COME ONE, COME ALL/ July 9
by Carolee, Deb & Jill
It’s show time! It’s time to post your original poem, written in response to Monday’s prompt — change a word relationship — or any other inspiration from the week. (We love it when you write to our prompt, but we also love it when you write on a whim. We all know how fickle that muse can be.)
Leave a link to your blog post, or leave your poem itself, in the comments! And remember: Although we love seeing our badge in the sidebar of your blog, we would appreciate it if you would also link back to the site in each of your poem posts. Linking within your post helps people travel back and forth from your site to the Big Tent Poetry site, and it helps perpetuate Big Tent Poetry “findability” in Google searches — and that helps us all.
Let the show begin! This post is “sticky” — it will stay right here in the spotlight for you all weekend.
Here’s how prompts work under the Big Tent
You’ve got all week to write your poem, based on this week’s prompt. Come Fridays (today!) you’ll find a “Come One, Come All” post (this one!) where you can 1) leave a link to your poem or 2) leave the poem in its entirety.
We want to give you all weekend to post your work and read each others’ work. Take your time. Enjoy all the poems that are new to the world.
Some hints
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Circus etiquette
We figure you know how to play in the poetry community, but here are the basics:
Be nice. Have fun. Remember we aren’t a critique forum. We want to support each other as we bring more poetry into our lives. Only provide critique if someone specifically asks for it.
One other thing
So it might be more than one. Read our barkers’ articles, if you haven’t recently. Great stuff. Here’s the list of links.
This was really a fun prompt.
http://inthecornerofmyeye.blogspot.com/2010/07/trial-and-terror.html
I grabbed a couple of random words off Watch Out 4 Snakes for this prompt, and created a vaguely ghazal-like poem: Mint Tokens
Thanks!
now and than
Nice prompt!
http://troublebeingstrong.blogspot.com/2010/07/twist-and-pout.html
Didn’t quite follow the prompt, got stuck on words Truth and Myth
Tangled Perfect Fit
http://soulsmusic.wordpress.com/
I found this prompt quite challenging and after several attempts
this is the final result. Thanks!
Pamela
http://flaubert-poetrywithme.blogspot.com/2010/07/i-love-shoes-big-tent-poetr.html
Here’s mine: FISHING CHIPS
Posted this once, but it doesn’t seem to be showing up here. My response started out with playing, but definitely went elsewhere, and doesn’t quite answer to the prompt.
Tangled Perfect Fit
http://soulsmusic.wordpress.com/
Its black and white for me
http://poemsotherwise.blogspot.com/2010/07/grey-hues.html
Yet another black and white
http://poemsotherwise.blogspot.com/2010/07/soaring.html
Stanski, you beat me to it: a case of great minds?
Here’s mine, Fish and Ships. I hope the link works this time.
http://vivinfrance.wordpress.com/2010/07/08/362/
Fun prompt. Here is pourin’ language.
A Yin without its Yang is a sad and lonely thing.
“page not found” was the answer I received to your link.
Viv, it worked this AM. Here ’tis again in plain URL: http://woodennickel.wordpress.com/2010/07/09/a-yin-without-a-yang/
Would anyone care for A Peace of Cake?
Here’s mine, short and sweet!
But not that short!! You’ll find it here:
http://melrosemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/big-tent-poetry.html
Derrick, I know I have posted in your blog before, but I really coud not find the place to comment this time. I will try again later.
The comment box was there this time. Must have been a blogger glitch.
Thanks for persevering, Mary!
Play
I followed the prompt, but then changed the title afterward.
I’ve always been fascinated with Shaker drawings—so the prompt gave me an opportunity to write about a Shaker drawing.
http://word-painting.blogspot.com/2010/07/shaker-spirit-drawing.html
Fun prompt….
http://mypoeticlicense.wordpress.com/2010/07/08/until-date-2-who-nose/
Happy weekend!
- Dina
http://theoddinkwell.com/2010/07/08/bread-yeast-and-love/
Had to add this: I just typo’d “Beg Tent” in someone’s comments. Damn, I wish I’d thought of that sooner!
Love it! Heh.
‘ Jack and Bill ‘
Jack and Bill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water
Jill pushed him and said
‘ Bastard ‘
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Bill came tumbling after
Up Jack got
And home did trot
As fast as he could caper
He went to bed with Bill and Ben
And read the Sunday papers
Anyone for a third verse?
Have you been at the cooking sherry, Rall?
Jill stomped off in a huff
And went home on her lonesome
To plot a dastardly revenge
Against the gleesome threesome
I need notice of that question!
Jill giggled, loaded and triggered
her water-filled plastic uzzi.
“This should dampen your enthusiam,
for making me look like a floozie.”
In comes Jack’s mother
All hot and bothered
from shopping arriving home
‘Take that you brat’
Gives Jill a slap
‘You leave my boy alone ‘
I didn’t manage to write to this week’s prompt, but I did write another in my series of mother poems:
Mother Psalm 7
http://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/2010/07/another-mother-psalm-bringing-the-baby-to-morning-prayer.html
It took me the week to work with the prompt, but I was able to form something. I’ve titled it, nightmares and daydreams.
http://systematicweasel.blogspot.com/2010/07/nightmares-and-daydreams-big-tent.html
thanks for the prompt. funny, it was harder than I expected to come up with a good phrase. I never did, really, but this was a lot of fun to write. cloud 6.1.333
Hello! This is my first post on Big Tent Poetry. I participated in NaPoWriMo this year on ReadWritePoem, and now finally have my own blog. You, gentle readers, are the first to see it (other than my husband)! It still needs some fleshing out, but it exists! Thanks for the fun prompt.
http://www.starsandwillows.com/2010/07/rain-link-fence/
Welcome to the Big Tent, Kelly, and congrats on your blog!
Thanks, Deb. It is good to be here, and I look forward to reading all the great poems this weekend. :)
Entirely a whim poem:
http://firmlyrooted.blogspot.com/2010/07/rolled-all-over.html
I had a computer meltdown, yesterday. Most of my data was backed up, except the poem I had written for this week. Hmmm. I wrote a ditty this morning to post, and am thankful something rose to the surface!
http://bozone-bw.blogspot.com/2010/07/dropping-like-lies.html
Hi folks, sorry to have been MIA for a while…it’s been a hectic time.
As usual Friday is podcast day so just click my name to haer the latetset offering.
I have a whole collection of what I call “twisted title” poems so this was fun to do
The link to my poem is: http://almerimarlife.com/forum/topic/929/the-bumbust-market-economy-a-twisted-title-poem-by-iain-douglas-kemp/
Cheers all!
Iain
Couldn’t get into your poem. Can you confirm the link?
Worked for me, ViV.
Welcome back, Iain!
I loved your poem; it shows the old prescription is not true: “fashion is ignoring
economic slumps” … Playful yet serious, too. :-)
Thanks Deb…good to be back!
Iain
I wrote this poem. i am not certain whether it fits this week topic.
here is the link to it. One man against nature http://teslawall.blogspot.com/2010/04/one-man-against-nature.html
A Wind-Wind Proposition
After a bit of a struggle, here’s what I came up with:
Putting an end to this bad pun, There’s no I in steam
My strange little offering is The Line Forms Here.
I also struggled a bit with this prompt. Thanks for playing along everyone!
PS — I LOVE the collaborative Jack & Bill poem & will be back to play later. Thanks, Rall!!! I would have said it “up there” but didn’t want to interrupt the poem flow.
I did the next stanza, “down there”, Deb, lol.
And now for something completely different… Last week’s poem was a bit somber. For this week, I went light.
Vegetable War and Peas: http://caraholman.wordpress.com/2010/07/09/war-and-peas/
I just managed to get in, found the poem, wanted to leave a comment but was told I had to register. After a faff and a half I did that, got back in, but the connection kept disappearing, and I never did find the poem again. Sorry I must have done something stupid.
ViV
And now the internet has disconnected my reply from Ian Waite and Deb’s posts! Grrr.
Computers are sent to try us
I wonder why it is so hard
for mugs like me to cope.
Each time I learn a new technique
it changes.
Computer nerds and tiny kids
know how, with ease to cope
when system, file and data
rearranges.
But me, inept, incompetent,
I flounder in confusion
amid a language so absurd
and all my thought deranges.
Don’t feel bad, Viv. My sister-in-law was having a great deal of trouble trying to get on her computer. Turning to her eight-year old grandson,a puter whiz, she pleaded for his assistance. He calmly walked over, grabbed a heavy cord, and said, “It might help, if you plugged in, Grandma.”
To Rallentanda, thought you got the last word, didn’t you,
But, Jill glares at Jack,
while rubbing her now bruised cheek.
“Just remember that payback’s a bitch,
and you’ll be seeing me soon,
maybe, one day next week.”
Bill and Ben the flower pot men
were awoken by the clash
‘We are not accustomed to this
uncivilised behaviour
We’re off we’ve got to dash’
So Jill sat down, while Jack
rubbed his broken crown,
“Listen up, kiddo, if you say
you’re sorry for what you trilled
before I pushed you down that hill,
I’ll let it go and will not tarry,
leave you alone to play with Ben and Bill
or even your cousin Harry.”
Harry’s a dork
Jack sat down and thought
I’m not playing with him
He’s a terrible crim
As for saying sorry
to nasty old Jill
I’d prefer not to worry
and tolerate more spills
She may be a spoiler
not much of a toiler
inserting herself into my rhyme
but when it comes to Bill
as a fetcher of water
The prospect of pleasure
is more than three quarters
I’m utterly thrilled
all the time
Okay. Here’s Love’s Old Tweet Song. hehe. Just click on my name if you please.
Jill went off in a huff
and bought a new muff
to sooth her ruffled pride.
Ben and Bill
sobbed and they cried,
then went back up the hill
cackling with laughter
So ends the story:
after all that furore
they lived happily ever after.
Sorry for all the feeble rhymes. It’s past my bedtime.
This story is never ending
put the killjoys on hold
Jack and Bill are thrilled
to have their story unfold
Thanks Viv, now it’s past mine. Guess that means that Jack is just going to have to play with himself.
…erm… by himself?
Poor Jack and Bill
have had their woes
with Vivienne trying
to step on their toes
But the lovely Elizabeth
restoring their tale
let the whole world know
about the water pail
It was alway Jill
who caused trouble and spite
It was Bill from the Hill
that was Jack’s delight
Jack no longer is playing alone
Big Ears and Noddy are in contact
by phone
I would like to continue this collaborative poem throughout the weekend.If there is anyone who would like to join in please provide a rhyming stanza or even two.I have never done one of these before and it is really good fun.As this is a continuing saga it would be appreciated if you could resist your primal urge to shoot it in the foot while it’s still walking.
Big Ears and Noddy?
Whatever next?
won’t some-kind-body
please tell –
for Jack is perplexed –
by the meaning of all
these bizarre goings on?
Where will it all end?
They’re right round the bend
including yours truly, Anon.
Playful names tell from-the-past tales:
Ben’s a lowland delight with ears
large enough to grab those tender males
who wrestle with little-town fears.
But Bill fits the bill, he hails from the Hill
and Jack’s a softy for 1000-count threads.
This lad’s lofty goals don’t include Jill –
she’s as coarse as a bug-infested bed.
Ben will wrestle with lads
Tender or not
There is a reason he’s known as
the’Lowlander Hot’
Bill is a bit precious
with his Belgian chocolate sweets
and behaves like a bastard
stealing Jack’s mother’s egyptian cotton sheets
Along came Mr Plod
Allo Allo Allo
I’m here to arrest the sheet thief
Who has caused so much trouble
People are sleeping on rubble
because they don’t have any sheets
Miss Muffet is a witness
to this display of weird sickness
she caught Ben in the act on her beat
He pretended to be a spider
And sat down beside her
Ripping the Manolo Blahniks from her feet
Sibling Revelry
We were going to grow up and marry
each other. He was going to be a king
and I was going to be a queen.
We were going to be high-flying
trapeze artists and travel the world.
We were too young to know that
brothers and sisters don’t marry
and if anyone had told us that
kings and queens are born
to those positions and circus performers
train for years we would have laughed.
We knew we could always run off to
the jungle and become Tarzan and Jane.
Living in a treehouse with a monkey
looked like more fun anyway.
Love it! There’s a nice progression to this poem- it takes some surprising turns yet ends up exactly where it ‘should.’
Fun poem, Maxie. The twist is wonderful & the tale sounds full of truth.
Thanks Deb! Indeed it was all true. This has been my favorite prompt of all time – both reading & writing. So much fun! As soon as I read it the words sibling revelry came to me. It didn’t take long to figure out where to go with it.
Growing up is never as fun as what we children can do with imagination. I’m 64, and living in a tree house with a monkey still looks like loads more fun. Of course, there’s the arthritis, the cane, and the back issues, but you never have to get too old for fun.
Elizabeth
Here is my poem – http://umaathreya.blogsome.com/2010/07/10/mistress/
[...] Response to Big Tent Poetry’s prompt (where other entries are linked in the [...]
Day and Naught.
[...] Big Tent Poetry’s [...]
Here is my poem,A Bird in the Heart. I am away from my usual computer so please click on my name to follow the link.
Alrighty then, Rall & everyone (Derrick, Elizabeth, Viv, & anyone who wants to join a rhyming poem)! Here’s the collaborative poem pieced together so far. Keep it coming (by “replying” if possible)!
“Jack and Bill”
Jack and Bill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water
Jill pushed him and said
‘ Bastard ‘
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Bill came tumbling after
Up Jack got
And home did trot
As fast as he could caper
He went to bed with Bill and Ben
And read the Sunday papers
Jill stomped off in a huff
And went home on her lonesome
To plot a dastardly revenge
Against the gleesome threesome
Jill giggled, loaded and triggered
her water-filled plastic uzzi.
“This should dampen your enthusiam,
for making me look like a floozie.”
In comes Jack’s mother
All hot and bothered
from shopping arriving home
‘”Take that you brat”
Gives Jill a slap
“You leave my boy alone”
But, Jill glares at Jack,
while rubbing her now bruised cheek.
“Just remember that payback’s a bitch,
and you’ll be seeing me soon,
maybe, one day next week.”
Bill and Ben the flower pot men
were awoken by the clash
‘We are not accustomed to this
uncivilised behaviour
We’re off we’ve got to dash’
So Jill sat down, while Jack
rubbed his broken crown,
“Listen up, kiddo, if you say
you’re sorry for what you trilled
before I pushed you down that hill,
I’ll let it go and will not tarry,
leave you alone to play with Ben and Bill
or even your cousin Harry.”
Harry’s a dork
Jack sat down and thought
I’m not playing with him
He’s a terrible crim
As for saying sorry
to nasty old Jill
I’d prefer not to worry
and tolerate more spills
She may be a spoiler
not much of a toiler
inserting herself into my rhyme
but when it comes to Bill
as a fetcher of water
The prospect of pleasure
is more than three quarters
I’m utterly thrilled
all the time
Jill went off in a huff
and bought a new muff
to sooth her ruffled pride.
Ben and Bill
sobbed and they cried,
then went back up the hill
cackling with laughter
So ends the story:
after all that furore
they lived happily ever after.
This story is never ending
put the killjoys on hold
Jack and Bill are thrilled
to have their story unfold
Poor Jack and Bill
have had their woes
with Vivienne trying
to step on their toes
But the lovely Elizabeth
restoring their tale
let the whole world know
about the water pail
It was alway Jill
who caused trouble and spite
It was Bill from the Hill
that was Jack’s delight
Jack no longer is playing alone
Big Ears and Noddy are in contact
by phone
Big Ears and Noddy?
Whatever next?
won’t some-kind-body
please tell –
for Jack is perplexed –
by the meaning of all
these bizarre goings on?
Where will it all end?
They’re right round the bend
including yours truly, Anon.
Playful names tell from-the-past tales:
Ben’s a lowland delight with ears
large enough to grab those tender males
who wrestle with little-town fears.
But Bill fit the bill, he hails from the Hill
and Jack’s a softy for 1000-count threads.
This lad’s lofty goals don’t include Jill –
she’s as coarse as a bug-infested bed.
Ben will wrestle with the lads
tender or not
There is a reason he’s known as
the ‘Lowlander Hot’
Bill is a bit precious
with his Belgian Chocolate sweets
and behaves like a bastard
stealing Jack’s mother’s sheets
Along came Mr. Plod
Allo Allo Allo
I’m here to arrest the sheet thief
Who has caused so much trouble
People are sleeping on rubble
because they don’t have any sheets
Miss Muffet is a witness
to this display of sickness
She caught Ben in the act on her beat
He pretended to be a spider
And sat down beside her
Ripping the Manolo Blahniks right off her feet
Big Ears and Noddy
are bouncers supreme,
built all of muscle
and twice rotted spleen,
brothers to Jill
from under that hill,
she called them for backup
and yes, for the thrill.
Throughout this poem of relationship tales
Spare a thought for the bucket and pail
No indoor plumbing is far from a joke
I feel very sorry for those poor folk
Big Ears and Noddy went halves in a car
With their lousy driving skills
They didn’t get very far
When smoke started pouring from under the seat
They opened the bonnet and guess who they meet?
Mr. Ed, the talking horse of course,
what else beneath a proper bonnet?
But even a horse would have to say
This is far from a proper sonnet.
With all of its loose jiggles
and jaggles, characters more likely
found in rooms of muffled giggles,
spiders, and 1000 count sheets,
a meandering path up and down hill
am wondering what ever happened
to that wee spiteful Jill?
Jill was lonely
for most of the time
the guys just ignored her
and left her behind
She had to fetch water
all by herself
and it became fairly obvious
that she had been left on the shelf
So, Jill’s spitefulness wasn’t
spitefulness at all,
she got honestly angry
when the guy’s dropped the ball.
Bet, at one time
she played by the rules,
and found that’s the quickest
way for anyone to lose.
So she went her own way,
carried her bucket alone,
found that walking that path
kept mind and body toned.
And just to be safe and secure
on her own, asked her brothers’
advice when they could get home.
Having been robbed by Ben and Bill
Jack’s mother found their hands in the till
Jack had no choice but to throw them out
They now spend their days in the pub
drinking stout
Jack was now completely broke
sadly down to his very last smoke
There was no future in fetching pails of water and coke
had heard of a gambling casino run by a giant and was stoked
It was rigged up lavishly high in the sky
You needed access by bean stalk a bit dangerous oh my!
Jack climbed the beanstalk
And clambered inside
The giant was on a walk
so there was no need to hide
he grabbed all the gold
strewn over the table
and only took the stuff
with expensive designer labels
His mother was pleased
all money worries over
could even pay vet bills
for the old dog called Rover
Jack finally settled down
on the hill with Jill
making sure that she regularly
took the pill
he didn’t want kids
he didn’t want brats
he just wanted some peace
and a number of cats
Here is my contribution for this week — and my first the the Big Tent:
http://www.smallchangeblog.com/smallchangeblog/2010/07/malapropos-of-grit.html
Welcome to the Big Tent, Maria!