• One Grand Prize: $250
• One First Prize: $100
• One Second Prize: $50
• 10 Third prizes: $25 each
• 50 Honorable Mention Prizes

"I really appreciate your selective work: you don't just throw a bunch of stats at us and hope we'll figure it out."
Jane Carpenter, Poetry Contest Insider subscriber

"Your site is the best! I've sent a lot of my fellow writers to you. I'm on the board of a local writers group here in the Tampa Bay area called PINAWOR (Pinellas Writers and Authors Organization), and we have 140 members. I will often announce contests that I see on your site. I also tell them that it is well worth the subscription cost to have access, so that they will have links to the guidelines, submissions and information about of all the contests you list. I believe in Winning Writers."
Wayne Williams, Poetry Contest Insider subscriber

"For evaluations of the merits of individual contests, consult Winningwriters.com (a paid service)."
From the FAQ at Creative Writers Opportunities (CRWROPPS), a highly active mailing list announcing quality literary contests and publication opportunities

Phee in the realm of Hoops Primeval
Based on Clair Bee's Chip Hilton sports series for youngsters, a story of questing for excellence on the basketball court. Phee, as he comes to be known, observes: This was the Cro-Magnon era. Before school desegregation, in my neck of the woods anyway, competition was lilywhite. Slam-dunks were rare, accurate set shots from just inside half-court prized. There were no three-point lines. No shot clock. Hardly any histrionics, in your face or otherwise. When someone scored, if it was an official game, he might raise an arm. Shorts went at most to mid-thigh, sneakers were cheap, high-topped Keds that predated expensive Nikes. Indoor courts sometimes had splintered floors with nails protruding. In the park, granular cement rewarded spills by scraping off skin. In the first installment, Phee reaches his high-school senior year with reasonable expectations for stardom but stumbles badly, then in a turnabout begins realizing his potential. www.edalbaugh.com


Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference
Next conference: November 10-13
The Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference provides the faculty, connections, and method necessary to set poets with a completed or manuscript-in-process on a path towards publication. Includes workshops, consultations with press editors, evening poetry readings, editorial panel Q&A, group critique of selected poems, and an after-conference strategy session.

Faculty for 2006 include publishers Jan Freeman (Paris Press), Jeffrey Levine (Tupelo Press), Dennis Maloney (White Pine Press), April Ossmann (Alice James Books), Martha Rhodes (Four Way Books), and others; workshop leaders Joan Houlihan, Director of the Concord Poetry Center; Suffolk University creative writing program director Frederick Marchant and Lesley University MFA faculty Teresa Cader.

Cost of the conference is $695, which includes lodging and meals. The conference takes place in Colrain, a country town in Western Massachusetts, at the unique and magical Round House. For an application and complete guidelines, please visit www.concordpoetry.org/Colrain. You may also call 978-897-0054, email cpc@concordpoetry.org, or write to Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference, Concord Poetry Center, 40 Stow Street, Concord, MA 01742-2418.


Right Justified?
A Collection of Ad Hominem Political Sonnets by Colley Cibber
On sale now at Xlibris

A delightful, wacky sendup of practically everything right of center—Sux News, the bimbos, the bumblers, the blatantly obtuse, and, not least, the myopic triumvirate at the heart of current national fiasco. These poems, a la Aretino, fall along the spectrum between doggerel and limerick—some few even rising to the status of poems in their own right. Take a copy with you to the polls!

Excerpt from Right Justified?

THE TANCREDO HYPOTHESIS

Ah, god. Here's yet another (like the Prez)
whose tiny package, low testosterone,
& parlous lack of wit prompt what he says:
his own short-shaft'd take on "bring 'em on!"
Nuke Mecca? Then, why not Medina too?
The Taj Mahal & East Jerusalem?
& once we've turn'd their sand to glass (their due),
let's beat upon our chests & take out Kim,
the Imams, then the French.—Hell, why stop there?
Since now we're really cookin', nuke the gays,
the poor, the lezzies, all who sport long hair,
& each and every titless, big-brain'd babe!

Just nuke & nuke & nuke: O'Reilly's prov'd
our cocks grow bigger once the brain's remov'd.

"At last Mr. Cibber has got it right...a subject best suited to his always base and often profane point of view: the hijacking of that great American illusion, democracy. There is, of course, Mr. Cibber's typically coarse humor, hand in hand with a rather club-footed, ponderous wit (my apologies to Mr. Pope).... This book may well offer insight into how to speak to a Tory—if you must."
—Dr. Samuel Johnson, London


QUARK SOUP
by Magdalena Ball

Autographed, limited first edition copies now available for only $7.00 postpaid anywhere in the world!

QUARK SOUP breaks linguistic convention, using the strange anti-matter world of astrobiology and quantum physics to capture the bonds that tie human beings together. Details, including samples and an .mp3 download, can be found here:
http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/images/quarkindex.htm

"Finely crafted, excellent poetry which relates science to the human condition. A unique and exciting feminine voice."
—M. Stefen Strozier, Author, CEO, World Audience, Inc. and President, La Muse Venale, Inc.

"If you haven't read poetry for a while, Quark Soup is where you should start. Magdalena Ball has a knack for placing the mysteries (to most of us) of quark and quantum smack dab into our personal spheres."
—Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of Tracings, This is the Place and The Frugal Book Promoter

"WOW! I was hooked and had to rip myself away to get back to work."
—Geoff Brent, Research Associate/Scientist

"I found the book interesting, revealing, full of wonderful imagery and thought provoking. It is a fine collection of poems that will leave the reader wanting to go through them again and again. This is a must read for those who enjoy the challenge of allowing their minds to grapple with a new way of seeing things. Magdalena Ball has indeed created a true work of art, one that awakens the curiosity of where we came from within us all."
—Warren Thurston, Pentales


New England Writer's Studio
Treat yourself to a weekend writing retreat for just $100
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 $100/weekend (Friday-Sunday), $275/week, and $550/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


Closing Next Month
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.


CUTTHROAT's $1,250 Joy Harjo Poetry/Rick DeMarinis Short Fiction Awards
Postmark Deadline: October 1
First Prize in each genre: $1,250 and publication in CUTTHROAT. Second Prize in each genre: $250 and publication in CUTTHROAT. All subjects and styles welcome. Send three unpublished poems (100 line limit for each) or one unpublished short story (5,000 word limit), a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE), and a cover sheet with the titles of your submission, author name, address, phone and email address. Author name must not appear on any manuscript page. Include a $15 reading fee payable to Raven's Word Writers Center.

Mail your entry to:
Raven's Word Writers Center
CUTTHROAT Literary Awards
Genre: [Poetry or Short Story]
P.O. Box 2414
Durango, CO 81302

Judges: Naomi Shihab Nye and Robert Olen Butler. Enter as often as you wish. For more information, please go to www.cutthroatmag.com, email cutthroat@gmail.com or call 970-903-7914. Pamela Uschuk, Editor In Chief. 2005 Winners: Tehila Lieberman, Rick DeMarinis Short Fiction Award and B.J. Buckley, Joy Harjo Poetry Award. Our contributors include Richard Jackson, Rebecca Seiferle, Dorianne Laux, Marvin Bell, Fred Chappell, Kelly Cherry, Naomi Shihab Nye, Rick DeMarinis, Elizabeth Gordon, Doug Frelke, Howard Faerstein, Maj Ragain and Joy Harjo.


The Litchfield Review Winter Contest - Now Open
Postmark Deadline: October 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. Make checks payable to The Litchfield Review. 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.

Connecticut writers, please see our website for details on our upcoming Writers' Conference being held on October 14th at Chase Collegiate School, Waterbury, CT.

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SELECTED FREE PROSE CONTESTS

These free prose contests with deadlines between August 16 and September 30 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.

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.

9/1: Happy Tales Literary Contest ++
Recommended free contest offers $200 and a trophy cup for the best literary parody providing an alternate happy ending to a well-known tragic work of fiction or drama. Sponsored by the Montana Festival of the Book. Entries should be no more than 10 double-spaced pages. Submit by mail or email.

9/1: Turning Wheel Young Writers Award ++
Recommended free contest for authors aged 30 and under offers $500 for essays from a Buddhist perspective, 1,500-3,000 words. The theme for the Fall 2006 contest is "Building Alliances to Address Racism." Eligibility is limited to authors not previously published in Turning Wheel. Submit by mail or email as an MS Word attachment to Colette DeDonato.

9/15: Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest for College Students +++
Highly recommended free contest for full-time college students offers $5,000 top prize, other large prizes, for essays on Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. Essays should be based on one of the three questions on the website, and be 1,000-1,200 words long. Enter by mail or online. Contest is looking for entries that are sympathetic to Rand's rationalist, libertarian philosophy. See website for other student contests.

9/15: Family Circle Fiction Contest ++
Recommended free contest offers top prize of $750 for short fiction up to 2,500 words. Entrants must be US residents, aged 21+. Family Circle is a women's magazine with articles about parenting, health, cooking, crafts, relationships, and family travel.

9/15: Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize +++
Highly recommended free contest from major literary publisher offers $12,000 for the best full-length manuscript of creative nonfiction by a US resident with no more than two published books in that genre. Entries should be 175-400 double-spaced pages.

9/15: Hiett Prize in the Humanities +++
Highly recommended free contest offers a $50,000 fellowship to a US citizen or permanent resident who has not yet reached his or her full potential, but whose work in the humanities shows extraordinary promise and has a significant public or applied component related to cultural concerns. Candidates must be within the early stages of a career track in which the primary work is in a field centered in or directly related to one or more of the humanities. Open to creative writers as well as scholars. Entrants must be nominated by an individual already established in the humanities.

9/22: Chapter One Fiction Competition +
Neutral free contest for novel excerpts by New York City residents aged 18+ offers up to four prizes of $1,000 and a public reading. Send the first chapter of your unpublished novel or work-in-progress, maximum 20 double-spaced pages, plus 250-word synopsis.

9/30: Iowa Short Fiction Prize ++
Recommended contest from the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop seeks a manuscript of short fiction (150 pages minimum) by an author who has not previously published a book of prose fiction in English. (Books in other genres or languages, and self-published books, do not disqualify you.) Prize is publication under a standard royalty contract.

9/30: Jerry Jazz Musician Fiction Contest +
Thrice-yearly free neutral contest offers $200 and web publication for short fiction. The Jerry Jazz Musician reader has interests in music, social history, literature, politics, art, film and theatre, particularly that of the counter-culture of mid-20th century America. Entries should appeal to a reader with these characteristics. Submit stories of 1,000-5,000 words by email to jm@jerryjazz.com as an MS Word or Adobe Acrobat attachment. Please be sure to include your name, address and phone number with your submission. Please include "Short Fiction Contest Submission" in the subject heading of the email.

9/30: L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest ++
Recommended free contest for emerging writers of short science fiction, fantasy and horror offers quarterly prizes of $1,000 plus an annual $4,000 grand prize for one of the four winners. Send only one story per quarter, maximum 17,000 words. See website for eligibility rules.

9/30: LILITH Magazine Fiction Competition +
Neutral free contest offers $250 for unpublished stories touching on the experience of Jewish women. Send one story, maximum 3,000 words (shorter stories preferred). Sponsored by LILITH, a Jewish feminist magazine.

9/30: Vanity Fair Essay Contest +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest offers top prize of $15,000 and a one-week stay at the Santa Maddalena writers' colony in Donnini, Italy, for the best essay on an annual theme concerning the contemporary American character. The contest is open to US residents aged 18+. Vanity Fair is a well-known glossy magazine focusing on celebrities, cultural trends and politics. Send one essay, 1,500 words maximum, by email only. 2006 theme is: "What is reality to Americans today? And did we ever have a grasp of it?"


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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CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

Crab Orchard Review
Postmark Deadline: October 31
This prestigious literary journal seeks submissions of unpublished poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction for a special issue on the topic: "Come Together—Occasions, Ceremonies, & Celebrations". The editors say: "We are open to work that covers any of the multitude of ways that our world, our media, and ourselves mark the public and private, communal, familial, and individual holidays, rituals, and rites of passage we define ourselves around." Translations and interviews are also accepted (query first for interviews). Writers whose work is selected will receive $20 (US) per magazine page ($50 minimum for poetry; $100 minimum for prose), two copies of the issue, and a year's subscription. See their submission guidelines for length and formatting requirements.

TWO LINES (Center for the Art of Translation)
Postmark Deadline: October 12
TWO LINES, an annual journal published by the Center for the Art of Translation, is seeking original, unpublished English translations of fiction, poetry, drama, reportage, proverbs, song lyrics, diaries, oral histories, case studies, and essays. They're especially interested in new genres, rarer languages, and work by non-European authors. Poetry submissions should be 10 pages maximum, prose 2,500-4,000 words. See website for submission guidelines. Online submissions accepted. Contributors will be paid $35.


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NEW LITERARY RESOURCES

Center for the Art of Translation
This California-based literary organization promotes the translation of world literature into English. Their main programs are TWO LINES, an annual journal that features English translations of creative and scholarly work side-by-side with the original texts, and Poetry Inside Out, a unique program offering schoolchildren the opportunity to write and translate poetry between two languages.

Hotel Douve: The Works of Leonard Gontarek
God rubs shoulders with ghosts and mailmen in Gontarek's dreamy verses, which hover on the edge of abstraction like a Turner painting, and are often suffused with the same melancholy golden light. As he writes in 'Amnesty':

"When the earth & snow is apricot for seconds & your dreams fall fast as water
Out the window, wouldn’t you say in the middle of that uncontestable joy, is sorrow,
Like a metal sliver?"

Kristin Thomas Spam Poetry Blog
These humorous and disturbing poems are composed from phrases found in junk emails. "Career Advice Via Email" is reminiscent of a Bob Dylan protest song:

"How full is your bank account, Mr. Thomas?
How slutty is your wife, Mr. Thomas?
Did you vote Republican, Mr. Thomas?
I hope your neighbours don't find out."

National Novel Writing Month
Jump-start that book you've been meaning to write, with this fun project that dares participants to write a 50,000-word novel between November 1 and November 30 each year. Read your fellow scribblers' work online, share ideas and encouragement in the forums, and write without looking back. NaNoWriMo's philosophy is "quantity over quality": what matters is that you overcome your fear of getting started.

Patchwork: An Online Journal of Writers and Artists
Attractive biannual journal features the work of participants in the Patchwork Farms writing retreats, a Western Massachusetts program based on the techniques of the acclaimed Amherst Writers & Artists workshop. Patchwork also sponsors international writing and yoga retreats in Mexico, Guatemala and Scotland.

Poetry from the Warsaw Ghetto
M. Jastrun's poem "The Funeral", translated by Anne Appleton, is taken from a chapbook entitled Poezje Ghetta: Z Otchlani (Ghetto Poems: From the Abyss), a collection of eleven poems written by Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Nazi occupation of Poland. The book was smuggled out of Poland after the martyrdom of the ghetto residents and published in 1945 by the Friends of the New York Jewish Tribune. Ms. Appleton is seeking a translator for the remaining poems; please contact us with suggestions.

Spam Header Poetry by David Gordon
Juxtaposed subject headers from junk emails (misspellings and all) produces haiku-like gems such as:

"How would you like to be called Reverend?!
STOP SNORING IN YOUR HOUSE IMMEDIATELY".

If you're "tired of nude celebirty's" or have ever wondered if "interest rats" were going up, this site is for you.

Trenches on the Web
World War I reference site maintained by the Great War Society. Their online newsletter, the St. Mihiel Trip-Wire, features historical research, book recommendations and links to materials about World War I. The site also includes a historical overview of the war, an extensive links directory, discussion forums, and information on battlefield tours.


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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Closing Next Month
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


Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest - Now Open
Postmark Deadline: March 31, 2007
Now in its 15th year. Prizes of $1,200, $800 and $400 will be awarded, plus four High Distinction awards of $200 each. Submit any type of short story, essay or other work of prose, up to 5,000 words. You may submit work that has been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the anthology and online publication rights. $12 entry fee. Submit online or by mail. Early submission encouraged. Winning Writers is assisting with entry handling for this contest. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. Guidelines:
http://www.winningwriters.com/tomstory


Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest - Now Open - No Fee
Online Submission Deadline: April 1, 2007
Winning Writers invites you to enter the sixth annual Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest. The prize pool has doubled to $3,336.40 in cash, with a top prize of $1,359. There is no fee to enter. Judge: Jendi Reiter. Submit online at www.winningwriters.com/wergle


Start a Great-Looking Blog in Minutes with GoDaddy
Blogs are a great way to publicize literary work and timely information, but you may have been intimidated by the cost or technical considerations. We have had good results using the Quick Blog service at www.GoDaddy.com . You'll pay $2.99/month or less. If you need a new domain name as a home for your blog, it's just $1.99 to reserve one for a year. Upload text, images and audio recordings. Multiple authors can add to the same blog, so you can share the work. GoDaddy has several handsome templates to choose from. No technical or design expertise needed, nor will GoDaddy place ads on your blog. Learn more at www.GoDaddy.com .


LEARN TO WRITE FOR MAGAZINES!
Want to freelance for magazines but don't know how? Need a little motivation to get started? Learn how to develop ideas, research markets, write your query letter, and make your pitch to editors! In only eight lessons, veteran freelancer Linda Formicelli will show you the ropes. She's written for more than 120 publications, including USA Weekend, Family Circle, Men's Fitness, and Women's Day. Let Linda show you how you can, too!
http://www.absoluteclasses.com/Formicelli/writing_for_magazines.htm


2007 Poet's Market - NEW
The 2007 edition of Poet's Market has just arrived. It's on sale for $17.00 at Amazon. Published each August by Writer's Digest, this is the best annual guide to 1,800 journals, magazines, book publishers, chapbook publishers, websites, grants, conferences, workshops and contests. Helps you find publishers who are looking for your kind of work. Also updated are Novel & Short Story Writer's Market and Writer's Market for works of prose. Writer's Market is "the most valuable of tools for the writer new to the marketplace," says Stephen King in On Writing.


Office Depot - August Coupon
Save on paper, toner, binders and all your writing supplies at Office Depot. Free delivery in select areas when you order $50 or more. Coupon:
Save $30 off any $150 purchase from Office Depot in August!


SAVE ON TEXTBOOKS AT ALIBRIS
Slash your textbook costs in literature, poetry, philosophy, art and all academic subjects. Free shipping when you order $49 or more of eligible books.
Search over 60 million new and used books at Alibris!


Advertise to 16,000 Poets and Writers
Promote your contests, websites, events and publications in this newsletter. Reach over 16,000 poets and writers for $50. Ads may contain up to 150 words, a headline and a graphic image. Make your reservation here:
http://www.winningwriters.com/advertisers.php

"Whatever success we have with this first-year contest, we will be giving winningwriters.com a lion's share of the credit. We thank you for your personal attention to our account, and for just being there."
Peter Buttross, Natchez Poetry Contest

"Advertising with Winning Writers produced immediate, extraordinary results! Our first ad, as well as our published interview with Jendi Reiter, linked us with fine writers across the world, a connection that continues to enrich our issues, annual contest, and readership."
Susan Cowger, Editor, Rock & Sling

"The ads we have run in the Winning Writers newsletter have garnered more response and inquiry than any other ads we have run in 20 years of publication."
Ted O. Badger, Editor, Lucidity Poetry Journal

"Thanks so much for looking out for Perigee: for working on our behalf. You have my personal gratitude for going the extra mile, and for putting the product before the profit. With customer service and marketing savvy like yours, Winning Writers is sure to continue to go far. And you can quote me ;-)"
Robert Woerheide, Editor in Chief, Perigee


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PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

An Ode to Reading

B O O K S
by Freddy Niagara Fonseca

Sometimes, when I think of the vast
wisdom ever contained in books—

countless scriptures of all creeds; scrolls in
indecipherable languages; tomes of science;

the great Library of Alexandria destroyed by
fire centuries ago; priceless knowledge gone;

thousands of books burned by the Third Reich;
books still held secret at the Vatican;

hieroglyphs in Egypt and whatever Atlantis
must have contributed to the written word;

books simply lost and never retrieved;
others molded, fallen apart, discarded, and

all the many books I'll never be able to read in a
life-time even if I lived a thousand years;

and when I think of all these while browsing
at garage sales, used bookstores—(o, the good

feel of an old book and the sense of care for
books you surmise some previous owner had;

to see his or her name written on the title page,
sometimes with the date of purchase or gift)—

yes, then I tend to hold a book in my hands a
little long sometimes, deliberating whether I'll buy,

and I read again what's on the flap; scan a few
more pages; find a keen phrase here and there;

ponder on the title, the design, the author's
name, weighing it all in my hand . . . and

page after page of long-forgotten lore, myth, and
adventure slowly take shape and mingle with

my own memory of myth in the back of
my mind, passing through my skin, stealing

into my bones, my heart, holding me spellbound
for a life-time it seems, and somehow beneath

my feet the deeper caves and mysteries of the earth
open wide where I glimpse that which

I cannot name but know that it exists;
and I'm feeling so strangely rooted and connected

to all cultures, beliefs, poetry, romance, peace, wars
and history . . . and I may take the book home,

maybe not—it doesn't matter, for as I'm
standing here, simply lost in time for a while,

some power is reclaiming everything I
thought was lost to man one time, and I see the

Great Communicator of it all in all these
many chapters, paragraphs, sentences, words

working their way with a purpose, meaning,
and conviction across so many ages, and

suddenly it seems that everything is all here now
and really never was gone at all as long as books

have ever existed and readers found them, and as
I close the book, walking out to get some fresh air,

there's all the magic in the air as of old still, and
I can live with that and be an open book to all.


Copyright 2004 by Freddy Niagara Fonseca
First published in The Neovictorian/Cochlea


Winning Writers supports ProLiteracy Worldwide, the largest organization of adult literacy programs in the world. It sponsors educational programs that help adults and their families acquire the literacy practices and skills they need to read their way to a better life. Join us in advancing ProLiteracy's vital mission. Click here to learn more. Click here to contribute.

Send this page to a friend and we'll donate 15 cents to ProLiteracy for each friend you refer.


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JENDI'S CRITIQUE CORNER

This month, Critique Corner is pleased to present "Ground Zero" by Shaun Hull.

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!


GROUND ZERO
by Shaun Hull

i seem to remember
a sunroof sky
full of kanji and silk
wisteria dancing across the wind
my daughter laughing in that so saturated face
as friend and i sit down to a morning game
i swore i would take advantage of his saki rejuvenation
i seem to remember
the taste of my wife's lips
so sweet a touch of harmony
quickly replaced by the happy wet kiss of my child
giggling so to almost annoy
this fierce competition
my new pocket watch stating
with such fine western precision
you have time to champion
it's just but 8:13

i seem to remember
wind chimes singing
to the laughter
and graceful chatter
that rose to cacophony
as i anticipate movement
then look out and vision
with ancient eyes
the whirl and rash
of humanity

i seem to remember
the distant sound of wings
floating across my sunroof sky
of eyes squinting to see through the roof
and my child suddenly turning white
the brightest white
the hottest white
the darkest white

i shall never see

i can't seem
to remember
where I left my soul

i think it's where my shadow
left a halo
burned into the ground

Copyright 2006 by Shaun Hull


Critique by Jendi Reiter

This month's critique poem, "Ground Zero" by Shaun Hull, offers a devastating first-person account of the atomic bombing of Japan during World War II. Sixty-one years ago this month, the US Army Air Forces dropped nuclear warheads on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the first, and hopefully the last, time that nuclear weapons were deployed in warfare.

I held Hull's poem for this issue of the newsletter because the phrase "Ground Zero" also reminded me of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It is hard to believe that it will be five years this coming September. And how many other sad anniversaries will pass this month, and every month, remembered only by the families around the world who have lost loved ones in war? Hull's poem artfully combines these particular and universal concerns, adding enough historical detail to bring the characters to life, but appealing to primal emotions that cross cultural boundaries.

The opening lines immediately convey a mood of elegance and freedom, a lightness that also makes this idyllic world fragile and vulnerable. Sunroof glass can shatter, silk is easily torn. This is a ceremonial and civilized culture, as symbolized by the chess game, the kanji (Chinese characters used in the Japanese language), and the pocket watch's "western precision". There's a subtle irony in the speaker's trust in Western (maybe even American) technology, which will soon incinerate everything he holds dear. Unknown to him, the watch is counting down the seconds until their death....

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_0608hull.php

See all of our poetry critiques.


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