To be clear, I don’t object to all fees, I just feel that the contest should be VERY upfront about why they are charging and how much they keep.

1) I get something even if I do not win.
2) It is a good practice to read the poems which are published in a magazine to determine their style, but I do not always find this practical.
3. The magazine gets increased circulation, so if I *do* win there will be more people reading my poems .

Lost

Found

Lost again

We play the

Same game

Over and over

Again

With different
People

At different
Moment

Of our lives

But the same

rhythm

tempo

beat

we lose

our way

we find

our way

loss

gain

lost

and found

you

me

shall we

play?

Between a man and

A woman

It is always a game

A contest

(Let’s play

shall we?)

Lost

Found

Lost again

We play the
Same game
Over and over

Again

With different
People

At different
Moment

Of our lives

But the same

rhythm

tempo

beat

we lose

our way

we find

our way

loss

gain

lost
and found

you
me

shall we

play?

(Let’s play

shall we?)

What happened to the contests
Of Twenty-Five Words Or Less?
Why Crunch-O was your favorite,
How Fun Iron gave Good Press . . . ?

Ever since I started using Nasty Master, my friends, and former friends, have been astounded by my verbal ripostes. Even God pays attention now! Woot!

A quarter and two boxtops
The standard entry fee,
And six to eight weeks later
The winner could be me!

Gargantobubble has given me new purpose in life. I know all Truth will greet me if the popped bubble ever completely envelops my questing head.

You do not need a contest
To write a Micro-Treatise,
Just pick a toothsome topic
Like how electric sleet is.

Fallow Fellows would mellow tellingly if issued marshmallows and SEVEN PILLARS OF WISDOM and a mantra that had a real Zing to it. Sign here!

Crystallization, Civilization,
Nat’ral Selection too,
Twenty-Five Wording can jazz up your brain,
No fuss, no muss, no goo.

The end the end the end the end the end the end the end the end the end the end the end the end the

I spent the entire weekend being number one in the writing contest.
I make some money from Helium.com’s contests every few weeks.
I only enter when there is a writing topic I am interested in
Usually alternative health, nutrition, politics, or even holidays.

I have won second place a few times, but never first.
No one seemed able to touch me though this past weekend.
I felt unpressured to even write another piece but I did
And then on the fourth day I hit the skids.

Suddenly my peers didn’t rate my writing so highly anymore.
You try to figure out why they are suddenly running cold.
What did I do wrong, say wrong, where did I go wrong?
Writers from the bottom of the lineup were now on the top.

It makes me crazy when that happens.
I check my ratings so many times a day it’s sick.
I feel that there’s been some mistake made.
My readers love me, love my writing. Don’t they?

How could so many turn on me en masse
When I was the queen of the ball for three days?
I have learned not to use humor any more.
They don’t seem to have a sense of it.

I have learned to stick to the orthodox
They don’t like it when I wander from the path.
What makes these readers happy?
Why are they so very moody and fickle?

I ended up one lousy point from the money.
No matter how many times I checked I couldn’t go up one notch.
You try not to think of all the hours spent writing and rewriting.
Of how cocky you felt when no one could come near your score.