30 Poems in 30 Days: Poetry Contests
September 28, 2007 by John Hewitt
This is Day 25 of 30 Poems in 30 Days
You May Already be a Winner
There is nothing wrong with entering poetry contests. It is one way of taking part in the larger world of poetry. It also gives you the motivation to write well and to keep writing. If you win a legitimate contest, it is a great honor. Unfortunately, many contests are not legitimate.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again. There is no quick or easy route to get rich as a poet. Even making a living as a poet is a difficult task. The masses do not buy books of poetry. Exceptions to this rule are rare, and generally involve someone who is famous for something other than poetry. Keep this in mind at all times, because there are people out there looking to take advantage of you.
Poetry contests are one of the methods that unscrupulous people use to take advantage of poets. They offer a substantial prize, $5,000, $10,000, $25,000, $100,000 to the winners of their poetry contests. All you have to do is submit your poems – along with a fee. Even if they don’t ask for an upfront fee, they still have ways of making you pay. In fact, if someone is offering you $100,000 for a contest you pay nothing to enter, you’d better be extra careful about entering.
Be prepared to become a finalist. An unscrupulous contest promoter’s goal will be to get you to attend a convention at which the winner will be named. The convention will probably be at some pretty locale that is easy to get so, such as Las Vegas or Miami. The fee for the convention won’t be too unreasonable, because they want you to come, but make no mistake; you are paying for a trip along with many, many other people they named as finalists. It may be a nice vacation, but you didn’t get there on talent. I don’t mean to say that you aren’t talented, just that talent is irrelevant to the contest promoters.
As a finalist, they will also publish you. Your poem will appear in a nice thick book along with a bunch of other poems. The book will be attractive, possibly leather-bound, but the poems will just be a collection of whoever sent something in. The book will cost you at least twenty dollars, maybe more. They’ll be counting on you to buy several so that your family and friends can see your “accomplishment”. They’ll probably also offer to sell you a nice plaque, perhaps one with your poem engraved on it. Whatever the case, they’ll keep trying to find a way to get your money.
There is nothing wrong with entering contests, but it pays to do a little research before you enter. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and don’t enter contests if the sponsors seem unwilling to share the details of how the contest works. Look for contests that are sponsored by schools, newspapers, magazines, major corporations and reputable publishers. Understand that any fee you pay to enter is going to be used to fund the prizes. If the fee seems excessive, don’t enter. Five dollars is one thing, but as the price grows so do the chances that you are getting ripped off. It is better to make a five dollar mistake than a hundred dollar mistake.
Never pay an additional fee once you have entered a contest. Don’t pay to have the poem published. Don’t pay for a plaque. Don’t pay for a trip. If you are the one paying them, then you are not a winner.
Sorry for this fairly cynical post, but people need to be warned.
Today’s Assignment
Write a poem that begins and ends with the same word.
Today’s Featured Poet
I wanted to take this chance today to formally promote Rosemary Nissen-Wade’s recommended Australian poets. I have already discussed John Kinsella, who I found much to my liking. I haven’t had time to delve as deeply into these three poets, and I would appreciate hearing other people’s opinions about them.
Related links
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Persona Poems (1.000)
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: About Forms and Lists (1.000)
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: A Brief Glossary of Meter (1.000)
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: The Good the Bad and the Meter (1.000)
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Syllabic Verse (1.000)
Contact John Hewitt
Writing Content and Web Consulting
Email: hewitt@poewar.comPhone: (520) 261-6104
LinkedIn: poewar
Twitter: @poewar
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Thanks for promoting my compatriots!
I would just like to note something not evident from reading her individual poems – that Dorothy Porter is one of the pioneers in this country of the verse novel.
Obeying the Maestro
for John Hewitt
Tip:
when you can’t write,
lie on the floor a while.
O.K.
First vacuum the floor.
Then put cats outside
not for the hair shedding
but because if they’re in
they’ll come and lie
on top of you
and that wasn’t
in the instructions.
If you have a carpet
with ancient stains
resistant to vacuum cleaners
and even professional expertise,
put down a pillow.
Lay an old towel down first
to keep the pillow clean.
Also find a large rug
to go under the rest of your body.
It’ll make you feel safer
less contaminated.
Speak to husband.
Make sure he knows
not to walk on you.
It would give him
such a scare.
Maybe arrange chairs
beside where you intend
to be lying, so he can’t
stumble across your body
before he notices it
stretched out there.
Stick a big sign
on one of the chairs.
Take phone off hook
or make sure husband’s aware
he is the one who has to answer it.
Likewise for front door.
Leave it open so he’ll hear
if anyone knocks.
Therefore don’t lie in living room
where you might be observed
through the open doorway
by callers or passing strangers.
Find another floor.
Get comfortable
on your pillow and your rug.
But not so comfortable
you’ll go to sleep –
lie on your back.
Get up again and email John.
You need to find out
if your eyes should be
closed or open
and whether it helps
to plug your ears.
While awaiting reply
lie on the floor
go with the flow
just do it
what have you got to lose?
And pretty soon
before you know
you’ll have a whole poem
out of that one
little tip!
Second thoughts:
In third-last verse change “observed” to “seen”.
Thanks for my morning chuckles.
I Agree.
Welcome to the Family
Kellen
Not Walter
And I go get Chinese food
He is about to tell me
That he is in love
With my sister-in-law
Who he is secretly dating
Except
There are no secrets
No secrets
In this family
Which I have told him
Over and over
But he doesn’t understand
I try to help him out
I tell him
Wrap it
Every time
Without exception
Because after three kids
With three different daddies
One of them in jail
It is clear that she
Cannot protect herself
Two years later
I attend his daughter’s first birthday
He holds her like a prize
Face forward
Pointing her like a laser
With wide eyes
And wider ears
Soon he will be an in-law
And I will be best man
At their wedding
That is if the mother of his child
Ever gets a divorce
From babydaddy
Number two
Good luck Kellen
John: I love the way you can paint such detailed pictures with so few, economical brush strokes!
Morning
One heron greets us on the path, exultant
with a crawdad in its beak, and three white ducks
who won’t shut up, and waddle an irate retreat,
(and whom Debbie has taken to torturing a bit,
bounding with Michal in her arms to disrupt
the seriousness of their communion)
and then, always, the same old man in the cowboy hat
passes us while we dawdle by the reeds.
He mutters Morning and we shout it back to him,
our voices ringing loud and clear, and as one.
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