How do you interact with your REPL? SBCL is designed around SLIME. I find it virtually unusable without it.

You could use vilisp.vim[1], which will basically copy-and-paste Lisp forms into your REPL for you. If you use OSX, you can try pg's method[2] of dragging text between terminals.

Better yet, you could resurrect Slim-Vim[3] if you really want SLIME-like features.

[1]: http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=221

[2]: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=72863

[3]: http://wiki.alu.org/Slim-Vim

SBCL recommends SLIME, but I see no evidence that it's "designed around" SLIME.

Vim and Chicken.