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Thursday, August 16, 2007

Cool Poetry Site of Inspiration

I know that not all poets feel the same way, but I love poetry prompts. Just thinking about a day of poetry prompts makes me all tingly. I wish I had the kind of poetic mind that didn't need prodding, the kind of mind that was constantly flowing forth with new ideas. But I don't. Besides, I like the challenge of an idea that I would not have thought of on my own. I'll take the inspiration from any source and be grateful for it. Just the other day I tried a dictionary prompt that Deborah Ager posted on her blog. It didn't produce a poem for me--not all do--but it got me thinking about words. So I thought I'd recommend to you a site run by a friend of mine, Ken Ronkowitz. Each month Ken posts a model poem and a prompt based on the poem. Sometimes the poet provides the prompt; sometimes Ken makes it up. Ken always provides some good lead-in discussion of the poet and the poem. He also keeps a companion blog where he discusses the poem in more depth. Poets are invited to submit their poems for display in the coming weeks. All prompts are archived. Ken has been doing this for several years now, so the archive is pretty extensive. This month's prompt is based on a poem by Mary Oliver. Ken found the poem in Oliver's latest collection, Thirst. And in his usual manner, he prefaces the prompt with discussion of Oliver's work. Check it out: Poets Online: A Site of Inspiration

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