COME ONE, COME ALL / December 17
by Carolee, Deb & Jill
It’s show time! It’s time to post your original poem, written in response to Monday’s prompt — write a “dead man” poem — 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.)
What did you write? Please leave a link to your blog post, or leave your poem itself, in the comments!
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
Hint: We’ve set Big Tent Poetry to Central Time.
Hint: An easy way to check on new post comments is via a RSS reader, if you use one. Here’s the address you would add to your reader: http://bigtentpoetry.org/comments/feed.
Hint: If you are new to our site, or put more than one link in your comment, your comment(s) will be held for moderation for your first few posts. We’re checking the filters often, so don’t despair! That said, if it takes more than a half a day to see it come live on the site, do email us at info (at) bigtentpoetry.org. (But be patient, okay?)
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.
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.
I’m not wild about my dead man. But I have a soft spot for him, I’ll admit, even if he didn’t perform quite as well as I’d hope. It was certainly a curious form!
About the Dead Man and the Might-Have-Been
I haven’t posted since August. School started with a whirlwind, and I took an online master’s class this semester. My life has not been my own. I’m happy to be back under the Big Tent, and look forward to reconnecting with all of you and your work.
Here’s my piece:
http://bozone-bw.blogspot.com/2010/12/dead-woman-and-mad-hatter.html
I didn’t come to the prompt until yesterday, and couldn’t get my mind around enjambment, so this piece it doesn’t adhere to the form. I’ll look forward to seeing some of the other pieces, and how that works its way through your words.
Welcome back!
Here’s mine
http://soulsmusic.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/about-the-dead-woman-and-red-shoes/
Elizabeth
I fell in love with this form, even if I am not doing it “right”…
http://juliejordanscott.typepad.com/jjspoetry/2010/12/dead-woman-poem-2-prompted-thanks-to-big-tent-poetry.html
dead man rises early
Sorry,but I couldn’t find your poem. Could you post a link?
ViV
i think the link works … it did for me and i see some others. still having trouble, viv?
and i see you found it, too. i was too many steps ahead of (behind?) myself …
I decided to approach this from a different perspective.
http://flaubert-poetrywithme.blogspot.com/2010/12/nature-life-dead-woman-big-tent-poetry.html
Well, I tried it. Don’t think I quite got a handle on it, though.
ABOUT THE DEAD MAN AND THE BOOK SHELF
I really enjoyed this. The second part needs more work, so I welcome suggestions.
The Dead Woman in Her Garden
A silly attempt
http://vivinfrance.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/dead-for-big-tent/
- but now I’m off to read what you experts have written!
winter – a tanka
I am having a lovely holiday and writing about dead people is the furthest thing from my mind . So off prompt again.Mine is ” Beach Holiday. ”
http://rallentanda.blogspot.com
julie jordan scott and i are talking about this over at facebook, that the “dead” part of this prompt scared some folks away from it. that’s ok, of course!
but i was telling her that i didn’t think of the prompt as having anything to do with death or dead people. i think “the dead man” is a character — with a name that just adds some great irony.
and i love — LOVE — that deb proposed it at this time of year. plays on that irony, for sure. makes us squirm just enough.
but then again, i have an odd sensibility, so i delight in the slightly twisted. :)
Here’s mine:
http://thelaughinghousewife.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/its-the-fall-thatll-kill-ya/
oh, thank you for showing us the deadman! it’s an amazing form.
my attempt — http://another2doors.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/the-book-of-the-indian-tea/
I don’t know about this dead man stuff. It is really hard to wrap ones head around it being called poetry. So, in light of the previous remark here is:
About the dead man and poetry
Merry Christmas – שמח חנוכה – Feliz Navidad – Frohe Weihnachten – 圣诞节快乐 – मेरी क्रिसमस – Joyeux Noël – С Рождеством – לעבעדיק ניטל
To all of you have a wonderful holiday season no matter how you say it or celebrate. Cheers and love.
And a Merry Merry to you!
humbug! :)
This was fun. Here’s mine: The Dead Man and Road Songs
I enjoyed writing this:
dead man and his shoe painting
What a fascinating idea for a prompt…for once I thought of something almost immediately!
here it is: http://cynthiashort.blogspot.com
isn’t it great when that happens? ;)
and here’s the direct link to cynthia’s piece … http://cynthiashort.blogspot.com/2010/12/listening-btp-prompt.html
Despite repeated attempts, there was no rescuing my Dead Man. Besides, I’ve been so caught up in Reverb10 that I have a tough time switching mental gears. So, with that in mind, I’ve written a poem based on a Reverb10 post I read a couple of days ago…
http://radio-nowhere.org/nb/?p=502
I’m afraid I fall into the camp that did not fall in love with Mr. Bell and his form. I did write a poem in as close an approximation of the style as I could attain; I doubt he would approve:
Dead Man’s Curve
What a fascinating form.
http://word-painting.blogspot.com/2010/12/about-dead-man-and-books.html
The Dead Woman and Sex
I didn’t follow Bell’s form – but I did use the idea of a dead season, or feeling dead in winter.
Here’s mine: “Carol”
http://wp.me/pv41q-f8
Hi, all. Here’s mine:
http://robin-turner.blogspot.com/2010/12/about-dead-man-poem-and-poeming.html
Thank you!
http://firsttumblewords.blogspot.com/2010/12/dead-woman-dance-for-big-tent-poetry.html
It was an interesting challenge – my dead man is a woman:
About the Dead Woman and Birds
My book draw is still open for a few hours, if you are quick
I’m with Joseph Harker here, except like Catherine, my Dead Man is a woman – I’m not thrilled with her but I’ve grown tender towards her – a fun challenge but a real challenge!
The Dead Psych Patient and More Dead Psych Patient Poetry
The Dead Psych Patient
http://thepoet-tree-house.blogspot.com/
So glad to see you all here! I’ll be back this weekend with a poem and to read.
Glad so many brave souls have played along, and understand the prompt may not be for everyone. There is lots of room under the Big Tent. For reals!
you will be to blame if i spend the rest of my life playing with dead guys. hee hee. :)
Tee Hee!
Hi Deb, I’m also the last person in the universe to discover such an interesting form.
the dead man and his body of evidence
It’s kind of nice there were so many last-persons to share this with, even if not everyone loved the Dead Man. :-)
these are so much fun to read! be back soon for some more!
I’m so late in posting because I needed to read the work of the other wonderful poets and I thank you for the inspiration that helped me get started. I hope some of you will be able to stop by and visit The Dead Woman Who Listens–I’m always open to helpful critique.
http://liv2write2day.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/about-the-dead-woman-who-listens/
i was inspired by the others, as well. normally, i don’t read until i’ve written my own, but today, i started to read and in the process met my own dead man on the road!
I’ve been a very bad clown. Here is my late poem, the dead woman and the laundry. I have a lot of Big Tent reading to catch up on!
it’s not late! we rumble around the circus lot all weekend long!!
but please say there’s no laundry in the afterlife. oy. ok. off to read and find out … :)
You’re not a bad clown!
Thanks, Deb. I hate being late to the circus, but some weeks are like that . . . I loved this form, BTW.
Became very intrigued by the form and wrote another poem. This one adheres more with the form itself.
http://intuitivepaths.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/about-the-dead-woman-and-remembering/
Elizabeth
fun, if a little odd
If there is any enjambement it is accident.
DEAD MAN POEMING
was too worried about the ice
I haven’t written many Nelle poems lately, but Viv’s idea of using a sevenling, with its two stanzas and a coda, in place of the dead man poem seemed like something Nelle would like.
http://n3lle.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/dead-man-sevenling/
i have a few more to read, but here’s my dead man poem. he’s got an alligator friend. for now.
http://caroleesherwood.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/the-dead-man-and-the-alligator-for-big-tent-poetry/
this was so much fun. :)
And mine: The Dead Woman Dissects Her Genetic Code.
Now to some reading (which will take me the rest of the weekend)! xoxox
Here is my Dead man Poem….in the style of Marvin Bell
http://waynepitchko.blogspot.com/2010/12/dead-man-burning.html
I wrote another:
dead man and his bottle of wine
I just stumbled upon this dead man poem thing (not to be confused with the blue man group) and your lovely big tent (not to be confused with the Democratic party). At this risk of this coming in too late, I’d like to share mine in the style of Professor Bell:
Dead Man Poem
Thanks!
Welcome to the Tent, Bill. Glad to have you here!
Another. This was a good prompt for me: The Dead Man and Memory