A column by C. Delia Scarpitti, Big Tent Poetry Sideshow Barker My poetry books are, in so many ways, the keys to my own personal narrative. … I touch the James Wright book I dropped in a bathtub in Taos and once loaned out to a man I liked. When he and I parted...
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Sideshow: Poetry bookshelf as personal narrative
MONDAY PROMPT/ May 17

This week’s prompt Guess what? This week’s prompt is a Wordle! We’ve grabbed some words offered by you, our circus-goers, to create this week’s prompt. All you have to do now is pick one or any number of them and write this week’s poem! How prompts work under the Big Tent We post prompts...
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COME ONE, COME ALL/ May 14
by Carolee, Deb & Jill It’s show time! It’s time to post your original poem, written in response to Monday’s wonderful prompt — we can’t wait to read what fabulous-sounding words resonated in the ears of all your muses! — or any other inspiration from the week. (We love it when you write to...
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Sideshow: Why I like writing from prompts
A column by Mallery Koons, Big Tent Poetry Sideshow Barker Someone recently asked me why I like writing from prompts when I could be writing from my own ideas. It made me think hard about the purpose of prompts and how they fit into my writing practice. Most poets and writers I know...
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Sideshow: Need a little poetic advice?
Welcome to the sideshow tent for everything you wanted to know about poetry but were afraid to ask! Oh, boy! Our fearless sideshow barker Robert Peake is ready to answer your poetry-related questions! He will answer one each month over at his blog, and we’ll cast our spotlight on it from here with an...
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MONDAY PROMPT/ May 10
This week’s prompt This week we are going to spend a little time listening to language. The idea is to get away from your usual range of aural experience and open yourself to surprises. One way to do that is to spend a few minutes (maybe 10 or 15) and listen to a podcast,...
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