MONDAY PROMPT(s) / March 28

March 28, 2011
By Big Tent Poetry

This week’s prompt(s)

Friday is April 1, and some of you will be starting the madness that is writing-a-poem-a-day in April for National Poetry Month. And some of you will be saying, “Um, no.” To keep all our circus-goers happy and well-fed on cotton candy (inspiration) and peanuts (prompts), here is a list of seven prompts:

1. Write about standing on a balcony with someone you’ve read about in the paper.
2. Write about getting undressed somewhere besides the bedroom or bathroom.
3. Write about making a phone call.
4. Write about something that happened 15 years ago.
5. Write about feathers and stilettos (but no person can be wearing them).
6. Write about being afraid of an animal.
7. Write about when you don’t feel like yourself.

If you want to stick to the normal plan, simply pick one prompt and write a poem. If you will be doing a poem-a-day, they are here for you once you get started. Either way, come back starting Friday and through the weekend to post your poems! If you’ve written one, as usual, post that one. If you’ve written more than one, give us your favorite!

Special notes for April

Some people will be writing a poem-a-day in April in celebration of National Poetry Month, and some people won’t. Whatever you intend to do, we will be right here on our regular Monday-prompt / Friday-poems schedule. If you want to write a poem-a-day using Big Tent prompts, our weekly prompts from March 28 through April 25 will include seven choices. Write to them, one each day, if you like. But if you prefer to ignore all the poem-a-day madness and just want to keep doing what you’re doing, simply pick one from the list and go with it!

How prompts work under the Big Tent

We post prompts on Mondays, and you have all week to write your poems, based on our fabulous prompt or any other inspiration. Come back on Friday when you will find a “Come One, Come All” post where you can use the comments section to 1) leave a link to your poem or 2) leave the poem in its entirety.

You’ll have all day Friday (and 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 with RSS reader, if you use one. Here’s the address: https://bigtentpoetry.org/comments/feed.

Hint: If you are new to our site, your comment(s) will be held for moderation for your first few posts. If you put more than one link in your comment, your comment(s) will be held for moderation. 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.

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15 Responses to “ MONDAY PROMPT(s) / March 28 ”

  1. angie on March 28, 2011 at 7:28 am

    oh, thank you, thank you! I was certain I wasn’t going to be able to shift gears and start writing again, until I read this list. it’s terrific — and now my little rusty sprockets are already moving.

  2. Deb on March 28, 2011 at 8:16 am

    That Carolee is a WD-40-style-prompt-whiz! :-)

  3. pamela on March 28, 2011 at 11:21 am

    Thanks so much, girls.
    Great prompts!

  4. Joseph Harker on March 28, 2011 at 11:26 am

    Oh man, this is too tempting. Might not be able to wait until Friday, or hold to any kind of one-per-day limit… excellent prompts, these!

  5. ms pie on March 28, 2011 at 1:09 pm

    those are some excellent choices… touche carolee.. looking forward to the exciting and sometimes exhausting experience come friday…

  6. Wayne on March 28, 2011 at 8:28 pm

    well the old guy has not been writing much lately…..busy painting…baby sitting grand kids…..so this April thing is a challenge….so just like Wed nite poker…”I’M ALL IN”…

  7. barbara on March 30, 2011 at 12:41 am

    SWELL!

  8. irene on March 30, 2011 at 6:50 pm

    Oh, deep breath!

  9. carolee on March 30, 2011 at 7:00 pm

    i’m gonna need you guys to help me! and i hope the prompts help us all!!

  10. Nellsberry on April 3, 2011 at 4:49 am

    I wrote about being afraid of an animal yesterday – good prompt, I also combined it with a book prompt on another website… “Grab the book closest to you got to page 29 pick 10 words from that page etc…” Thanks! :)

    • Deb on April 3, 2011 at 9:53 am

      Hi Nellsberry. Welcome to the Tent.

  11. Joanne Merriam › NaPoWriMo poem & prompt #3 on April 3, 2011 at 6:54 am

    [...] getting undressed somewhere besides the bedroom or bathroom, or follow one of the other prompts at Big Tent Poetry. [...]

  12. Poem: Furniture Endures | Elizabeth Kate Switaj on April 3, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    [...] Written in response to the fifth of Big Tent Poetry’s prompts for the first week of National Poetry Month. [...]

  13. Anjie on April 3, 2011 at 7:31 pm

    Wow–the Poetry Big Top! I’m especially enjoying the concept of the treats. I’m thinking of caramel corn. . .
    If you are looking for more prompts, I post them Monday – Friday. And there is a poem up there now for inspiration. Happy National Poetry Month and Happy Writing, everybody!

    Yours in the Arts,

    Anjie

    http://promptsforwriters.blogspot.com/

    • Deb on April 3, 2011 at 10:19 pm

      Hi Anjie. Thanks for the link! (I like your treat idea, too.)

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