Author Archive

This week’s prompt

I love science poems. And I bet you too, even if you don’t think you like science. The subject is full of strange details and ideas that beg to be written about. Here are three recent news items that intrigued me and might be the launching pad for your science-based poem:

Alien life might have been found in old meteors: “The implications are that life is everywhere, …”
The junky interior of the International Space Station: “Clutter adorns almost every surface and is held in place by duct tape, Velcro and metal clips …”
That Antarctic ice is created from below as well as above: “… the ghostly shapes of the Gamburtsevs and the giant freeze-on “beehive” structure … .”

Even if you don’t think you are keen on science, use the stories or ideas as a metaphor for something in your own life or a made-up life. The odd mix of fact and fiction is poetry in the making. Need a little more inspiration? Here’s a poem and an interview at qarrtsiluni about “Science as Poetry.” The Discover site offers “Science Poem of the Week” (they have eight from 2006). Michelle McGrane wrote a series of “postcards” from space travel in her new book, which you can read at Pindrop Press. Have your own favorite science poem or poet? Let us know Friday, when you bring us your new poem!

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.

This week’s prompt

Not all of us celebrate every single holiday brought to us by tradition, religion or capitalism. In fact, folks may dislike some, even many, of the enforced celebrations or occasions, including the one that just passed a week ago.

This week is your chance to create your own festival, holiday or annual celebration, or to write the anti- of any of them — real or imagined — as a poem.

You may look to traditional saints and angels for inspiration, or you may check out holiday calendars that list offerings like Pie Day (which is one day we should celebrate more, but darn if it hasn’t passed us by on January 23rd). Or perhaps you want to rejoice in Hoodie-Hoo Day, which may have been created by one of Carolee’s spiritual kin to call for an end to winter. Hoodie-Hoo Day was yesterday, February 20th, but you can still celebrate it poetically even if you didn’t run outside on The Day and yell “hoodie-hoo” to the sky at high noon. Not yet tickled? Do a search for “weird holidays” and a plethora of sites will spring up to inspire you if an ode to oddness is your thing.

Of course, you can always make up your own personal holiday or celebrate an actual event that is meaningful for you.

Whatever you do, set a date in print and make it part of your poem. And come back starting Friday and bring us your holiday/anti-holiday rant (ahem) poem.

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.

This week’s prompt

Your normal point of view: Let’s change it up this week, shall we?

This week dig up a portrait photograph – in your home, computer, or on the web – of someone you know or someone you don’t. The photo cannot be one that you took.

The strategy this week is that the you will imagine the photographer and write about the subject as if from the point of view of the photographer. Try to stay consistent with this imagined photographer’s personality (the photographer can be the real photographer, if you know who that is, or he/she can be fictional — we’re giving you lots of latitude here!).

If you prefer, you can use the perspective of an omniscient author, albeit one with a back-story you created. (Just for giggles, you could try both approaches, and see which brings you a more interesting poem!)

Source ideas:

Borrow your spouse or significant other’s photo albums. (Go ahead and write about that ex!)
Go to your local bookstore and browse through the photography aisle.
Try the Flickr Portrait group.
Glance at a stock photography group, such as “Fotosearch,” using “famous people” as your search term.

(Remember to post your source photos only if they are in the public domain or if they have a creative commons license that allows for their use. Or if you are married to the photographer.)

Come back starting Friday and tell us your point of view. And give us a new poem to read.

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.