Check the Wikipedia link for more info. Thanks, Sue!

Request for Poems: Different Voices

First a housekeeping note: In the sidebar, you'll see a new participant collection. Yup, s'mine!

Now: Let's hear those voices!

Totally Optional Prompt: A different voice

As poets, most of us develop our own characteristic voice that we feel comfortable using. Perhaps it resembles our normal speaking voice; perhaps not.

But have you ever considered deliberately trying to use a different voice? To not sound just like yourself?

The poems below will give you a look at a variety of different poetic voices. Consider how your poetic voice is like, or differs from, each of these. Think about how you might use a different kind of voice. Use these poets for inspiration.

Walt Whitman: A Paumanok Picture

Emily Dickinson: "My Wheel is in the dark"

Federico Garcia Lorca: Adam

Amiri Baraka: leroy

Come back Wednesday night/Thursday morning and leave us a link to a poem you've written for this prompt, or something else you've written, or anything at all poetic. Remember, it's
Totally Optional
!

Request For Poems

It's time to throw your cards in the ring, and see what the other poets have in their hands. The Linky widget included with this posting is a fine way to leave a link to your poem inspired by the 'Send a Message' 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.

I'm through for a while so Saturday night Tiel Aisha Ansari will put up the next Totally Optional Prompt. And, thanks for your support.

The Totally Optional Prompt is 'Send a Message'

Ancient Chinese poems are often messages. A soldier writing back from the front. A traveler writing ahead, or behind. A government official writing from a distant assignment, or exile. This weeks challenge is to contemplate a real or imaginary situation and send a message.

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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

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

The Totally Optional Prompt is Romance

This week's challenge, a special challenge for me, is to write a romantic poem. I've never been mistaken for a romantic and have no idea what makes a poem romantic, so I need a little help. When I write something how can I tell if it's romantic, what will it look like? What makes a story into a romantic story? What does romantic mean anyways?

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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 to the Editor

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 'Poem to the Editor' 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.

Saturday night I'll put up the next Totally Optional Prompt. And, thanks for your support.

The Totally Optional Prompt is 'Poem to the Editor'

It's nice that we poets read each other's stuff but it's even better to get published to a new audience, and that's why a 'Poem to the Editor' is important to me.

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.

This time I'm going to write about attending the Washington Democratic Caucus. Since the candidates haven't already been selected it's the first time in decades our caucus has meant anything, it's like being in Iowa or New Hampshire, the 'always first' states. If the poem's any good I'm going to send mine in to National Public Radio or Washington Week (PBS), along with the blog URL of course.

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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 Mystery Thriller 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 'Mystery Thriller' 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.

Saturday night I'll put up the next Totally Optional Prompt. And, thanks for your support.

The Totally Optional Prompt is 'Mystery Thriller'

This week's challenge is to write a mystery, which is not the same as a puzzle or a riddle. As near as I can tell there needs to be potential threat or peril, suspense that it could happen, and then something else happens. There might be a shocking crime, a dreadful criminal, a breathtaking getaway, or a lost opportunity. You might also have some useful suggestions on how to write a mystery thriller.

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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.