Totally Optional Prompt: Quote

This week write a poem that is inspired by a quotation. The quote could be from a newpaper or magazine article or it could just be a quote that you like about life or anything.

Come back on Wednesday evening around 7 pm EDT to leave a link in the Mr. Linky thingie to any poem you'd like to share.

Happy writing!

Request for Poems: Photo Poems

I know one thing: I have too many pictures! This was harder than I thought it would be.

How did you do?

We'd love to see what you wrote this week so just leave a link in the Mr. Linky.

Prompt: Photo Poem

This week, find an interesting photograph that has meaning for you and write a poem inspired by it.

That's it!

Short and sweet!

Please come back on Wednesday evening to post a link to your photo and poem. Any poem is welcomed!

Request for Poems: A Letter

Did you adopt a letter this week? I tried several: F, J, and V and I think I like the V one best.

Please leave a link to your letter poem or any other poem you'd like to share.

Totally Optional Prompt: Meditation on a Letter

I love letters.

They turn into words.

And words string together into poems.

Choose one letter this week and examine it, smell it, listen to it, hold it in the palm of your brain and feel it. Then write a poem about it.

There is a prose poem called "Meditation on the Letter L" that I share with my students. I can't, for the life of me, remember the author nor can I find it on the internet. I'll check it out when I go to school on Monday and, hopefully, add a link then.

In the mean time, what letter grabs your fancy?

Mr. Linky will be back on Wednesday evening around 7 pm EDT for you to leave your links to poems about a letter or anything else.

P.S. That poem is called "Meditation in L" and is by Diane Comer. I still can't find a copy of it but here are a few lines:

"L is for letter. Not the first nor the last letter, but first to come to mind, first at hand, and when signed to the deaf it is itself, L, elle, she."

"The L can be lightweight and fickle, mere filigree, and yet many large and impossible words begin with L--life, love, law, liberty, loyalty, loneliness, longing."

"...of course, L is feminine, for all the masculine appearance of the capital L, all erection and purpose, the cursive L tells the truth. Listen, the loops and flourish seem to say, listen, lean a little closer. The words begin to lick the lobes of our ear, and language, the great seducer, begins to lull us."

Request for Poems: Solitaire

Happy (Inter)National Poetry Month everyone! I hate the idea that it's just for Americans. The blogging world has united poets from all corners of the world and this month should celebrate all of us!

This was an appropriate prompt to usher in this special month because writing poetry is usually such a solitary activity. There are some exceptions; collaborative poetry is one of the goals of Read Write Poem. And if anyone is interested in joining in on writing a sestina, check out the one that is being done at Poem: A Virtual Poetry Group. But, mostly, we write in solitude.

So, what did you have to say about solitaire or anything else, for that matter, this week? Please leave a link in Mr. Linky.

Totally Optional Prompt: Solitaire

For this week's
Totally Optional
poetry prompt, let's have fun with the word "solitaire". Also solitary, solitude, sole. Card games? Lone walks on the beach? What does it make you think of? Come back Wednesday evening and let us know... as Linda takes over for the month of April!

Request for Poems: Season Change

What sort of season-changes inspired us this week, TOPers?

Totally Optional Prompt: Season Change

The Spring equinox (N. Hemisphere) has just passed, so it's now officially spring in the US. I declared spring a number of weeks ago, though, when we had our first balmy day. How do you mark the change into spring, or into any other season? Do the equinoxes and solstices anchor your calendar, or do you go by the weather?

For this week's
Totally Optional
prompt, let's feel a season change.

Requests for Poems: Adjectives

How'd we do this week, TOPers? Did we get to deploy some effective adjectives?

Totally Optional Prompt: Adjectives

Late again! Sorry, TOPers. Weekends at my house have been kind of frantic.

For this week's
Totally Optional
prompt, let's consider adjectives. Many people will tell you that adjectives are bad for poetry, and that you should keep them to a minimum or avoid them altogether. Some say that "concrete" adjectives (eg. green, cold, fast) are OK, but not "abstract" adjectives (majestic, sinister, superb).

I think of adjectives as being like spices. With none whatsoever, the product is bound to seem a little flat. But you choose them with care, such that the flavors enhance one another instead of clashing, or drowning each other out.

Consider Shelley's Ozymandias. What adjectives does he use? Does he use them effectively? Are there any you would take out, or change (bearing in mind that this is a piece of metered poetry)? Then scan down the page to Horace Smith's poem on the same subject, and think it through the same way.

Now... write a poem of your own. Or rewrite one of your own poems. Give careful thought to your use of adjectives. Is each one necessary? Are there alternatives that mean more or less the same thing, but give a different flavor (compare Shelley's "vast" to Smith's "gigantic")?

Come back Wednesday evening and leave us a link!

Requests for Poems: Rewrites

TOPers, let's see some rewrites! Any improvement?

Totally Optional Prompt: Rewrite

TOPers: this week's prompt is about poems we've rewritten. Maybe it was a matter of changing a word or two, tweaking a line to make it flow smoother. Maybe it was a completely different approach to the original idea. Whichever it was, we'd like to see how it went, especially if you feel it was an improvement.

Post both versions of the poem. Heck, post several versions. We'd be interested in hearing any thought processes that might have been associated with the revision as well.

Come back Wednesday evening or Thursday morning and leave a link to your rewrite post. Or leave a link to some other poetry entirely. Remember it is
Totally Optional
!

Request for Poems: Chores

Sorry I'm late, TOPers. Got distracted by all those chores!