Contests for fun

There are a few around, and for some of us, contests inspire the poet to step away ...

From Sin To Illness Contest
Inside the Writers Studio

Can you write in the mindset of one who has contracted an illness by alleged sins, whether cigarettes to lungs; alcohol to liver; unprotected sex to STDs, or any other type of illness where humanness and mortal flaws create tragedy, conflict, remorse, release, or really any range of emotions? It's a charged subject that requires a real challenge in the writer to stay removed from the emotion, especially if the narrator is the poet (i.e., it can't be a rant). Click on the contest for more info.

Can you write about wine, vine or vineyard?
Judd's Hill Wines sends out this requestion for submissions:

We are requesting a poem about wine, vines or vineyards. The submission can be made by going to our website www.juddshill.com, pulling the menu down under ARTS, and clicking on Poetry submissions.

The prize is a 3L bottle of Judd's Hill Cabernet Sauvignon; that's the equivalent of 4 bottles. The bottle is hand painted and etched in gold, and is very nice, I must say. The poems will be printed in the Judd's Hill newsletter, and placed on our website.

Guardian Workshop - Adèle Geras

Lost : Little Girl, by Jude Goodwin

Hair blonde eyes blue
green when near water
nose and chin small curving
white brow wide summer
smile last seen wearing
sand shoes holding shells holding
the wind last seen by the river
growing.

This is marvellous. It expresses very economically and beautifully the thought that every parent/grandparent has had many times ... Don't they grow up quickly? The lack of punctuation adds to the headlong rush of time that is part of what the poet is saying. I would have had no capital letters either, I think. The fact that "Lost" is part of the title makes it seem as though the adult looking back is regretful, even sad, about the loss of this child's youth, which brings a sort of shadow to the picture. It's as though the 'growing' in the last line is some kind of sinister process: something the poet might want to turn back if she could. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it. In any case, a good poem. A clear picture. Adele Geras August 2005

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Fellow Writers Block poet Ann Marie Eldon was also shortlisted. Click here to go to the workshop and read all the excellent 8-liner snapshots.

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I've discovered a whole bunch of poetry workshops I didn't know existed, due mostly to an interesting Poll posted online called the Online Poets Poll. and the ensuing discussion/debate/argument on various boards as to its merit, level of legitimacy, etc etc. My own opinion is that 'fun is fun' and how can it hurt? My complaint would be that there are a lot of poetry forums missing from their 'list' - I would like to see the page updated significantly.

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More on the demise of the Three Candles workshop : Here is a note on owner Steve Mueske's blog -

For more reasons than I care to enumerate here, I blew away the public, semi-private workshop associated with three candles. I have, in its place, erected a private workshop for serious poets. To gain admittance, participants must either be invited, recommended by members, or demonstrate a sufficient level of skill to be useful to the workshop. If you are interested in participating in a workshop without trolls or newbies, send me an email. steve.mueske@gmail.com

And speaking of good forums now defunct - it appears that Mike Duran's APAD and poetry forum is permanently closed.

arrgh Summer!

So easy breezey - what's a poet to do? Oh I wander about, crit here crit there, read, pretend I'm actually doing something productive kaff kaff gag. I wanna write a poem dammit!

Well yah yah I know what I have to do. Sit down, type some words. Type type type. Doesn't matter what they are. Type type type. On my wall, a calendar full of black and white photos of trains - steam engines huffing under moons, past limned trees. In front of the calendar, a gold robot stuffed and oh so soft - he's waving to me. Three medals, two bronze, one gold. A dried rose from daughter number two's wedding. Three daughters caught mid-pose.

Three Candles, the poetry forum, has closed. Not sure why Steve chose this course as there were quite a few good poets posting and critting and some newcomers too. He cited lack of time in his email. Poetry Forums come and go, it seems. First Melic this summer and now 3 Candles.

Meanwhile, In The Writers Studio is developing at a rapid pace - lots of poets, great serious critiques. Those who might wonder where Mike Duron's APAD went, the poets are now posting on ITWS's 30Days/30Poems. I first met many of the poets that hang with ITWS in the Poetry Writers Workshop which is conducted via email. I think ITWS should be a member of the IPBC but they were told there wasn't room. With the loss of Melic, I think there might be. Certainly there would be a lot of great poems submitted from this site.

Have I mentioned Blueline? Submit your poem to Heavy Duty and you are guaranteed of at least 5 in-depth critiques produced in an anonymous process - when we crit, we don't know the name of the poet. We receive the poems via email, then when all crits are in, HA posts to the forum. The poems are then open to further critique. HA has a lot of great poets on board. It's is a unique approach. But then, there is no 'tradition' or 'rule' when it comes to the internet.

Cheers

The New Yorker - rejection

Dear Sir or Madam,

We regret that we are unable to use the enclosed material. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to consider it, and please accept our apologies for the length of time it has taken to respond. In the future, we assure you that we will get back to you more promptly. Best of luck.

Sincerely,

The Editors
Poetry - the New Yorker

Counting Ships
Remission
Cello
Not Tonight
Listen-
Forgive the Fist

8 line snapshots

The new challenge on The Guardian Poetry Workshop Adèle Geras asks for a short descriptive poem using only concrete nouns - or did she say that? She actually said "no abstract nouns" and she said "no more than 8 lines" which means it could be fewer.

A triolet has 8 lines. I thought that might be worth a try. Then, I though, maybe an extraction of 8 lines from other trashed poems. Over on the Writers Block, Rus Bowdon has written an 'byr a thoddaid ' - had to look that one up dint I?

Deadline Sunday, Aug 21 so get on it

I entered a poem on Inside the Writers Studio which ended up winning first place. This is a great workshop, very active - be sure to drop by. Speaking of workshops, I posted a poem on 3 candles 7 days ago - it has had 12 views and 0 crits. I am sad that the board is so inactive, there are some pretty fine poets on the roster.

Meanwhile, we are hatching something new over on The Writers Block - more on that later. The South Carolina Writers Workshop is busy - I posted the same poem there and with 24 hours it had 5 crit/comments. And Blueline's new approach to heavy duty critique guarantees you of at least 5 deep inline crits so navigate yourself over there and see what's cooking. Addresses can be found on menu at right.

Peace
Jude

White Pelican Review - acceptance

Dear Jude Goodwin

The staff of White Pelican Review is pleased to notify you that your poem, "Not Tonight" has been accepted for publication in our Fall 2005 issue, due out in early October.

A complimentary copy of this issue will be mailed to you at that time. Additional copies are available at four dollars each.

Congratulations on this exceptional work. We wish you and your writing every success.

Sincerely,
Nancy J. Wiegel, Editor

The Comstock Review

My first very first published poem arrived in the mail yesterday in the body of The Comstock Review. No words to describe how it feels. I've been published before - three books actually - but not poetry. One was a book of cartoons. The other two were kids books on card games. All were thrilling to hold for the first time. Something different about poetry - more of a personal nod.

The Comstock Review is an excellent little book! I am devouring the other poetry. I recognize none of the poets so I know I'm in for a real treat.

Today my 'comments' area of this Blog got spammed. No problem as I can delete it quickly but it's disturbing. I absolutely hate abhor despise spam. I get over 300 spam emails a day. Most of them are very rude, many of them attempt to infect my computer systems (it doesn't work, Macs don't get viruses), they interfere with my reading legitimate emails, and the time it takes to clear them away is an enormous waste. Punishment for spam should be swift and steep.

If bots are getting into blog systems, we will have to put an end to anonymous comments which would be a drag, for sure.

Hope you're all enjoying the summer!

Three Candles and where I write

There's a new (for me anyhow) Poetry Board on Three Candles. In order to participate you have to give your REAL NAME - yayaya.

(I never understood why poets would want to post in secret but I have some guesses - maybe they feel some of the crits are 'personal' and want to receive a more objective response to their work; maybe they don't want their friends (or enemies) to know what boards they are hanging around; maybe they are not actually poets but are scarfing their poems from other writers and laughing at us for not recognizing obscure pieces; maybe they are not really people but aliens attempting to communicate through the ethernet, and on Zenon everyone picks a new name on Mondays; maybe we are not really reading their poems but are actually viewing the imprint of their rear ends from beneath an office chair in some quantum cubicle. You just never know.)

Three cheers for Steve Mueske for this forum. The Membership list is impressive - there should be some grand poems to read and lick and love over there.

Speaking of Poetry Boards, the internet has lost Melic - most accounts agree it was inevitable - I know the last few times I visited, the board was mostly grafitti - very few poems. It's become obvious the unmoderated poetry board cannot succeed although Im still not fond of 'registration only' boards - for some reason my computer won't hold registration details anymore so every time I want to jump in and post a crit I'm asked for my name and password. I dig and dig through the stack of papers next to my keyboard, half of it falls to the floor, slips into the hall, finally I find THE BOOK, leaf through it urgently, carefully type in all the lower and upper case letters, carefully typing 0 when it's a 0 and O when it's an O and finally - I'm in. But the impulse muse has long since flown.

Melic will be publishing one final print mag, the theme is Death and the Death of Melic. Deadline for submissions Nov 1. E-mail address is melicreview@hotmail.com.

New poetic blogs include Arlene Ang's The Desecration of Doves and Rachel Mallino's All of Nothing

And finally, 32 Poems Magazine Blog has posted a challenge for poetbloggers to post a picture of their writing spaces. Here is a pic montage of my and my daughter's creative studio space


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