Category: Invitations

An Invitation to Participate in the First International Imaginarium For Word & Verse of 2023…

~ Paul Szlosek ~ 6 Comments

Dear Readers,

I’m happy to announce that The International Imaginarium For Word & Verse is finally back from its five-month hiatus this month and would like to invite all of you to participate in our fourth edition (our very first one for this year) with Padmaja Battani, a very talented poet, and writer living in Connecticut, as our featured poet to be posted on our Imaginarium website on the evening of Tuesday, March 28th, 2023.

To be part of our Imaginarium open mic this month, please send us one to three of your own original poems or stories (under 2000 words altogether please) either in a Word document file or pasted in the body of an email along with your name, any opening remarks you care to make, and where your poem has appeared if it was previously published to poetorium@mail.com by Friday, March, March 24th. Also if you like, you can send us a photo of yourself to be posted above your poem, but that is totally optional.

We also need contributions to this month’s Imaginarium Group poem. This month, we are going back to something we previously tried twice before with the Poetorium group poem, and use the classic Wallace Steven poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” as our poem’s template, but this time substituting the phrase “manhole cover” for “blackbird”. So to participate, please send us one to eight lines containing either the phrase “manhole cover” or “manhole covers”. Your contributions (which like always will remain anonymous unless otherwise requested) will then be numbered and compiled into this month’s group poem which will be tentatively entitled “Different Ways of Looking at a Manhole Cover” Once again, the deadline to contribute will be Friday, March 24th.

If you have any questions about submitting to the virtual open mic, the group Imaginarium poem, or anything else about the International Imaginarium For Word & Verse itself, please leave them in the comments of this post, and I will try to answer them right away.

Thank you so very much for reading, folks! As always, I really appreciate everyone’s continued support of this blog, and hope to hear from you soon with your contributions to our fourth edition of the International Imaginarium!

An Invitation to Participate in a Special Halloween-Themed International Imaginarium For Word & Verse For October 25th, 2022

~ Paul Szlosek ~ 6 Comments

Dear Readers,

After mulling it over for a few days, I am very pleased to announce that, in spite of having a very hectic schedule filled with numerous poetry events this month (including our live Poetorium at Starlite show on October 27th in Southbridge, Massachusetts), I will be producing a special Halloween-themed edition of the International Imaginarium For Word & Verse (which I am tentatively dubbing the Scarynarium) and would like to open it for anyone who would like to participate, inviting all my fellow bloggers and faithful readers (or just anyone just happening to read this) to be a part of it. Unlike a regular edition, there will be no featured poet but instead will have an extra-long open mic to be divided into two sections. Because of this, we are requesting that you send us up to three of your own original poems or stories (ones that are scary or have a Halloween theme are preferred though not required) either in a Word document file or pasted in the body of an email along with your name, any opening remarks you care to make, and where your poem has appeared if it was previously published to poetorium@mail.com by Sunday, October 23rd. Also if you like, you can send us a photo of yourself (extra brownie points rewarded if you are in costume) to be posted above your poem, but that is totally optional.

Like always, we also need contributions to this month’s Imaginarium Group poem. To participate, please send us one to eight lines starting with the phrase “Halloween is… “. All contributions (which will remain anonymous unless otherwise requested) will be compiled and included in this month’s Halloween edition of the Imaginarium Group Poem. Once again, the deadline for submissions is the night of Sunday, October 23rd.

We will also be reviving (at least for this month) the monthly writing challenge which we once did with the Virtual Poetorium where we invited you to write in a different flash fiction or poetic form each month. This month’s challenge will be to write a six-word story (your story can include a title or not, the choice is up to you), and once again, a Halloween theme is suggested. In case you are not familiar with this popular flash fiction form, you can read about how to write one @ https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-an-unforgettable-six-word-story#3-examples-of-sixword-stories. Please send us your best efforts by Sunday, October 23rd to be included in this month’s Halloween-themed Imaginarium.

Also if you wish, please feel free to send us any of your own original scary or Halloween-themed artwork or photos to be displayed and shared during our virtual intermission! Our new Imaginarium website has the ability to embed videos, so if you have any links to any scary or Halloween-themed videos you have created hosted on YouTube or other sites, please feel free to send them to us as well.

If you have any questions about submitting to the virtual open mic, the group Imaginarium poem, or anything else about the International Imaginarium itself, please drop us a line, and we will try to answer them right away.

Thank you so very much, my dear friends! We really appreciate your help and look forward to your participation. Please take care, and stay safe, but try to have a very scary but fun October!

An Invitation to Participate in the Second Edition of The International Imaginarium For Word & Verse…

~ Paul Szlosek ~ 4 Comments

Dear Readers,

I’m happy to announce that The International Imaginarium For Word & Verse (formerly known as The Virtual Poetorium) is back from its hiatus in August and would like to invite all of you to participate in our second edition (with the multi-talented writer, poet, lyricist, playwright, and theatrical director James B. Nicola as our featured poet) to be posted on our new Imaginarium website on the evening of September 27th, 2022.

To be part of our Imaginarium open mic this month, please send us one to three of your own original poems or stories (under 2000 words altogether please) either in a Word document file or pasted in the body of an email along with your name, any opening remarks you care to make, and where your poem has appeared if it was previously published to poetorium@mail.com by Sunday, September 25th (my apologies for giving you such a short time to submit). Also if you like, you can send us a photo of yourself to be posted above your poem, but that is totally optional.

We will also need contributions for this month’s Imaginarium Group poem. This month, we will be doing a variation of what we did for our Poetorium group poem in September 2019, but instead of asking you to contribute your lines of “something a true poet would never say”, we are asking you to do the opposite and send us one to eight lines of “things only a real poet would say”. All contributions (which will remain anonymous unless otherwise requested) will be compiled and included in this month’s Imaginarium Group Poem. Once again, the deadline for submissions is Sunday, September 25th.

If you have any questions about submitting to the virtual open mic, the group Imaginarium poem, or anything else about the International Imaginarium For Word & Verse itself, please leave them in the comments of this post, and I will try to answer them right away.

Thank you so very much for reading, folks! As always, I really appreciate everyone’s continued support of this blog, and hope to hear from you soon with your contributions to our second edition of the International Imaginarium!

An Invitation to Participate in the Very First International Imaginarium For Word & Verse…

~ Paul Szlosek ~ 5 Comments

Dear Readers,

I’d like to invite all of you to participate in our very first edition of what was previously known as the Virtual Poetorium under its new name of The International Imaginarium For Word & Verse this month (to be posted on our brand new Inaginarium website on the evening of July 26th) with John Ormsby, a very talented writer, poet, and blogger (originally from Canada but now living in the United Kingdom) as our featured poet.

To be part of our Imaginarium open mic this month,, please send us one to three of your own original poems or stories (under 2000 words altogether please) either in a Word document file or pasted in the body of an email along with your name, any opening remarks you care to make, and where your poem has appeared if it was previously published to poetorium@mail.com by Sunday, July 24th.. Also if you like, you can send us a photo of yourself to be posted above your poem, but that is totally optional.

We will also need contributions for our very first Imaginarium Group poem. We will be trying something a bit different this month, and write a group ekphrastic cento (ekphrastic meaning inspired by a work of art such as a photo, painting, or sculpture while a cento is a patchwork poem consisting completely of lines taken from other poems or writing). To participate, please write and send us a six-line poem inspired by the following photo:

At least one line (but probably more) from each submission will then be taken and rewoven into one long seamless, flowing poem that hopefully can stand on its own by the editor (which in this case will be me). We will retain our usual policy on anonymity that we used for the Poetorium group poem, but that is totally optional, and poets can receive credit for their contribution and have their individual poems published alongside the collaborative poem if they wish. Please try to send me your individual poems by Sunday, July 24th, so I will have time to edit the resulting cento. Also kindly let me know if you want to have your identity known and/or your original poem published.

If you have any questions about submitting to the virtual open mic, the group Imaginarium poem, or anything else about the International Imaginarium For Word & Verse itself, please leave them in the comments of this post, and I will try to answer them right away.

Thank you so very much for reading, folks! As always, I really appreciate everyone’s continued support of this blog, and hope to hear from you soon with your contributions to our very first edition of the International Imaginarium!

An Invitation to Participate in The Virtual Poetorium For May 31st, 2022…

~ Paul Szlosek ~ 10 Comments

Dear Readers,

I am very pleased to announce that we will be producing a May edition of the Virtual Poetorium this month (to be posted on the Poetorium website on the evening of the 31st) with Kevin King, a very talented novelist and poet from New Hampshire (author of the novel All the Stars Came Out That Night and the collection of poetry Ursprache) as our featured poet. Once again like I have done in previous months, I am going to once again open up May’s Virtual Poetorium for anyone who would like to participate and extend an invitation to all my fellow bloggers and faithful readers (or just anyone just happening to be reading this) to be a part of our unique online poetry gathering in print.

To be part of our virtual open mic this month, please send us one to three of your own original poems or stories (under 2000 words altogether please) either in a Word document file or pasted in the body of an email along with your name, any opening remarks you care to make, and where your poem has appeared if it was previously published to poetorium@mail.com by Friday, May 27th. Also if you like, you can send us a photo of yourself to be posted above your poem, but that is totally optional.

We will also need contributions to this month’s Poetorium Group poem. This month, the group poem will tentatively be titled “May Is the Month”. To participate, please send us one to eight lines with the first line starting with either the phrase “May is the month of…”, “May is the month for…”, or “May is the month to…”. All contributions (which will remain anonymous unless otherwise requested) will be compiled and included in this month’s Virtual Poetorium Group Poem. Once again, the deadline for submissions is the night of Friday, May 27th.

If you have any questions about submitting to the virtual open mic, the group Poetorium poem, or anything else about the Virtual Poetorium itself, please leave them in the comments of this post, and I will try to answer them right away.

Thank you so very much for reading, folks! As always, I really appreciate everyone’s continued support of this blog, and hope to hear from you soon with your contributions to this month’s edition of the Virtual Poetorium!

An Invitation to Participate in The Virtual Poetorium For April 26th, 2022…

~ Paul Szlosek ~ 10 Comments

Dear Readers,

I am very pleased to announce that we will be producing an April edition of the Virtual Poetorium this month (to be posted on the Poetorium website on the evening of the 26th) with long-time Poetorium regular and founder of The Poets at Large Poetry Word reading series in Connecticut and Massachusetts, Karen Warinsky, as our featured poet. Once again like I did in previous months, I’d like to once again open up April’s Virtual Poetorium for anyone who would like to participate and extend an invitation to all my fellow bloggers and faithful readers (or just anyone just happening to be reading this) to be a part of our unique online poetry gathering in print.

To be part of our virtual open mic this month, please send us one to three of your own original poems or stories (under 2000 words altogether please) either in a Word document file or pasted in the body of an email along with your name, any opening remarks you care to make, and where your poem has appeared if it was previously published to poetorium@mail.com by Friday, April 22nd. Also if you like, you can send us a photo of yourself to be posted above your poem, but that is totally optional.

We also will need contributions to this month’s Poetorium Group poem. Even if you were a long-time Poetorium regular, you still probably wouldn’t remember way back in July 2019 (when the Poetorium poetry readings were still live) that we rewrote the classic Wallace Steven poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” as our group poem. Well, this month, we will be once again using that classic poem as a template, but this time we’ll be substituting the word “dandelion” for “blackbird”. So, to participate, please send us one to eight lines containing either the word “dandelion” or “dandelions”. Your contributions (which like always will remain anonymous unless otherwise requested) will then be numbered and compiled into this month’s group poem which will be tentatively entitled “Different Ways of Looking at a Dandelion”. Once again, the deadline to contribute will be Friday, April 22nd.

If you have any questions about submitting to the virtual open mic, the group Poetorium poem, or anything else about the Virtual Poetorium itself, please leave them in the comments of this post, and I will try to answer them right away.

Thank you so very much for reading, folks! As always, I really appreciate everyone’s continued support of this blog, and hope to hear from you soon with your contributions to this month’s edition of the Virtual Poetorium!