Broadside
Quick answer: A broadside is a single poem printed on one large sheet, often letterpressed as an art object. Learn the history of broadsides and how poets use them now.
A broadside is a single sheet of paper printed on one side, carrying one poem, often designed and printed as an object worth framing. The form is centuries old: before newspapers, broadsides were how ballads, proclamations and scandal sheets reached the street, sold for a penny and pasted to walls. Modern poetry broadsides keep the format but trade the gutter press energy for craft, with letterpress type, fine paper and artwork built around a single poem.
Poets encounter broadsides mostly as celebration and keepsake. Presses issue them to mark a reading, a prize, or a beloved poem from a new book, frequently in signed, numbered editions of fifty or a hundred. For readers, a broadside puts a poem on the wall where it can be lived with, which is a different relationship than a book allows.
How a Broadside Works
Everything on a broadside serves one poem. The printer chooses a typeface that matches the poem's temperament, sets generous margins, and often commissions an image or ornament. Because the whole poem must be visible at once, short and mid-length poems suit the form best; a poem of 14 to 30 lines usually sits comfortably on a sheet.
The single-sheet constraint changes how a poem is read. There is no page turn and no poem before or after, so the piece stands entirely alone, closer to a painting than a chapter.
A Street Form Turned Fine Art
Broadside ballads flourished in Britain from the sixteenth century, hawked at fairs and executions, and many traditional songs survive because someone printed them on a cheap sheet. The twentieth century revived the format at the artistic end: the Broadside Press in Detroit, founded by Dudley Randall in 1965, published Black poets including Gwendolyn Brooks in broadside form and made the format a vehicle for political urgency as well as beauty.
Today letterpress studios and book fairs keep broadsides circulating, and a signed broadside is a common prize or thank-you gift within the poetry world.
Using the Form Yourself
You do not need a letterpress to think in broadsides. Designing a one-sheet version of your best short poem, even on a home printer, teaches you about white space, line length and visual rhythm. Some poets sell simple broadsides at readings; others trade them with fellow writers. If a poem of yours wins recognition, a contest placing or a magazine feature, a small broadside edition is a fine way to mark it.
What poets can take from this
- Choose a poem under about 30 lines so it can be read whole at arm's length.
- Let the design amplify the poem's mood rather than illustrate it literally.
- Number and sign small editions, since scarcity is part of a broadside's charm.
- Visit a book arts fair or letterpress studio to see how type choices change a poem's voice.
- Keep at least a few copies of any broadside you make; they become records of your career.
Try it yourself
Write a poem designed to hang on a kitchen wall and be reread for a year, no more than 20 lines, with one image strong enough to survive daily viewing.
Questions
What is a broadside in poetry?
A broadside is one poem printed on a single side of a large sheet, often letterpress-printed with artwork and issued in a signed, limited edition. It descends from the cheap street ballads sold on single sheets from the sixteenth century onward.
What is the difference between a broadside and a chapbook?
A broadside carries one poem on one sheet, made to be displayed. A chapbook is a small bound booklet holding a sequence of poems, made to be read like a book.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
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