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Circus and Carnival Prompt: A Kids-Eye-View

By Heather Eure 16 Comments

circus_and_carnival
Through the eyes of children, everything is bigger and brighter. Bring them to a circus or carnival and fantasy comes to life. Floating high in the air while holding a balloon seems possible. Cotton candy looks like a fluffy pink mountain. The circus is a magical place and the carnival, a colorful party in a fairy land. Their eyes light up with a sense of wonder around every corner.

Life isn’t always a carnival (sometimes it can be a circus), but we can observe beauty in the world with a kids-eye-view. Let’s not lose our sense of childlike wonder. The world sparkles a little more because of it.

Poet Shel Silverstein certainly kept his kids-eye-view when he wrote poetry and stories. His quirky and conversational style made poetry accessible to children and grown-ups alike. Shel had a way of seamlessly commingling humor and philosophy throughout his written work, as in this circus-themed poem:

The Acrobats

I’ll swing
By my ankles,
She’ll cling
To your knees
As you hang
By your nose
From a high-up
Trapeze.
Just one thing, please,
As we float through the breeze—
Don’t sneeze.

Try It

This week, ignore any suggestions to “grow up.” Grab hold of your opportunity to be as childish as you like. Think back on a time you visited a circus or carnival. As an alternative, imagine being a child right now and pick which wonder-fest you’ll visit. Write a poem about your kids-eye-view experience. After you share your poem with us in the comments section, feel free to put it on your fridge. 🙂

And remember: don’t eat too many sweets or you’ll get a tummy ache.

Featured Poem

Thanks to everyone who participated in last week’s poetry prompt. Here’s an untitled poem we enjoyed from Monica Sharman:

My balancing act is more along the lines
of a cirque de la lune.
But it’s not just a phase, this teetering
on taut wires, arms outstretched
to flailing, less counterbalance than
oscillation from one off-kilter to another.
Craters and peaks eclipsed
by stage-light shadows
never revealing the far side.

—Monica Sharman

Photo by Marco Monetti, Creative Commons via Flickr.

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  • Author
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Heather Eure
Heather Eure
Heather Eure has served as the Poetry Editor for the late Burnside Collective and Special Projects Editor for us at Tweetspeak Poetry. Her poems have appeared at Every Day Poems. Her wit has appeared just about everywhere she's ever showed up, and if you're lucky you were there to hear it.
Heather Eure
Latest posts by Heather Eure (see all)
  • Poetry Prompt: Misunderstood Lion - March 19, 2018
  • Animate: Lions & Lambs Poetry Prompt - March 12, 2018
  • Poetry Prompt: Behind the Velvet Rope - February 26, 2018

Filed Under: Blog, Circus & Carnival, poetry prompt, poetry teaching resources, Themed Writing Projects, writer's group resources, writing prompts

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Comments

  1. Monica Sharman says

    August 31, 2015 at 7:19 pm

    Thanks so much for featuring my poem, and especially for the prompts. I feel a need to not grow up. 🙂

    Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      September 1, 2015 at 12:33 pm

      Sometimes we need to let our inner kid out to play. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Robbie Pruitt says

    August 31, 2015 at 9:13 pm

    Grace’s Carousel

    The painted horses
    leap forward in unison.
    Some go up and some down,
    circling to the music
    as lights glisten—
    shining and shimmering—
    reflecting off the mirrored glass.

    I look to see the reflection
    of Grace’s smiling face,
    her wonder at it all,
    her joy at the rise and fall.
    “Ride the horsey!
    I want to ride the horsey!”
    Again! Again!”

    © August 31, 2015, Robbie Pruitt

    Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      September 1, 2015 at 12:40 pm

      Just lovely, Robbie. Your perspective is delightful.
      “I look to see the reflection
      of Grace’s smiling face,
      her wonder at it all,
      her joy at the rise and fall.”

      I can relate to Grace’s enthusiasm. When the state fair comes, believe me, I will be on the carousel. Maybe more than once. I’ll be the one with cotton candy stuck to my hair.

      Reply
      • Robbie Pruitt says

        September 1, 2015 at 3:20 pm

        Thank you very much Heather!

        I enjoy the festivities of a good fair or carnival as well, but now more than ever through Grace’s eyes.

        Reply
  3. nancy marie davis says

    September 1, 2015 at 7:06 pm

    no catten candy
    where’s the elerant?
    no cortee candy
    where’s the elphapants?
    i don’t like the elmarants.
    i want carton candy

    Reply
    • SimplyDarlene says

      September 2, 2015 at 9:42 am

      ha!

      Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      September 3, 2015 at 7:38 am

      That sounds like a few kids I know, Nancy! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Monica Sharman says

    September 2, 2015 at 5:51 pm

    It’s not a photo prompt, but I have photos! Now to write the poem . . .
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/monica-sharman/20908157960/

    Reply
    • L. L. Barkat says

      September 2, 2015 at 7:04 pm

      Ooooo. So cute!! 🙂

      Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      September 3, 2015 at 7:44 am

      Look at the joy on that face! You can add photos anytime, Monica. Anytime. 🙂

      Reply
    • Monica Sharman says

      September 3, 2015 at 10:07 am

      Okay, here’s a poem to go with the photos. I was so tempted to mention something about 1970s clothing, but I didn’t. 🙂

      Carousel Cowgirl

      Organ music starts slow . . .
      ramps up as the spinning
      little girl
      curls her fingers
      round the spiraled post

      just

      like

      a real cowgirl
      with her grinning
      silver pony and pretend
      leather Stetson
      in that one hand
      hanging loose,
      blurry world whizzing,

      yaaah-hooing

      right along
      with every up
      and every down

      Reply
  5. Simply Darlene says

    September 4, 2015 at 10:17 am

    “three montana summer nights in a row”

    after horses & bulls & barrels
    cleared, crash ’em cars clanked &
    banged, then the cheap 3-ring circus
    set down – cotton candy and too tall
    sodas sugar-spazzed
    young ones across fair ground
    stands. grandpas whispered
    harsh commands in pulled close
    ears. holding sticky hands they
    clenched tight jaws – trying
    to keep kids and dentures in place.

    Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      September 4, 2015 at 10:50 pm

      “…trying to keep kids and dentures in place.” HAHA! I snort-laughed after reading the last line.

      Reply
  6. Andrew H says

    September 5, 2015 at 11:37 am

    The Elephants that are Real

    I know the elephants upon the wheel aren’t real,
    Just stick out cut outs on the floor,
    But looking down – oh, on looking down –
    My child saw them, and he believed
    And something deep inside me thought them real.

    Cotton candy stretched in a line – “pink froth
    From some old rainbow stream
    Which tumbles over rocks and acrobatic lines,”
    I told my son –
    He looked, and how his eyes did dream!

    Bright colours, silly wigs of twisted yarn
    And we go on, oh ever on
    ‘Neath twirling figures, suspended men –
    “You know they’re catching stars up there,
    To help the ever coming dawn?”

    He laughed. I did not think the elephants real
    But looking through his eyes, they are.
    Why not, why no magic for all of us?
    See how they roll and tumble in our minds!
    The best diversion, glowing circus star!

    Reply

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  1. Epic Poetry: Playlist and Prompt - says:
    September 7, 2015 at 8:01 am

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