Request for Poems: Blank Verse

Woops! didn't get around to putting this up last night!

Bring on the blank verse, TOPers!

Totally Optional Prompt: Blank Verse

This week, let's write a poem in blank verse. That means it doesn't have to rhyme, but it does have have meter.

You can use the old workhorse, iambic pentameter. Or branch out, and pick a less usual meter from this list. Or do something else entirely: after all, it's

Totally Optional

!

If you do decide to write a poem in meter, remember that meter is not just about the number of syllables. Iambic pentameter doesn't always have ten syllables, it can have nine or eleven. What's important is that five and only five syllables are stressed, and they alternate with unstressed syllables.

These examples are all from Shakespeare:

Standard IP: “Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?” (Sonnet XVIII)
Headless IP: “If the true concord of well-tuned sounds” (Sonnet VIII) (9 syllables)
IP with a feminine ending: “Farewell! Thou art too dear for my possessing” (Sonnet LXXXVII) (11 syllables)

If you're in doubt about the meter of a line, read it aloud. This can't be said often enough: READ IT ALOUD.

Play around with iambic tetrameter (same alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables, but only four stresses to a line), or dactylic (Hickory Dickory).

Come back Wednesday evening and leave your permalink with Mr. Linky or in the comments section. Please note that if you leave your link on this post instead of the Wednesday post, people may not know to look for it.

Request for Poems: Conversation

What did we have to say for ourselves-- or to each other-- this week, TOPers?

Totally Optional Prompt: Conversations

Write a poem in the form of a conversation among at least two speakers. They can be people real or imagined, animals, plants, inanimate objects, or anything else you can think of. You could use direct or reported speech.

Or you could write something else entirely. Since the prompt is
Totally Optional
.

Wednesday evening, I'll put up the Request for Poems and you can leave your pemralink in the Linky or in the comments.

Request for Poems: Time to Leave

TOPers, please join me in a big thank-you to my co-host and co-founder, Mike. He'll be missed.

Anyone interested in coming aboard as co-host, let me know. You don't have to make a permanent commitment, but I'd like you to be prepared to host for at least a month.

On to this week's links...

The Totally Optional Prompt is 'Time to Leave'

On Aug 30,1965, Casey Stengel announced his retirement after 55 years in baseball. Today I am announcing that after one year at TOP it's time for me to leave and make room for someone else. The challenge this week is to write a poem about 'Time to Leave'.

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With any kind of luck I'm out camping and birding where it's warm and dry. Before leaving I posted Neglected Grave , which is definitely about leaving.

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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, Tiel Aisha Ansari will 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 'One-Way' Poems

It's time to throw your poems on the table, 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 'One-Way' 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 'One-Way'

On Aug 23, 1617, the 1st one-way streets were established, and it happened in London. This week's challenge is to create 'one-way' poems. I don't have a clue what that means but I'm interested in finding out.

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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 'Edgar Allen Poe' ms

It's time to throw your poems on the table, 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 'Edgar Allen Poe' 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 'Edgar Allen Poe'

Edgar Allen Poe once said, 'Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things that escape those who dream only at night.' The challenge this week is to see what Poe can inspire.

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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 'Three Dog' Poems

It's time to throw your poems on the table, 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 'Three Dogs' 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 'Three Dogs'

It hasn't been a 'three dog night' around here for a long time, like since the last ice age, none the less the prompt this week is 'Three Dogs'. The challenge is to write three short poems about dogs, or the animal of your choice. They can be about three dogs, or three aspects of one dog, or the animal of your choice.

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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 'Lost Stuff' Poems

It's time to throw your cards on the table, 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 'Lost Stuff' 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 'Lost Stuff'

I imagine we all have things we identify with. Heirlooms, artifacts, favorite toys and security blankets. With wild fires, wild weather and hard times we can lose our 'stuff' and the part of our identity that goes with it. The challenge this week is to write about lost stuff, lost identity.

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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.