The Totally Optional Prompt is 'First Giraffe'

The first giraffe In France arrived In Paris on June 30, 1827. Gosh, I wonder what that was like. And, I wonder what is like that.

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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 'Summer' Poems

It's time to show your summer hat, 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 'Summer' 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 'Summer'

The June 21 is the first day of summer, which makes this a time of transition into whatever summer represents. The challenge this week is to write 'like summer', or 'like summer is going to be'.

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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 'Flowers' Poems

It's time to throw your flowers 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 'Flowers' 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 'Flowers'

This is the time of year when we get, or should get, flowers on the trees and in the garden. The challenge this week is to write 'like a flower'.

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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 'Reflections on the Primary' Poems

It's time to throw your reflections 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 'Reflections on the Primary' 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 'Reflections on the Primary'

The recently concluded Democratic caucuses and primary elections will result in the nomination of Barack Obama. Write a poem that reflects on this unprecedented, overrated, historic, conflicted, significant, never ending event that is only an intermediate step in the election process.

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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 'Storms and Hurricanes' Poems

It's time to throw your poem on the table, 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 'Storms and Hurricanes' 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.

Prompt: Hurricane Season

Tropical storm season officially starts tomorrow, June 1, but we've already had our first one of the year: Arthur.

For this week's

Totally Optional

prompt, write about storms or hurricanes. Get into the sensory detail. Talk about the color of the sky, the taste of the air, the feel of the breeze. Have you ever been close enough to a lightning strike to smell ozone?

Mike will be your host for the month of June. Remember, if you have any suggestions for a prompt, feel free to leave them in a comment or email one of us.

Request for Poems: Absent Friends

In keeping with this week's theme, a big Welcome Back! to no-longer-absent friend Sue of Tumblewords.

Prompt: Absent Friends

Sorry for the late prompt! We had thunderstorms and power outages at our house last night and I thought it wisest to leave the computer off.

For this week's

Totally Optional

prompt, write about someone who's missing from your or someone else's life. Either or both could be a real or an imaginary person. Try to make the person who's missing (rather than the narrator of the poem) the focus of interest. Try to make them real and alive.

Request for Poems: Triolet

Did you write a triolet this week? Or did you decide to do something else altogether? It doesn't matter as long as it's poetry!

Prompt: Triolet

So what exactly is a triolet? Here are the rules, according Poets.org.

The attraction of the triolet is that it's short: there are only eight lines total, and five unique lines. But the essence of the triolet is not only repetition, but surprise in repetition. The challenge is to make the repeat lines mean different things, instead of simply repeating them.

You can change the relationship of the words in the repeat lines to the lines before and after, by manipulating the punctuation. Also, as with other repetitive forms such as villanelles and sestinas, modern poetic conventions allow the repeat lines to vary a little. Of course, if you let them vary too much, you lose the impact.

Read some fine example triolets

and remember it's

Totally Optional

!

Request for Poems: Symbolic Poetry

TOPers, what's cooking in the symbol kitchen?