Previous Prompts

Laurels #4 Submission Guidelines for members only

• Guest editor: Jackie Chou

• Theme: Time

Time is a concept that guides our lives every day. It can be measured by clocks, hourglasses, or as T. S. Eliot put it, “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.” I can just envision the canister emptying as the days go by. How do you spend your time? Do you have a lot or a little of it? Write some tanka about what time means to you or how it inspires you in your daily life. Here is a sample poem of mine:

an empty jar

my only reminder

of time's passing

does one year matter

when it will turn to ten?

Submissions (TSA members only): Please submit by June 30, 2025 using our online submission form. The form should work correctly for nearly everyone, but if it does not work for you, please try accessing it using a different device. If it still does not work correctly for you, please inquire with Jachie Chou at jchou332@gmail.com or or submit by postal mail to Jackie Chou, 6525 Rosemead Blvd., Pico Rivera, CA, 90660 USA.

Laurels #3 Submission Guidelines for members only

• Guest editor: Margaret Tau

• Theme: Choice

We make many choices every day. The act of choosing can be a luxury or a burden, depending on the circumstances and outcomes. Write some tanka about the paths you choose and the dilemmas or joys you face along the way. Here’s a poem to get your creative juices flowing:

a toothpick

stuck into the cake

comes out clean . . .

wishing it were as easy

to know when I’ve said enough

Susan Constable

Submissions (TSA members only): Please submit by January 31, 2025 using our online submission form. The form should work correctly for nearly everyone, but if it does not work for you, please try accessing it using a different device. If it still does not work correctly for you, please inquire with Margaret Tau at margarettau@hotmail.com.

Laurels #2 Submission Guidelines for members only

• Guest editor: Michael Ketchek

• Theme: Kyōka

Don’t be upset if you’ve no idea what kyōka means. I didn’t till a short while ago. As I found out, I’ve been writing them for years. As defined by the website Poem Analysis, “Kyōka is a traditional Japanese poetic form that emerged in the 15th century. It is a playful and humorous variation of the tanka.” Kyōka literally means “mad” or “crazy poem.” It often parodies, puns, or mixes high language with everyday words and subject matter. Here are two kyōka examples:

the limp windsock

reminds him

of the side effects

of taking prozac

but who cares

Michael Ketchek

Hamlet at the Globe

then dinner at the George

where Shakespeare drank

the only question is

to beer or not to beer

Charles Harmon

Submissions (TSA members only): Please submit by June 30, 2024 using our online submission form. The form should work correctly for nearly everyone, but if it does not work for you, please try accessing it using a different device. If it still does not work correctly for you, please inquire with Michael Ketchek at mketchek@frontier.com.

Laurels #1 Submission Guidelines for members only

• Guest editor: Richard L. Matta

• Theme: A makeover

Finding beauty in the broken is a precept in Buddhist teachings. In imperfection, in brokenness—looking through a kintsugi lens—we can discover uniqueness, find beauty, perhaps even cherish it. Consider not only the broken, but what we think most offensive, perhaps the appearance of a particular insect we find grotesque or ugly. There’s something to admire in a cracked leaf, a crow’s missing foot, the hairy spider. Where can you find beauty in what you always thought offensive or ugly (consider all your senses, perhaps its smell)? How might you reframe a negative aspect of a person into something endearing?

Submissions (TSA members only): Please submit by January 31, 2024 using our online submission form. The form should work correctly for nearly everyone, but if it does not work for you, please try accessing it using a different device. If it still does not work correctly for you, please inquire with Richard L. Matta at on2redrock@gmail.com.