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July 2006
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Welcome to our July newsletter. This is the companion to our online database, The Best Free Poetry Contests. It alerts you to upcoming contests and important contest changes.
Lost one of our newsletters? Message garbled in transmission? Not to worry. All our recent newsletters are posted online at http://www.winningwriters.com/news
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TOM HOWARD/JOHN H. REID SHORT STORY CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Tom Howard Books is pleased to announce the results from its 14th annual Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest. Jan Breen of New Jersey won first prize and $1,000 for her story "Geraldine Fitzgerald & Saint Patrick's Day in Pittsburgh". 1,217 entries were received from around the world.
In Breen's heartwarming tale, a young journalist learns the true meaning of stardom from a former movie queen who gives a holiday concert of traditional Irish songs at a small cabaret in Pittsburgh. Expecting a prima donna, the reporter and theater crew are instead won over by Fitzgerald's extraordinary humility, grace and kindness.
The second prize of $600 went to Laurie Gough for "Naxos Nights". Gough lives in Guelph, Ontario and Wakefield, Quebec. Her atmospheric tale of a backpacker in Greece, drawing on Gough's experience as a travel writer, culminates in a mysterious, possibly supernatural encounter. In Lissa Byers' "Phantom Feelings", which received the third prize of $400, a wounded soldier and his wife anxiously anticipate their reunion, while wondering if their love can overcome the changes that the war has wrought. Byers hails from Arvada, Colorado.
High Distinction Awards of $250 each were given to Debbie Camelin, Craig Rondinone, Brenda A. Morris and Melissa Lassor.
See the complete list of winners and commended entries, plus the judges' comments. The honorees come from such diverse countries as the USA, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, India, France, Botswana, Tanzania and South Africa. Thanks to all of you who participated. The next Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest will open here on August 15.
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RECENT HONORS FOR OUR NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS
Congratulations to newsletter subscriber Shirley Barasch. She writes, "Thank you for your Winning Writers newsletter. I thought you might want to know, I took first prize in the Taproot Literary Journal competition. I will be giving a reading of my poem "Chautauqua" and 5 others that were honorable mentions on July 15. My play "Alice in Wonderland" with original adaptation, words and music is currently in production at South Park Children's Theatre in South Park, Pittsburgh, PA. It's great to see what the rest of the world is doing in poetry. It took me a long time to get this far."
RECENT HONORS FOR POETRY CONTEST INSIDER SUBSCRIBERS
Congratulations to Poetry Contest Insider subscriber Ellen LaFleche. She won first prize in the Poets on Parnassus Prize, a contest that offers $500 for poems about the medical experience. Her poem "Snow White Faces Terminal Cancer" was published in the Spring 2006 issue of The Pharos, the journal of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. The next deadline will be in spring 2007. Ms. LaFleche has subscribed to Poetry Contest Insider since 2005. Incidentally, one of our free newsletter subscribers, Tracy Koretsky, took second prize in this contest for her poem "I've Come to Take Your Picture".
Congratulations to Poetry Contest Insider subscriber Cheryl A. Martin. Her poem "Woman Reclining" won first prize in the Poetry category in the 2005 Artists Among Us contest from Henry Ford Community College in Michigan. This multi-genre contest, open to Wayne County residents, awards prizes up to $500 for poetry, music and visual arts. Last year's deadline was April 30. Literary entries must be based upon some work of art selected for the AAU exhibit. Ms. Martin's poem was inspired by the artwork of the same name by Donna Jackson. Ms. Martin signed on to Poetry Contest Insider this year.
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ALL CRITIQUES PORTED OVER FROM OLD SITE
We are pleased to announce that we have migrated all our archived poetry critiques into our new site, going back to the first one in August 2003. With nearly three dozen critiques to date, it's a kind of free poetry workshop on the web. Go there now.
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FEATURED SPONSOR'S MESSAGE
10th Annual Robert Frost Foundation Annual Poetry Award
 Postmark/Email Submission Deadline: September 15
The Robert Frost Foundation (www.frostfoundation.org) welcomes poems in the spirit of Robert Frost for its Tenth Annual Award. The winning poem will receive $1,000 and an invitation to be presented at the Frost Festival located at Lawrence Riverfront Park (off I-93, River Road Exit), Lawrence, Mass. on Saturday, October 28, 2006. Festival readers include X.J. Kennedy, Jeffrey Harrison, Maggie Dietz, Cesar Sanchez Beras and Rhina Espaillat. This year's judge is Ben Mazer, an editor of Fulcrum Magazine (read a review by Mr. Mazer, read his poems). Reading fees are $10 per poem (send fees via regular mail, please). Please submit two copies of each poem, one copy with contact information and one copy without any identifying information. Mailing address: Robert Frost Foundation, 439 South Union, Lawrence, MA 01843. Email submissions are also accepted at frostfoundation@comcast.net.
Read this Boston Globe article about the Frost Foundation and its poetry award.
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Tom Howard/John H. Reid Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: September 30
Now in its fourth year, this contest seeks poems in any style, theme or genre. 30 cash prizes totaling $3,500 will be awarded, including a top prize of $1,000. All winners of cash prizes will be published in an anthology. The entry fee is $6 for every 25 lines you submit. Enter online or by mail. Early submission encouraged. You may submit poems that have been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the anthology and online publication rights. Unpublished work is also welcome. Winning Writers is assisting with entry handling for this contest. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. Guidelines:
http://www.winningwriters.com/tompoetry
TRY POETRY CONTEST INSIDER
Get profiles on over 750 poetry contests, plus over 100 of the best prose contests. Search and sort contests by deadline, prize, fee, recommendation level and more. Interviews and links to award-winning work help you refine your craft. Explore Poetry Contest Insider for 10 days on us. If you like it, you'll pay just $6.95/quarter. If it's not for you, cancel and pay nothing. Learn more about Poetry Contest Insider.
"For a really complete list of poetry competitions, including rankings and summaries, I'd suggest subscribing to Winning Writers, a very good service and quite inexpensive."
Jeffery Bahr, "Awards and Competitions for First-Time Authors"
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Deadlines: July 16-August 31
Here is a summary of upcoming free poetry contests. Click the contest names to be taken directly to their profiles (you may be asked to login on your first click of the day). You may also view the profiles by logging in to The Best Free Poetry Contests here and clicking the Find Free Contests link to search for contests by name.
Forgot your password? Need a password?
Please go to http://www.winningwriters.com/forgot_password.php
We will email your password to you within minutes.
7/31: Being at Work Poetry Challenge ++
Recommended free contest from a Canadian center for labor studies offers top prizes of C$300 in beginner and experienced categories, for poems about the worklife experience. No fee, but you may include a donation to the Movement for Canadian Literacy with your entry. Send by mail or email.
7/31: Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award +++
Highly recommended free contest for unpublished poems by authors aged 11-17 offers free books, anthology publication, and tuition to a writing course (for UK entrants only). Online entries accepted.
7/31: Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest offers 3,000 pounds and a reading at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in Suffolk for the best first full-length collection of poetry published in Great Britain or Ireland since September 1 of the preceding year. Either publisher or author may submit 3 bound or proof copies of the book with a note indicating the date of publication. Include cover letter with contact information.
7/31: John Glassco Translation Prize +
Neutral free contest offers C$1,000 for an author's first book-length translation into French or English, published in Canada during the previous calendar year; work may be poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction or a children's book (all genres compete together). Contest is open to Canadian citizens or landed immigrants. Fiction predominates among winners; most recent poetry winner was in 1998.
7/31: Sarabande Series in Kentucky Literature ++
Recommended free contest offers publication by Sarabande Books, a high-quality literary press, for a manuscript of poetry, fiction or creative nonfiction (all genres compete together) about Kentucky or by Kentucky authors. Winner must agree to travel to readings within the state. You are eligible if you were born in Kentucky or have lived there for at least five years, or your book is set in or about Kentucky. Poetry manuscripts should be 48-100 single-spaced pages, prose manuscripts 150-250 double-spaced pages. No genre fiction.
8/4: T.S. Eliot Prize +++
Entries must be received by this date; formerly August 5
Highly recommended free contest offers 10,000 pounds for the best book of poetry first published or scheduled to be published during the current calendar year in the UK or the Republic of Ireland. Must be submitted by publisher. Past winners have been well-established poets.
8/8: Blanchan/Doubleday Awards +
Neutral free contest offers two prizes of $1,000 for creative writing by Wyoming residents aged 18+ with no more than one published book in each genre. Doubleday award is for women only; Blanchan is for writing inspired by nature. Entries in all genres (poetry, fiction, nonfiction, plays and screenplays) compete together. Entrants may not be a full-time college student or faculty member.
8/18: Boardman Tasker Prize +
Entries must be received by this date
Recommended free contest offers 2,000 pounds for the best published book on the theme of mountains or mountaineering, first published or distributed in the UK between November 1 of the previous year and October 31 of this year. Entries must be submitted by publisher, and may be poetry, fiction, nonfiction or drama. Early entries are encouraged.
8/25: United Planet Writing & Photo Contest +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest seeks poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and photos that demonstrate the promotion of cross-cultural understanding, friendship, and supporting one another in their own community or abroad. Prize is a free volunteer Quest (airfare not included) for up to two weeks to any of United Planet's short-term locations around the world in order to advance the winner's own personal intercultural interaction and promote social and economic prosperity worldwide. Written entries should be 2,500 words maximum (one winner across all genres); see website for photo formatting rules. Enter by email only.
8/31: John Llewellyn Rhys Prize ++
Entries must be received by this date
Recommended free contest offers top prize of 5,000 pounds for the best English-language book (poetry, fiction or nonfiction) published in the UK during the previous year by a British or Commonwealth citizen aged 35 or under. Must be submitted by publisher.
8/31: Tameme Chapbooks/Cuadernos Contest +
Neutral free contest for translations of unpublished Spanish-language poetry, fiction and essays by Mexican authors offers $200 for the author and $75 for the translator, plus publication as a bilingual chapbook. Send 10-20 pages of translation plus a copy of the original work. Tameme is a foundation whose mission is to promote English-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English literary translation by publishing new writing from Canada, the US, and Mexico.
Login
to The Best Free Poetry Contests now to view these and all our profiles of free contests. You can browse contests by deadline date, name, recommendation level and more.
Key to Ratings
Highly Recommended: +++
Recommended: ++
Neutral: +
All deadlines are postmark deadlines unless otherwise specified.
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SPONSORS' MESSAGES
Five Zeitgeist Bubbles
For those who vaguely or keenly remember what gasoline sold for at the pump decades ago, giving up the quest for lower prices may be difficult, if not unthinkable. Rumor-fed mirages complicate matters. In "Cheap Gas", a man willing to go to any lengths to fill up on bargain petrol after numerous forays finds peace in a dangerous remote region with a tried-and-true—but, for him, new—form of transportation. "How Now, Down Dow?" Stock-market volatility and the vibrations it sends through investor nervous systems. "Park Purgative". Lawmakers consider an innovative approach to ridding the town park of undesirable elements: Zap 'em with classical music. "Up Close at the Dentist's Office". Dentist with the long Cadillac and gold trim recommends serious procedures involving painful fees. "And Now for the Local News". Where's the anchor? The regular anchor? Multiple-choice explanations. "Regrets". Declining an invitation with a plethora of hackneyed expressions. www.edalbaugh.com
The Shorter Decameron
by Larry Lyall
On sale now at Amazon.com
when I pray Lord please let Thy will be done
not only here but for eternity
& find that what He wills is such good fun
I'm certain heaven's for the likes of me
(VII, iii)
Boccaccio's refreshing wit recast as Petrarchan sonnets. The Shorter Decameron is a handbook for Boccaccio's masterwork as well as a stand-alone, comedic romp in the spirit of the original. You'll enjoy a critical gloss, ample quotes from Boccaccio, and, of course, the gist of the tales themselves.
"Pays brilliant tribute to the revelatory and transformative power of poetry, story, and intellectual exchange."
—Marilyn Migiel, author of A Rhetoric of the Decameron
Excerpt from The Shorter Decameron
since you awake to find each day apparrel'd
in sub-moronic wit your natural grace
your gifts your taste by jealousy debas'd
& each new day accurs'd a living hell
then my demesne (this small uncorner'd world)
is meant for none but you a healing place
wherein the bruise of jealousy's eras'd
yet if your fears are such you fear to yield
consider this: remain within that slough
until one day you wake & cruelly find
that his abuse has so diminish'd you
the world has shrunk to his small brutish mind
or share with me a wider brighter view
whereby for those who see we count him blind
(III, vii)
Perigee’s Thirteenth Issue Available, and a Call for Submissions!
Lucky number 13 is now available at no charge, and includes all new verse and prose, plus the results of our 2006 fiction contest. The publication has reverted to a free, quarterly collection of literature and art once again; subscriptions and new issues are available free-of-charge! You can also explore our expanding archives or get your literary fix between issues by participating in Perigee’s weblog.
Writers are invited to submit their best work. We are seeking submissions in poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and photography. Simultaneous submissions are welcome year-round. Those interested in submitting work can do so quickly and conveniently through our award-winning web site, which has been streamlined and updated for the new issue. Stop by Perigee today, explore, read, discuss, subscribe, submit; keep the conversation going. www.perigee-art.com
Artwork: "Julie in Pastel" by Barbara Hilal
Experience 'The Poet in Eye'
Experience 'The Poet in Eye' for yourself. Just visit www.thepoetineye.com and enter my world of poetry and short fiction—at its best. Let my poem still your heart. Let my short fiction challenge your mind. Keep your eyes open for new works I post on my website—poems that will break your heart, and short stories that will make you wonder.
THE GIANT BOOK OF POETRY—Signed by the Author AND Free Shipping!
Order The Giant Book of Poetry today from www.level4press.com and use coupon code WW-AS2 during checkout to receive a copy signed by editor Wiliiam Roetzheim plus free shipping! Mr. Roetzheim has collected the greatest poems and poets of all time into one affordable volume. More than 575 poems and 752 pages covering classics through contemporary, 60 illustrations and helpful reader notes about poem form, vocabulary and interpretation. Includes indexes by author, title, subject, source language and first line. Use the comment field during checkout to personalize the signature (e.g., "Happy Birthday, Jill"). Sample pages, reviews and more at www.level4press.com. Just $29.95 with free shipping. This offer expires soon. Order today.
"The Giant Book of Poetry is the perfect introductory anthology for new poetry readers."
—Robert Kinsley
Have a Bestseller Ready to Go? Level 4 Press Seeks Authors
Level 4 Press is looking for authors with books complete or almost complete for our 2007 catalog. Prefer nonfiction but will entertain all ideas with the potential to sell 100,000 or more copies. We are a traditional press, not a print-on-demand or vanity publisher. Send your idea in a paragraph or two to william@level4press.com or fax it to 619-374-7311. We will request sample chapters and resumes if we like the idea.
This Open Eye: Seeing What We Do, poems by Reggie Marra
"...a powerful, devastating, and stunningly beautiful book.... Like Breyten Breytenbach, Nelly Sachs, and Antonio Machado before him, Marra reclaims the essentially human from both the brutal and the brutalized."
—Trebbe Johnson, author, The World Is a Waiting Lover
"Reggie Marra writes with stunning, graphic precision.... These poems are tributes to the nearly-invisible wounded and the honest humanity so many of us yearn for now."
—Naomi Shihab Nye, author, You & Yours
"...bravely steps into the epicenter of world conflict and individual suffering..."
—Eileen Albrizio, author, Rain: Dark as Water in Winter
Excerpts, ordering and info: www.integraljourneys.com
(ISBN 0-9627828-2-3, $12.00, 2006)
New England Writer's Studio
Editorial Expertise offers writers a period of secluded concentration in Tamworth, New Hampshire. Located between the Lakes Region and the White Mountains, Tamworth is a village with spectacular mountain scenery; quaint shops; winter and summer outdoor activities; a library within walking distance; and easy access to nearby towns and villages in the Lakes Region and White Mountains. The Barnstormers Theatre, the oldest summer stock playhouse in the country, is located in the heart of the village and offers plays and concerts throughout the year. In July and August, actors and directors can be heard rehearsing lines in the restored barn beside the Swift River or enjoying conversation on the deck of the nearby cafe.
The newly renovated, fully furnished studio with a private entrance, bay window overlooking a small cottage and woodlands, and adjoining bathroom/utility room (with washer and dryer) is $200/weekend (Friday-Sunday), $350/week, and $650/month. Since each writer has unique needs and preferences, the cost of the writer's studio is separate from the fee for editorial services. Dr. Elizabeth Tillar is available for editing and consultations at $15/hour. Email Eliztillar@aol.com or call 603-323-2924.
Hotmetalpress.net Call for Submissions
Jack Wolford Memorial Prize for prose and poetry (no fee)
hotmetal press needs prose, poetry, photos, artwork. We publish high-quality works in seasonal issues. Submit your work in the body of an email message. Attach a jpeg image file for artwork. For guidelines, see www.hotmetalpress.net. $500 Jack Wolford Prize awarded for the best poem or prose work accepted for publication on the website prior to December 2006. Enter by email—no fee!
"The mision of hotmetalpress.net is to engage in a conversation that informs and enriches our cultural legacy, displays the myriad colors of our voices, sounds the rhyme and rhythm of inner city music, coastal artistry, campus noises of young dreamers, and illustrates the depth and breadth of our American experience. We invite you to ride with us through the diverse landscape, attend the lyrics that waken the self to woe and wonder that defines this twenty-first century lifespace." —Lois I. Greenberg, Editor
Last Call!
The Litchfield Review Summer Contest
Postmark Deadline: July 31
The Litchfield Review seeks original, unpublished poems, essays and short stories for its current contest. We provide a forum to both emerging and established writers; our only criterion for acceptance is excellence. We look for good stories beautifully told, quality poetry of substance, and creative nonfiction that lingers long in the minds of readers. The overall winner will receive $250. Other prizes of $100 may also be awarded. The reading fee is $10 per essay, short story, or set of 1-3 poems; or $15 to submit an unlimited number of prose and poetry entries. All prizewinners will be published in The Litchfield Review. Runners-up may also be published. All writers we publish will receive a free copy of the issue in which they appear.
Please submit two copies of your manuscript and make your reading fee payable to The Litchfield Review. Essays and short stories may be up to 3,000 words long. Poems may have up to 45 lines. Your entry should be typed, double-spaced, on one side of letter-size sheets of paper. Staple multiple pages together. Include a cover page with your name, address, phone number, email address (if available) and title for each submission. Indicate the word count (prose) or line count (poetry) on the cover page.
Mail your submission to: The Litchfield Review, 7 Bonna Street, Beacon Falls, CT 06403.
You may submit the same work simultaneously to this contest and to others. Please notify The Litchfield Review if the work you submit is accepted elsewhere. Questions? Please email Theresa C. Vara-Dannen.
Last Call!
 The Natchez Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: July 31
First Prize $1,000. Two $250 Honorable Mentions. Seeks original, unpublished poems on any subject, 40-line limit, no limit on the number of poems. Winners and other selected entrants will be published in an anthology by year's end. This contest is held in conjunction with the annual Art and Soul Festival of Natchez, Mississippi. It is managed by the Natchez poetry community under the aegis of Art and Soul, and will be blind-judged by a New Orleans poet. $7 entry fee per poem, payable to A&S Poetry. Read the complete guidelines and obtain your entry form at www.Colin.edu/calendar.htm. Mail your poems, entry form and fee to: Judy Wiggins, Humanities Coordinator, Copiah-Lincoln Community College, 11 Co-Lin Circle, Natchez, MS 39120.
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These free prose contests with deadlines between July 16 and August 31 are included as a bonus in The Best Free Poetry Contests.
Click the contest names below to go straight to their profiles, or login to The Best Free Poetry Contests here. After you login, please click the Find Free Contests link, then search by Prose Contest Type to find prose contests.
7/31: Chicago Tribune Young Adult Book Prize +++
Highly recommended free contest from a major newspaper offers $5,000 for the best published book of fiction for readers aged 12-18. For the 2006 award, publishers should submit books published between August 1, 2005 and July 31, 2006.
7/31: Chicago Tribune's Heartland Prizes +++
Highly recommended free contest offers prizes of $7,500 apiece for the best published novel and nonfiction book "embodying the spirit of the nation's Heartland." Not limited to Midwestern writers or regional subjects. For the 2006 award, publishers should submit books published between August 1, 2005 and July 31, 2006.
7/31: Goss First Novel Award ++
Entries must be received by this date
Recommended free contest offers 2,500 pounds for the best first novel by a UK resident, published between October of last year and October of this year. Galley proofs are acceptable. Entries must be submitted by publisher or agent.
7/31: Iris Chang Memorial Essay Contest ++
Recommended free contest offers top prize of $1,000 for essays that bring a personal perspective to human rights issues raised by Iris Chang's acclaimed book The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of WWII, which detailed Japanese atrocities in China. Tragically, Chang committed suicide in 2004, at the age of 36. Essays should be 2,500 words maximum, submitted by mail or email. See website for complete rules and annual theme. The 2006 theme is: "How has Iris Chang's book, The Rape of Nanking: the Forgotten Holocaust of WWII, affected my life and thinking?" The rules state, "Please give your reflections of how the book affected your life. Iris had traveled through the country on her book tours and gave hundreds of public speeches, and radio and TV interviews. She personally met thousands of people during the tours and influenced many readers and viewers. We would like to see the influence and impact of her work on your life and thinking. What do Iris Chang's life and her book mean to you?"
8/1: Naval Intelligence Essay Contest ++
Recommended free contest from the U.S. Naval Institute offers top prize of $1,000 for essays on a selected topic concerning naval intelligence. Maximum 2,500 words. One entry per person; no simultaneous submissions.
8/15: Pockets Fiction-Writing Contest +
Neutral free contest for children's literature offers $1,000 and publication in Pockets, a Christian devotional magazine for elementary-school children (ages 6-12). Stories should be Christian-themed fiction for children, with a contemporary setting, and 1,000-1,600 words long.
8/25: Young Lions Fiction Award +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest sponsored by the NY Public Library offers $10,000 for the best published book of fiction (novel or short story collection) by a US author age 35 or under. Books must have been published or scheduled for publication during the current calendar year. Must be submitted by publisher. See website for nomination form.
8/31: Jerwood Awards for Non-Fiction +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest offers top prize of 10,000 pounds to UK or Irish citizens, or residents of the UK for at least 3 years, who are working on their first major commissioned works of non-fiction. Applications should include a cover letter with project description, a copy of the publishing contract, a synopsis or draft chapter, and a supporting letter from the editor.
Login
to The Best Free Poetry Contests now to view these and all our profiles of free contests.
Key to Ratings
Highly Recommended: +++
Recommended: ++
Neutral: +
All deadlines are postmark deadlines unless otherwise specified.
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PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
Poems for Rebirth
John Alexanderson, a poet whose work we critiqued last August, has made available his first chapbook, When Least Expected: Poems from Faith. It is illustrated by his daughter Kristin Winters.
The cost of the chapbook is $9 and all proceeds will go to benefit The Lutheran Church of the Pines in Waveland, MS, which was devastated by hurricane Katrina.
Nearly all the poems in When Least Expected have appeared in other publications. To add this book of poetry to your collection and help Christians in great need, send John a check for $9 payable to "St. Paul's Lutheran Church", his church in Doylestown, PA. He will forward you an autographed copy of the chapbook.
Contact John at:
136 Lafayette Street
Doylestown, PA 18901
215-230-3913
alexjt4@verizon.net
A sample...
HERALD
... be strong ..., and work:
for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts.
[Haggai 2:4]
Sometimes,
no one understands, but us.
That skinny tree,
elbows, ankles, knees,
a snowball's chance as well
clings to life among the shale.
I greet him as I park my car
beneath his foothold in the little ridge,
cross my arms, consider his resolve.
He must have
strength
of iron fingers,
tendril toes
that clench the dirt and rocks,
and won't release.
He teaches.
We believe the truth
is seldom said in words.
When I am worn and want to quit,
when I try to climb, but earth gives way,
and sends me down again,
I visit.
One who's firm
in grit and wind,
one who glories just to be.
(Appeared in Penwood Review and Spring Hill Review, 2002)
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Anthology Seeks Humor Poems by Women
Postmark Deadline: December 31
Seeking humorous formal poetry by women for an anthology to be coedited by Theresa Welford and Robin Kemp. Interested in sonnets, villanelles, sestinas, light verse, limericks, clerihews, parody, satire, dramatic monologues, comic narratives, silly haikus, and so on. Previously published work accepted (indicate where the poems appeared). Send 1-5 poems as MS Word or RTF attachments to Robin Kemp.
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Agent Orange Quilt of Tears
Traveling memorial to US veterans who were exposed to the toxic chemical Agent Orange during their service in the Vietnam and Korean wars. Read a sample from Vietnam vet Ron Murray's poetry book Memories Never Die. Sale proceeds go to support Agent Orange victims and widows.
Job's Wife
Poem sequence by Connie Donovan reimagines the famous Bible story from the woman's point of view, depicting the simple joys and motherly fears that go unremarked beneath the shadow of Job's cosmic drama. Published in Interpoezia, a bilingual (Russian-English) journal of poetry and creative nonfiction.
Kaleidoscope Magazine
Akron-based journal exploring the experiences of disability through literature and the fine arts. They accept poetry, fiction, essays, interviews and book reviews. Submission deadlines are March 1 and August 1 annually. The editors say: "Unique to the field of disability studies, this award-winning publication expresses the experiences of disability from the perspective of individuals, families, healthcare professionals, and society as a whole. The material chosen for Kaleidoscope challenges and overcomes stereotypical, patronizing, and sentimental attitudes about disability. Although content always focuses on a particular aspect of disability, writers with and without disabilities are welcome to submit their work."
Order of the Silver Rose
This group's mission is to honor the courage, heroism, and contributions of American service personnel found to have been exposed to Agent Orange in a combat zone. Since victims of this toxic chemical, used by the US during the Korean and Vietnam wars, are not eligible for a Purple Heart, this private organization created the Silver Rose as an alternative commemoration. Read a poem about it here.
Poetry Southeast
Well-designed new online journal showcasing the best poetry by emerging and established Southern writers. Past contributors include Diane Wakoski, Ann Fisher-Wirth, Dorianne Laux, Bob Hicok, and Brenda Hillman. While the journal is particularly interested in poetry that depicts a variety of Southern traditions, beliefs, and landscapes, they also welcome submissions from writers outside the South. Previously published work and simultaneous submissions accepted. Submission deadlines are January 1 and August 1. Send entries as MS Word attachments to editor@poetrysoutheast.com.
Somasamosa: The UK's Gonzo Poetry Site
Deliberately bad psychedelic free verse site features such gems as "Gravity Hamsters' Sunrise" and "Bad Moustache Day".
Wisteria: A Journal of Haiku, Senryu, and Tanka
Engaging pocket-sized quarterly journal of poetry in traditional Japanese forms, edited by Tony Thompson, formerly of Gin Bender Review. See website for the Pinewood Haiku Contest with prizes up to $100. (Note that the journal's name is spelled differently in the URL.)
See all our resources now at http://www.winningwriters.com/resources/ur_web.php. This is also the gateway to our recommended books, magazines, service providers, advice for writers (with manuscript tips) and poetry critiques.
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Your Novel Proposal: From Creation to Contract
By Blythe Camenson and Marshall J. Cook. Everything you need to know about pitching your novel to agents and editors. Includes advice on selecting an agent, plus how to write query letters, synopses and book proposals, with many helpful samples of each.
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MORE SPONSORS' MESSAGES
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: September 30
Now in its fourth year, this contest seeks poems in any style, theme or genre. 30 cash prizes totaling $3,500 will be awarded, including a top prize of $1,000. All winners of cash prizes will be published in an anthology. The entry fee is $6 for every 25 lines you submit. Enter online or by mail. Early submission encouraged. You may submit poems that have been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the anthology and online publication rights. Unpublished work is also welcome. Winning Writers is assisting with entry handling for this contest. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. Guidelines:
http://www.winningwriters.com/tompoetry
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PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
Country Inns & Suites Continues Support of ProLiteracy Through Summer Reading Program
Reading books and watching summer blockbuster movies are both popular activities that families can enjoy together during the summer. Country Inns & Suites By Carlson is helping family travelers to do both by offering The Ant Bully Family BookBreak Package in conjunction with the release of the new digitally animated family adventure The Ant Bully, from Warner Bros. Pictures, in association with Legendary Pictures, based on the book by John Nickle and published by Scholastic Press.
Through October 1, 2006, Country Inns & Suites offers The Ant Bully Family BookBreak Package at its hotels in the US and Canada. This offer includes a special family room rate (from $99 per room night; rates vary by location), free stay for kids, free breakfast, and a kids backpack filled with all kinds of fun including The Ant Bully themed activity book and bag tag, Cranium® family game, Jolly Time® Microwave Pop Corn, Country Time® Lemonade, coloring gadget, and swim goggles.
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The Ant Bully book is now available in the Country Inns & Suites in-hotel lending library. Guests may borrow the book and return it on their next visit to any Country Inns & Suites location in the US and Canada. There are numerous other books available in the lending library for guests to read and return as well. Based on the number of books returned, Country Inns & Suites will make a donation to ProLiteracy Worldwide, an international nonprofit literacy organization dedicated to providing literacy support in the areas of reading, writing, math, and problem-solving skills. ProLiteracy Worldwide is represented in 59 developing countries, as well as in the US, and serves more than 350,000 adult new learners around the world each year. Since 2001, Country Inns & Suites has donated more than $80,000 to the organization.
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This month, Critique Corner is pleased to present "The Sport of Kings" by Barclay Franklin.
If you would like a chance to be critiqued, please email your poem to me at critique@winningwriters.com.
Send the poem in the body of your email message (no attachments) and put "poetry critique" in the subject line. One submission per poet per month. Thanks!
THE SPORT OF KINGS
by Barclay Franklin
Bucephala to the Nile, all lands southeast from Thrace.
In ten short years those kingdoms fall. Alexander rules.
Macedonia's king. In pictures he walks his horse and cools
the stallion's flanks, sweat-flecked by the conquest's pace.
Astride his horse, a Draft/Moor's Arab blend,
the Emperor of the West subdues Italy, then Spain.
In 768 Pope Leo crowns him the Frank king, Charlemagne.
From that year, European culture and the thoroughbred, descend.
Now I, beside my horse, with nylon braided tethers,
hold one of history's haltered legends by his lead.
I walk my trotter slow through clover fields
to dry the first heat's sweat from his chestnut withers.
His in-suck of air, high-pitched like a wind-raked reed,
subsides. His flaring nostrils slow. His labored breathing yields
as we meander through tall grass, above deep-buried peat.
In service to his king, El Cid walked beside his mount.
And did not knights, who served too many kings to count,
lay hands, like mine, on horses' ribs, to feel the pounding beat
of equine hearts? King Arthur, seeking Holy Grail,
sometimes walked to spare his horse...
and so nobility and noble bloodlines, in due course
came down to this...a race along a rail.
In the paddock I re-install his harness, adjust the girth,
and settle in the sulky for the race's second round.
While lining up to post, I think of things
like bloodlines reaching back. No, I'm not royalty by birth,
nor lineage, yet in each race we've run, I've found
a link to all of history in this sport of kings.
Copyright 2006 by Barclay Franklin
Critique by Jendi Reiter
This month's critique poem, Barclay Franklin's "The Sport of Kings", appealed to me because of its positive outlook and conversational adaptation of the sonnet form. While the meter is irregular and approaches free verse in spots, the rhyme-scheme is that of a pair of Italian (Petrarchan) sonnets: two sets of abba abba cdecde.
In an Italian sonnet, the transition in line 9 (known as the "volta") to a different pattern of rhymes is supposed to mark the beginning of a new topic or line of reasoning. We see this clearly in the third stanza of Franklin's poem, where historical reflection gives way to the present-day activities of the speaker and his horse. A similar shift occurs between the fifth and sixth stanzas, as we move from King Arthur and the history of racing to the contemporary scene once more. This transition feels more muted because it is a return to a theme we have already visited, rather than an entirely new turn, and also because past and present were already commingled in stanza four. Because the author has taken some liberties with the meter and thematic structure we expect from a traditional sonnet, the casual reader may not notice how elegantly he has structured the interplay of past and present in this sequence.
When writing about the distant past, especially when a great swath of history must be surveyed in a few lines, the temptation is to fall back on stock images or a dry recitation of facts. The first two stanzas sometimes fall prey to the latter error. However, the poem as a whole has the vividness of lived experience because of Franklin's reverent attention to the equine personality, physical behavior and emotional bond with the human rider.
Taking a "horse's-eye" view of history is a creative way to awaken our feelings of personal connection to these remote events. A familiar legend can be given fresh life by reinterpreting it through the perspective of a formerly minor character. Examples include Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (Hamlet), Virginia Woolf's novel Flush (the love story of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, as told by her dog), and W.H. Auden's poem sequence The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'. Often, this technique is used satirically, to puncture the authority of the official version and bring out insights that it had repressed. (See, for instance, T.P. Perrin's "Thersites" from our 2005 War Poetry Contest.) "The Sport of Kings" has a gentler intention, to humanize the past and evoke the fairy-tale atmosphere of kinship between man and beast....
critique continues here
This poem, our critique and contest suggestions for poems in this style appear in full at:
http://www.winningwriters.com/resources/critiques/2006/urc_0607franklin.php
See
all of our poetry critiques.
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COMING IN OUR AUGUST 15 NEWSLETTER
Winners Announced for the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest
New Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest Opens (no fee)
New Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest Opens
The Best Free Poetry Contests for August 16-September 30
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