• Helpful Feedback. Get detailed feedback for every poem, short story and book chapter that you write.
  
  
• Contests. Over 50 new contests every month. Always free to paid members. Participate for cash prizes.
  
  
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Upcoming Contest Deadlines

Strong Character
A strong character can make a story. Write a story based on the character pictured in this announcement. The winner of this contest will take away a $100 Prize!
Deadline: October 26

Halloween Poetry
Write a horror or thriller poem for our Halloween poetry writing contest. We are looking for horror or thriller poetry. Put your readers on edge or terrorize them with your words for this contest. $100 prize.
Deadline: Halloween! - October 31

Halloween Horror Story
Terrorize them with a story for this contest. $100 prize.
Deadline: Halloween! - October 31

Romantic Writing
Whether it's a Sexy Santa, a Naughty Elf, or a quick tryst under the Mistletoe, it's time to share your romantic stories for a chance at a publishing contract.
Deadline: November 15

These are only a few of our contests. View our full listing here.

"Without FanStory I simply would not be a writer at all. The feedback and friendships I have made here have changed my entire life. Honest feedback helped prepare me for the real world. The contests have also helped me, and continue to help me. Writing to a topic, and writing to a deadline, is key. There isn't a more valuable skill than to sit down and write about a subject by a specific date. That's the real world."

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Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest
Postmark Deadline: March 31, 2010
Now in its 18th year. Prizes of $3,000, $1,000, $400 and $250 will be awarded, plus six Most Highly Commended Awards of $150 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 online publication rights. $15 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. See the complete guidelines and past winners.

Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest - No Fee
Online Submission Deadline: April 1, 2010
Winning Writers invites you to enter the ninth annual Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest. We've simplified the entry process and increased the prize pool to $3,600, including a top prize of $1,500. There's still no fee to enter. Final judge: Jendi Reiter. See the complete guidelines and past winners.

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RECENT HONORS FOR OUR NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS
Congratulations to Judian James. Her first poetry chapbook, Levitate, has been published by FootHills Publishing. She kindly shares a sample poem below.

Congratulations to Diana Gordon. Her poetry collection The Fourth World will be released in February 2010 as a limited-edition letterpress volume by Adastra Press. She kindly shares a poem from the book below. Visit her website for more poetry and purchasing information.

Congratulations to Katerina Stoykova-Klemer. Her first book, The Air Around the Butterfly, was published by Fakel Express. It is a bilingual collection of poetry, with each poem appearing side by side in both Bulgarian and English. Originally written in English, each work has been translated by the author into her native Bulgarian. The collection is comprised of three sections: "My Mother Was Going to War", "E.T. and I Phone Home", and "The Apple Who Wanted to Become a Pinecone". She kindly shares a sample poem below.

Congratulations to Clarissa Mullig. This 10-year-old subscriber recently won first prize in the 3rd-5th grade category of the 2009 Sarah Mook Memorial Poetry Prize for Students. This free contest offers prizes of $100 in each of four age groups from kindergarten to 12th grade. The most recent deadline was March 31. Clarissa also took home third prize in the 3rd-4th grade category of the Poetry Society of Virginia (Student Categories) free contest for 2009. The deadline is January 21 each year.


RECENT HONORS FOR POETRY CONTEST INSIDER SUBSCRIBERS
Congratulations to Pamela Spiro Wagner. Her poetry collection We Mad Climb Shaky Ladders was published this spring by the Laurel Books imprint of CavanKerry Press. She kindly shares a poem from this book below. Wagner is also the co-author, with Carolyn Spiro, of Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia (St. Martin's Press, 2005).

Congratulations to Chloe Ledbetter Brown. She recently won an award for her two poems submitted to the San Antonio Riverwalk Poetry Festival, and was invited to give a reading on October 31 at the University of Texas auditorium. She also had another poem published in the Laurel Crown Anthology in San Antonio, Texas.


RECENT PUBLICATION CREDITS FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS
Winning Writers Editor Jendi Reiter's poems "The Tune Michael" and "Depend, Desire, Detonate" were published in the 4th anniversary issue of the Istanbul Literary Review. Read her poems here and here.

Annie Dawid's book And Darkness Was Under His Feet: Stories of a Family will be reviewed in the November issue of Jewish Book World. This collection of linked stories, spanning a century in the lives of Eastern European Jewish immigrants and their descendants, won The Litchfield Review Short Fiction Award for 2007.

Maree Teychenne's one-act play "Hot Ice" will be performed at the Wollongong Workshop Theatre in New South Wales as part of the Workshorts Masters season of one-act plays. Directed by Luke Berman, "Hot Ice" is a "comedic collision" between poetry and physical theatre. Also, her mini-musical "On Christmas Eve" (with music by Steven Capaldo) will be performed at the Short, Sweet + Song Festival in Sydney. Directed by Damien Noyce, it consists of three songs, each set on the 24th December but in three different eras in Australian history: Convict Times 1789, Days of War 1944 and Modern Times.


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TRY POETRY CONTEST INSIDER
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Most contests charge entry fees. You can easily spend hundreds of dollars and many hours entering these contests each year. Don't waste your time or money. Out of hundreds of contests, there might only be two or three dozen that are especially appropriate for your work. We help you find them fast. Interviews and links to award-winning entries help you refine your craft. Learn more about Poetry Contest Insider.

Our customers say...

"Your website is still the highlight of my life. I use it every day. I have had positive feedback from several editors and judges, have won some contests, and have been accepted for publication several times. I have also enjoyed the links for reading more poetry and learning more about the craft."
Ruth Hill, British Columbia, Canada

"...about a year ago I shifted my writing focus (novels, nonfiction) to poetry. I use your site exclusively to select contests. I've won, placed, and/or published 13 poems. The site is great. I can't imagine how much time it would take to search contests out and qualify them one at a time."
Lee Whipple, Florida

"Your website is invaluable: definitely the best around. I have benefited greatly from the database of contests. Thank you and keep up the fantastic work!... Last year I received first prize in both the Dorothy Prizes and the Room of One's Own poetry competition—both of which I learned of through your database."
Vicki Duke, Alberta, Canada

See more testimonials here, plus coverage of Winning Writers in Writer's Digest and The Writer, or start your trial now.

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THE BEST FREE POETRY CONTESTS
Deadlines: October 16-November 30

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.

Winning Writers gathers contest information from a wide variety of sources including publishers' press releases, online link directories, Poets & Writers Magazine, and e-newsletters such as TOTAL FundsforWriters, The Practicing Writer, and CRWROPPS. We encourage readers to explore these useful resources, and let us know about worthwhile contests we may have missed.

10/20: New Voices Young Writers Competition +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest offers two grand prizes of $100 for poetry, fiction, and essays by middle school and high school students (all genres compete together for the grand prizes). First-prize winners in each genre receive prizes such as an e-book reader or PDA, gift certificates, or a check/money order. Winners will also be invited to the EPIC annual conference. EPIC, the Electronically Published Internet Connection, is a professional organization for published and contracted e-book and print authors. Entrants may submit one piece in each genre in their age category, for a total of three entries. Poetry should be 20 lines maximum for middle-schoolers, 30 lines for high-schoolers; prose, 750 words or 1,000 words, respectively. Enter online only.

10/30: Blanchan/Doubleday Awards +
Formerly August 31
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.

10/31: Eric Gregory Awards +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest offers prizes totaling 24,000 pounds for a collection of up to 30 poems, drama-poems, or belles-lettres, by a writer who will be under age 30 as of March 31 of the following year. The author must be a British subject by birth but not a national of Eire or any of the British Dominions or Colonies, and must ordinarily be resident in the United Kingdom or Northern Ireland. Previously published work accepted.

10/31: Lucidity Poetry Journal Awards +
Neutral free contest offers top prize of $100 for poems about the human experience. Authors must be 18+. Editor Ted Badger says: "Seeking poetry that deals with people, relationships, life issues and events, written in clear and concise English. Form of the poem is open but it must have something to say without resorting to vulgarity. Clarity is crucial. We publish poetry that everyday people can relate to, understand and enjoy." Submit 1-5 poems, maximum 38 lines each (including stanza breaks). Address entries to "Lucidity Poetry Journal 2009 Contest".

10/31: Shenandoah's Flannery O'Connor Issue Contest +++
Highly recommended free contest offers $1,000 for essays, poems, short stories, reviews, photographs and other artwork about, related to or in honor of the fiction and life of Flannery O'Connor (all genres compete together). Winner and selected runners-up published in the 60th anniversary issue of the prestigious literary journal Shenandoah. Send 1-5 poems or one prose piece, maximum 25 double-spaced pages. This may be a one-time contest for 2009.

10/31: Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended contest from UK-based Society of Authors offers 5,000 pounds for the best book of poetry, fiction or creative nonfiction by a UK author who will be under 35 as of December 31. Entries in all genres compete for one prize. The author must be a British citizen ordinarily resident in Britain. The work submitted must have been first published in Britain in the year in which the deadline falls.

10/31: Wick Student Poetry Competition +++
Highly recommended free contest for poets enrolled in Ohio colleges and universities offers chapbook publication by a prestigious university press. Sponsored by the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University. Manuscripts should be 15-25 pages of poetry.

11/1: David Reid Poetry Translation Prize +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest offers 750 euros for the best Dutch-to-English translation of a poem posted on the website of Subtext Translations, a Dutch company that provides subtitling and commercial translation services. Twice a year, the title of the chosen poem will be posted on the contest website at midday on March 1 and September 1. Winners published on website. Enter by email only.

11/1: Ellipsis Prize +
Neutral free contest offers $100 for the best poem published in Ellipsis, the literary journal of Westminster College of Salt Lake City, during the current year. Submissions should be 3-5 unpublished poems.

11/1: Sarabande Student Poetry Competition +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest offers $500, broadside and online publication for poems by full-time Kentucky undergraduates. Send 1-3 poems, maximum one single-spaced page per poem.

11/3: Collision Poetry & Creative Nonfiction Contest +
Entries must be received by this date; formerly November 7
Twice-yearly neutral free contest from Collision, the University of Pittsburgh's creative nonfiction magazine, offers prizes of $150, $100, $75, plus publication, for poetry and creative nonfiction by undergraduate students anywhere in the world. Entries should be 1-4 poems or 1-2 essays, maximum 10 pages total from any author. Prizes are across all genres, not per genre (personal essays and narratives, travel pieces, feature articles, and poems).

11/15: Alexander Popoff Youth Award Poetry Contest +
Neutral free contest for youth aged 17 and under offers $100 for published or unpublished poems relating to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Enter by mail or email.

11/15: Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest ++
Entries must be received by this date
Recommended free poetry contest for high school sophomore and junior girls offers top prize of $200, publication in Cargoes (Hollins University's student literary magazine), and tuition for 2-week summer creative writing seminar. Entrants must be sophomores or juniors in high school or preparatory school. Enter online.

11/15: Ralph Nading Hill Contest +
Neutral free contest offers $1,500 for the best unpublished writing about "Vermont, Its People, The Place, Its History, or Its Values". Entries may be an essay, short story, play, or poem. Maximum 3,000 words. Contest is open to current students in or residents of Vermont. Cosponsored by Green Mountain Power, an environmentally conscious utility company in Vermont, and Vermont Life magazine.

11/30: Daily News Prize +
Neutral free contest offers $300 for the best poem accepted by The Caribbean Writer during this year. All eligible submissions to the magazine are also considered for the David Hough Literary Prize for an author residing in the Caribbean ($500), the Marguerite Cobb McKay Prize for a Virgin Islands author ($200), the Charlotte & Isidor Paiewonsky Prize for first-time publication ($200), and the Canute A. Brodhurst Prize for best short fiction ($400). Send 1-5 unpublished poems, double-spaced. The Caribbean should be central to the work, or the work should reflect a Caribbean heritage, experience or perspective. Email entries accepted.

11/30: Franklin-Christoph Poetry Contest +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest offers top prize of $1,000 for unpublished poems, 100 lines maximum. Sponsor Franklin-Christoph is a manufacturer of fine pens and luxury items. Ten runners-up receive fountain pens worth $150. Maximum 2 poems per entrant. Enter by email.

11/30: Odes to the Olympians Poetry Contest +
Entries must be received by this date; formerly November 15
Neutral twice-yearly free contest offers $50 apiece in adult and youth categories for unpublished poems up to 30 lines about Greek and Roman mythology. Enter by email only. Themes change with each contest; the Fall 2009 contest is for poems about Demeter (Ceres). This contest is sponsored by Victoria Grossack and Alice Underwood, authors of The Tapestry of Bronze, a series of historical novels set in the ancient world.


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


Last Call!
The Palm Beach Poetry Festival, January 18-23, 2010, Delray Beach, Florida
Workshop Application Postmark Deadline: November 2 (apply online or by mail)
Be inspired and focus on your work in extraordinary poetry workshops. Advanced workshops with Stephen Dobyns, Carolyn Forché, Marie Howe, Thomas Lux, David Wojahn, and Kevin Young. Intermediate workshops with Mary Cornish and Ilya Kaminsky. These critically acclaimed poets teach in graduate and college level writing programs and include two poets chosen for the National Poetry Series Award; recipients of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award; the Lamont Prize; the Yale Series Younger Poets Award; the William Carlos Williams Book Award; the Quill Award; the Patterson Prize; the Field Poetry Prize; the Whiting Writers Award, the Dorset Prize, the Ruth Lily Fellowship; and many NEA and Guggenheim fellowships.

Apply by November 2. Workshops are limited to 12 participants and 3 auditors. Tuition includes all events, readings, talks, the gala, coffee house and dance party. Six days and evenings not to be missed. Inquire about auditing a workshop. For full details, visit www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org.

Festival lectures, readings and other ticketed events are open to anyone who wants to experience the best of the best in the poetry world. Will you be part of our audience? Will you open yourself up to a new experience of language? We promise you an experience that you will never forget.



Last Call!
DANA AWARDS
Postmark Deadline: October 31

"Writing is a profession for talented, imaginative, sensitive Gila monsters (legend claims that when a Gila monster clamps its jaws on something it won't let go). If you're a Gila monster for writing, send us your work, please."

—Mary Elizabeth Parker, Chair, Dana Awards

For 14 years, since 1996, we've been quietly offering encouragement with the Dana Awards in 3 categories: the Novel, Short Fiction, and Poetry. $1,000 will be awarded in each category.

See our guidelines at www.danaawards.com, email danaawards@pipeline.com, or send a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) to Dana Awards, 200 Fosseway Drive, Greensboro, North Carolina 27455.

Our purpose is monetary encouragement. All work should be un-awarded (honorable mention or finalist recognition okay, but no monetary awards), unpublished (except to family and friends) and not under promise of award or publication AT THE TIME IT'S SUBMITTED TO US. We're not affiliated with a university or press, so we don't publish. But the good news is that because we don't publish, you may market the same work simultaneously elsewhere and still win Dana Awards.

What We Are Seeking

Whether fiction or poetry, the work must be original yet not sensational merely for the sake of sensation, with well-developed themes, and written in a style that exhibits love of language and mastery of craft.

If fiction, whether literary, mainstream, or genre fiction, the characters must be fully drawn, not stereotypes, and must be engaged in conflicts (either internal or external) that are compelling and show forward momentum.

Whether poetry or fiction, if it's a universal story (love, death, loss, coming of age, moral responsiveness or failure to respond), it must be told in a fresh way.

Poems, whether formal or free-verse, must exhibit music and rhythm in the use of language, syntax, line breaks, and structure. A group of words thoughtlessly slung lengthwise down a page is not a free-verse poem; it's a group of words that needs to be made into a poem. A group of words that plays with language, without attempting meaning or message, is not a poem; it's an exercise.

In 14 years of managing the Dana Awards, I've learned there are thousands of excellent writers out there, which is a heartening but frightening thing: heartening for the sake of literature, but frightening because of the sheer numbers of us looking for recognition (I'm a writer, too).

Writing is a profession for talented, imaginative, sensitive Gila monsters (legend claims that when a Gila monster clamps its jaws on something it won't let go).

If you're a Gila monster for writing, send us your work, please.

Mary Elizabeth Parker, Chair, Dana Awards

Last Call!
FundsforWriters.com and VIPAuthors.com present an annual essay contest
Electronic Submission Deadline: October 31
Submit 750 words or less on the theme: Invisible Writing. Interpret it as you like. Enter the $5 entry fee category and vie for $200 or the NO entry fee category and compete for $50. Winners announced December 1. www.fundsforwriters.com/annualcontest.htm



Last Call!
Anderbo.com's 2009 Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: November 1
4th year! For up to six unpublished poems. Winner receives $500 cash plus publication on anderbo.com, "Best New Online Journal". Judged by William Logan. Contest Assistant: Charity Burns.

Guidelines:

• Poems should be typed on 8 1/2" x 11" paper with the poet's name and contact information on the upper right corner of each poem
• Poet must not have been previously published on anderbo.com
• Mail submissions to 270 Lafayette Street, Suite 1412, New York, NY 10012
• Enclose a self-addressed stamped business envelope (SASE) to receive names of winner and honorable mentions
• All entries are non-returnable and will be recycled
• Reading fee is $10. Check or money order payable to RRofihe
• See the complete guidelines at http://www.anderbo.com/anderbo1/anderprize2009.html

William Logan was born in Boston in 1950. He attended Yale, where he studied American history and literature, though he had a long flirtation with game theory. He was a rock critic of no great distinction, though he squandered a good many weekends at the Fillmore East in New York. After taking his MFA at the University of Iowa, he spent a peripatetic six years following his sweetheart to Massachusetts, Virginia, and California. They then spent two years in England, where they held successive Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarships. He is the author of eight volumes of poetry, most recently Strange Flesh (2008). He has also published five books of poetry criticism, including Our Savage Art (2009). He has twice been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award in criticism, which was awarded to The Undiscovered Country (2005). Among his other honors are the Peter I. B. Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets, the 1988 Citation for Excellence in Reviewing from the National Book Critics Circle, the Allen Tate Prize, the Corrington Medal for Literary Excellence, and the inaugural Randall Jarrell Award in Criticism. He has been called the "most hated man in American poetry" as well as the "best practical critic around". He has been teaching at the University of Florida since shortly before the ozone hole was discovered over Antarctica.



Last Call!
Coal Hill Review Poetry Chapbook Contest: $250 and Publication
Postmark Deadline: November 1
Last call for the 2009 Coal Hill Review Poetry Chapbook Contest. Please submit your manuscripts online at www.coalhillreview.com. Reading fee: $15 to be paid via PayPal (major credit cards accepted). Submit 10-15 pages of poetry, either a group of poems or one long poem. Poems may be previously published. Include an acknowledgments page.

The winning chapbook will be published electronically in Coal Hill Review, as well as in a paper edition. All finalists will be considered for publication in Coal Hill Review. The final judges for the competition are Anna Catone and Philip Terman, poetry editors of Coal Hill Review (see bios). Please address any questions to msimms@autumnhouse.org with the words "CHAPBOOK COMPETITION QUERY" in the subject line.

Please enjoy this poem by James Tyner, part of his winning chapbook entry from 2008:

Bones in the Grapevines
by James Tyner

We pulled it from the earth, soil
dripping from it, coloring
more gray than white. Long,
crusted, tips broken off so we
could see the gray honeycombs
of marrow inside. "Dog?"
My cousin, Juan, shook his head,
and stories we grew up on,
things we heard, came back.
Family said that white guy,
the one who owned these fields
before us, the one with the belt,
the buckle with diamonds and bullhorns,
would beat the field workers for being
too slow, not filling boxes quickly
enough, sometimes even to death.
Our parents would scare us,
make us clean rooms or go to bed
with visions of belt buckles glinting,
leaves slowly picked from thin branches,
till they became a switch, to peel
skin, peel back to blood and bone.
There are workers in the field now,
and we can hear a song coming
from them, mixed motor of the tractor,
black heads bobbing above green lines
of the fields. Juan, colors of his Raiders
jersey soaking up so much sun the heat
pours from him, his skin so brown,
almost black now from too much summer,
takes the bone, throwing it at the workers.
"Fucking wetbacks!!" The bone falls
somewhere in vines and dirt, lost.
Juan's Raiders hat has fallen off,
and his hair glistens from Vaseline
used to keep his curls straight,
plastered to his skin, his skull.

Last Call!
Writer's Digest Popular Fiction Awards
Postmark Deadline: November 2

A Short Story Competition from Writer's Digest

Compete and Win in All 5 Categories!

• Romance
• Mystery/Crime Fiction
• Science Fiction/Fantasy
• Thriller/Suspense
• Horror

PRIZES

Grand Prize: $2,500 cash, $100 worth of Writer's Digest Books and the 2010 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market.

First Prize: The First-Place Winner in each of the five categories receives $500 cash, $100 worth of Writer's Digest Books and the 2010 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market.

Honorable Mention: Honorable Mentions will receive promotion in Writer's Digest and the 2010 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market.

Entry Deadline: Monday, November 02, 2009

Visit http://www.writersdigest.com/popularfictionawards for guidelines and to enter online.



Closing Next Month
Enter WordHustler's Literary Storm Novel Contest to Win Publication & Prizes!
Online Submission Deadline: November 20
WordHustler is taking our writing contests to a whole new level with the debut of the Literary Storm Novel Contest! Submit the first 50 pages of your novel and you could win BIG! Our judge is Literary Agent Danielle Chiotti of Upstart Crow Literary. The Grand Prize is a complete Manuscript Critique by Joyce Sweeney, who has helped 27 people get published! (Psst: this prize is worth over $500!) as well as publication consideration from brilliant indie press Flatmancrooked! Second and Third Prizes are Barnes and Noble Gift Certificates. NEW BONUS PRIZE: The Top Ten Entries will ALL be considered for publishing by Flatmancrooked!

Entry Fee: $10. What to Submit: The first 50 pages of your finished novel—ANY GENRE—along with a cover letter. Manuscript critiques are also available for an additional fee of $20.

Go to the WordHustler Literary Storm Contest page to enter, and find out more on our blog, WordHustlerInk.

About WordHustler
Writing for publication? Figuring out where to send your work, sending it, and keeping track of your submissions is hands down the least enjoyable part of the process. With WordHustler, you can spend more time writing because we simplify, streamline, and organize the entire submission process for you. Not only that, we print and ship each manuscript, saving you time, inconvenience, and money! Submit to over 5,000 literary markets without leaving your desk. Sign up now. Your first submission is free.



The Writer's Digest 10th Annual Short Short Story Competition
Postmark Deadline: December 1

We're looking for fiction that's bold, brilliant...but brief. Send us your best in 1,500 words or fewer.

But don't be too long about it—the deadline is Tuesday, December 1, 2009.

PRIZES
First Place: $3,000
Second Place: $1,500
Third Place: $500
Fourth Through Tenth Place: $100
Eleventh Through Twenty-Fifth Place: $50 gift certificate for Writer's Digest Books

• The names and story titles of the First- through Tenth-Place winners will be printed in the May/June 2010 Writer's Digest, and winners will receive the 2010 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market and Agents, Editors, and You: The Insider's Guide to Getting Your Book Published. Plus, all First through 25th place winners will receive a free copy of the 10th Annual Writer's Digest Short Short Story Competition Collection.

Visit http://writersdigest.com/short for complete guidelines and to enter online.



St. Louis Writers Guild Annual Short Story Contest
Postmark Deadline: December 5
Reading Fee: $15, one entry per person. Prizes: $300, $150, $100, plus certificate and $10 for each of three Honorable Mentions. Story must not exceed 3,000 words. Guidelines: http://www.stlwritersguild.org/

Congratulations to our 2008 winners:

• First Place: W.E. Mueller for "Midnight Bob" (Chesterfield, MO)
• Second Place: Lynn Veach Sadler for "Gettin' Above My Raisin'" (Sanford, NC)
• Third Place: Linda Goff for "The Family Tree" (Rolla, MO)

For decades, the St. Louis Writers Guild has sponsored an annual short story contest, which must be one of the oldest, if not the oldest, writing contests in the country. It is certainly one of the most prestigious. Tennessee Williams won first place in this contest in 1935 for his story, "Stella for Star".

The contest opens for submissions every October and prizes are awarded in December. Historically, entries have come from all across the nation and Canada. Stories are blind-judged by one or more expert(s) in the fields of writing and literature. Writers do not need to be a member of the Guild in order to participate in this contest.




The Vernice Quebodeaux "Pathways" Poetry Prize
Postmark Deadline: December 15
The Vernice Quebodeaux Prize, sponsored by Little Red Tree Publishing, includes a $1,000 cash award, publication of a full-length collection of poetry, and a generous royalty contract. All forms and styles are welcome.

The late Vernice Quebodeaux, born in Egan, LA (on the banks of the Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé), was a poet who spent a lifetime struggling with the demands of raising children, family feuds, bigotry, apathy, and indifference to her writing aspirations. On her death the beginnings of a book of poetry called Pathways was found by her daughter, Tamara Martin, and incorporated into a book, Sunday's in the South. We are honoring her life and cherished goals by creating this competition to recognize the specific unique voices of women poets.

All finalists will be considered for publication, with one selected as the prizewinner with a book published in early spring of 2010. Download our complete guidelines (PDF), then send your 60-100 page manuscript with a $20 reading fee to: Little Red Tree Publishing, LLC, Attn: The Vernice Quebodeaux Prize, 635 Ocean Avenue, New London, CT 06320.


Now Open
The Little Red Tree International Poetry Prize
Postmark Deadline: December 31
The International Poetry Prize, sponsored by Little Red Tree Publishing, includes a first prize of $1,000. The runner-up will receive $250 and five finalists will receive $50 each.

This prize is offered in response to demand for an opportunity to be associated with Little Red Tree by poets who have yet to develop a full collection. It is also an opportunity for Little Red Tree to extend its search and engage with quality poets from around the world who wish to be published.

The prizewinner, runner-up and other honorees will feature prominently, with full biographies, in a special collection called Little Red Tree International Poetry Book 2010. The book will also include a wide selection of poetry from those submitted that did not make the final selection but were considered worthy of publication. We anticipate the book will contain as many as 80 poems, with a free copy to each poet published, and published in early spring of 2010.

A book launch will be scheduled for a date in April 2010 in New London, CT. All winners and published poets will be invited to read their poems. Download our complete guidelines (PDF), then send your poem(s) with a reading fee of $5 each to: Little Red Tree Publishing, LLC, Attn: The International Poetry Prize, 635 Ocean Avenue, New London, CT 06320.


Little Red Tree Publishing

Little Red Tree Publishing was established in 2006 and is based in New London, CT. Our mantra is simply to produce books that: Delight, entertain and educate.

We have doubled the number of books produced each year and plan to publish 12 full books of poetry in 2010. Part of that plan is the incorporation of a full book of poetry from the Vernice Quebodeaux "Pathways" Poetry Prize and an anthology from the Little Red Tree International Poetry Prize.

From humble beginnings, Little Red Tree has always seen its role, consistent with the finest traditions of small independent publishing, as preserving and expanding the dwindling opportunities for previously unpublished poets and established poets to publish a full collection of poetry. It is our aim that each book attains the highest standards both aesthetically and artistically. Our aesthetic stance is one of quality in all aspects of the content and the physical appearance of our books. We feel passionately that well-crafted and accessible poetry should be celebrated and presented as such with conviction and confidence. Therefore, all our books are coffee-table size, 7" by 10"—an emphatic statement of intent and a celebration of the poetry.

Our commitment to the individual poet and their work is undivided, and they are involved in every decision until their collection is complete, the book is finished and ready for printing.

We look forward to reading your wonderful poetry.



5th Annual Writer's Digest Poetry Awards Competition
Postmark Deadline: December 15

We're pleased to announce the only Writer's Digest competition exclusively for poets! Regardless of style—rhyming, free verse, haiku and more—if your poems are 32 lines or fewer, we want them all.

Entry Deadline: Tuesday, December 15, 2009

PRIZES

First Place: $500
Second Place: $250
Third Place: $100
Fourth Through Tenth Place: $25
Eleventh Through Twenty-Fifth Place: $50 gift certificate for Writer's Digest Books.

The names and poem titles of the First- through Tenth-Place winners will be printed in the August 2010 Writer's Digest, and afterwards their names will appear on www.writersdigest.com. All winners will receive the 2010 Poet's Market.

Visit http://www.writersdigest.com/poetryawards for guidelines or to enter online.



Dream Quest One Poetry and Writing Contest
Postmark Deadline: December 31
This writing contest is open to anyone who loves to express their innermost thoughts and feelings in poetry or to write a short story that's worth telling everyone! We're accepting poems, 30 lines or fewer on any subject, and short stories, 5 pages maximum on any theme (single- or double-line spacing). Multiple entries welcome.

Prizes
Short Story First Prize: $500, 2nd: $250, 3rd: $100
Poetry First Prize: $250, 2nd: $125, 3rd: $50

Entry fees
$10 per story
$5 per poem

How to Enter
Send your work with a cover page that lists the title(s) of your poem(s)/story(ies), name, address, phone number, and email address, along with a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) for entry confirmation. Make your entry fee payable to "DREAMQUESTONE.COM" and mail to Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest, P.O. Box 3141, Chicago, IL 60654. Electronic entries accepted via PayPal. Visit www.dreamquestone.com for details and to enter.

Please enjoy these excerpts from "Marsha Blue" by Deanna K. Klingel of Sapphire, North Carolina, the winning story entry in our Summer 2009 contest:

There were a lot of things I liked about my grandma's house. I liked that it was the biggest house I'd ever been in. It had a kitchen, a dining room, a front room, a parlor, a sick room, and a bathroom. It had two stairways to get to the upstairs where there was a maze of four bedrooms, no bathroom or hall. You walked through one bedroom to get to the next. It had great hiding places where I could stay huddled until a cousin called, "Ollie ollie oxen free!"

I liked how Grandma's house smelled. The kitchen smelled like spices and the basement smelled like burlap bags, walnuts, and 3-in-One oil. Any one of those aromas today takes me immediately back to Granddad's side, hammering walnuts in that basement.

I also liked the location. Grandma's house was two straight blocks down the sidewalk from my house. My school was two blocks from my house and two blocks from Grandma's. The sidewalks made a triangle that I mostly lived within. The thing I liked best about the location was that my aunts, uncles, and dozens of cousins inhabited many of the houses within that triangle. The two safe blocks down the sidewalk meant I could walk, run, skip, ride my scooter, peddle my bike, skip rope, or roller skate all the way, back and forth, at will, since about age five...

I probably spent as much time at Grandma's as I spent in my own home, two blocks up the street. I loved spending the night. Grandma let me stay up late and watch the Pabst Blue Ribbon fights. "What’ll you have? Pabst Blue Ribbon!" I sang the jingle with gusto, while coloring away with my Crayolas, or sorting her buttons. I didn't actually drink beer, but Grandma did let me drink Lipton Orange Pekoe and Pekoe tea, which Arthur Godfrey said was the finest cup of tea anywhere. I put in three spoonfuls of sugar and agreed whole-heartedly with Arthur Godfrey.

But the thing that I loved the most about Grandma's house was Marsha Blue. Marsha Blue was a blind woman who'd lived at Grandma's since the war. The county paid my Grandma "a little something" to take care of Marsha. Since I spent so much time at Grandma's, Marsha became my personal project, and a good friend...

[click for the complete story]

Submit online to Carpe Articulum
Carpe Verbum Essay/Non-Fiction Postmark Deadline: January 7, 2010
Carpe Verbum Novella Postmark Deadline: January 7, 2010

Welcome to Carpe Articulum Literary Review! You can submit online! We look forward to reviewing your work and wish you luck in the contests. We are an international review with over 35,000 readers. We give away $10,000 every year to outstanding writers and artists and hope you will decide to become a member of our literary circle of friends. Enter our fiction, nonfiction, poetry, novella and photography contests at any time of year. We also accept submissions outside our contests via email.

The magazine is 150-200 pages of full-colour delight, translated into five languages. We feature short fiction, poetry, informative articles, photography, non-fiction and incredible interviews with hot up-and-coming writers as well as iconic ones such as Jodi Picoult (author of Change of Heart, Handle With Care, Nineteen Minutes, and My Sister's Keeper which was made into a major motion picture with Cameron Diaz) and Nicholas Sparks (author of Message in a Bottle, also made into a motion picture with Kevin Costner & Robin Wright Penn, as well as The Notebook, The Last Song, etc.) And that is just this October issue!

Our writing staff includes two ex-New York Times writers (both of whom are draped in copious prestigious writing awards) as well as movie and television people for national networks. We are truly fortunate to have a full-time staff of such quality people. Our readers make up the rest of the content via their submissions. You do not have to enter a contest to be published with us. Moreover, we are the original cross-genre, international review in the world. Our readership list reads like a virtual Who's Who list and that is specifically cultivated to make certain that the winners of the award series get the maximum exposure to important agents and writers who have the power to influence writing careers.

Please enjoy this gratis electronic version of our latest issue, a preview of what you can look forward to should you decide to become one of our literary family members. We offer a great deal to our readers, superior to other reviews in scope, resources and content. Should you decide to become one of our cherished subscribers, you will receive one issue free of charge and will also find yourself immersed in short fiction, poetry, incredible interviews with great and famous writers, and articles which are insightful, timely, and informative.

Cheers!

Hadassah R. L. Broscova
Editor-in-Chief
Carpe Articulum Literary Review
www.caliteraryreview.com
503.957.8025 Office

The WB Yeats Society of New York Poetry Competition
Postmark Deadline: February 1, 2010
This year's competition will be judged by Alice Quinn, executive director of the Poetry Society of America and former poetry editor of The New Yorker. Competition is open to members and nonmembers of any age, from any locality. First prize $250, second prize $100. Winners and honorable mentions receive 2-year memberships in the Society and are honored at an event at Barnes & Noble Union Square, New York City, May 1, 2010.

Submit poems in English up to 60 lines, not previously published, on any subject. Type each poem (judged separately) on an 8.5 x 11-inch sheet without author's name; attach 3x5 card with name, address, phone, email.

Entry fee $8 for first poem, $7 each additional. Mail to:

Poetry Competition WW
WB Yeats Society of NY
National Arts Club
15 Gramercy Park S
New York, NY 10003

Include a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) to receive the report of the contest results. List of winners is posted on YeatsSociety.org around March 31, 2010, along with information on the Yeats Summer School in Ireland, July 24-August 6, 2010. Authors retain rights, but grant us the right to publish winning entries. These are the complete guidelines; no entry form necessary. We reserve the right to hold late submissions for the following year. For reports of previous competitions, and information on our other programs and membership, visit YeatsSociety.org or write to us.

Please enjoy "Las Lunas", the second-prize entry in our 2008 contest:

Las Lunas
by L. Noelle Sullivant, West Yellowstone, Montana

Her heart is made of iron filings, strange needles from dirt.
She eats red clay, damp with the motion within her,
sick with sour June smells of Old Town grease
        and night skies dimmed by traffic lights, twin beams.
Her bag is packed, expectant.

In this full moon, she is ready to end it.
Her contractions begin in radiant heat
stored by the desert peneplain. She drives south
hunting for relief, past a sprawled telescope
aimed at our big bang in space.

The moon cannot calm her, though it floats and she doesn't.

She pulls the Nissan through a concrete underpass
and parks, intending to cut the child from her womb
where rodents pull at seeds and waxy yuccas
tilt at shadows with their spears.

Dogs in the distance howl at her intrusion.
Her own violence echoes, its suspect rustles like kangaroo rats
in the blinking haze of distant stars. They pause
at the pale cactus lilies, fragrant rush,
and test hooked tips beneath the sky.

Perfect, excreting blossoms surround her.
On their plastic beauty, she palpates
the stringy fibers, crushed milky and limp
in her palm, body weepy as if fevered,
          easily destroyed. Fragility drives her home.

At dawn, her own water breaks, her son born dry as loam.
He is healthy, unaware of cyclical pulls
and lunar ambits. He is welcome inside, in corridors,
in fluorescent lighting, his small flowering
    soft as cartilage and the remains of her petals.

upstreet: Call for Submissions
Submissions must be received by March 1, 2010
upstreet, the award-winning independent literary annual, seeks quality submissions—with edge—of short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, for its sixth issue. Author interviews in the first five issues were with Jim Shepard, Lydia Davis, Wally Lamb, Michael Martone, and Robin Hemley. Payment in author copies. Distributed nationally by Ingram Periodicals, Source Interlink, Disticor (Canada). For sample content and to submit, visit http://www.upstreet-mag.org

For news about upstreet and its authors, visit http://www.upstreetfanclub.blogspot.com/

Please enjoy this selection from upstreet number five:

Please, More Eyeshadow
by Elizabeth Gold

Maybe in the end it all collapses—glint
of a coffee cup, a crumpled

handkerchief, sizzle of the wick
before the flame goes out,

it all goes, and who cares
if the milk was off, stocking

snagged, the man didn't show
at the right time, you are walking

up the stairs, the key is in the lock,
the night is long and somehow

you must pare off each minute
until safe to go to bed,

one pound, one pfennig,
a fifty year old cloud like a white

Zeppelin, they're all the same now,
and what you remember

is how it was to be heat
scrawled in air

like a hummingbird,
now you hear yourself ask

for a touch, a streak
of turquoise in the crease, Hold

the mirror up

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SELECTED FREE PROSE CONTESTS

These free prose contests with deadlines between October 16 and November 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.

10/19: Brenda L. Smart Fiction Prizes +
Formerly October 20
Neutral free contest for North Carolina authors with no published books offers $500 for short fiction (up to 5,000 words), $250 for flash fiction (up to 1,200 words).

10/26: RTE Radio 1 Short Story Competition ++
Entries must be received by this date; formerly October 27
Recommended free contest for authors born or normally resident in Ireland offers top prize of 3,000 euros for unpublished short fiction of 1,800-2,000 words that is suitable for radio performance. One entry per person.

10/31: FundsforWriters Essay Contest +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest for short essays (750 words maximum) on topics of interest to the professional writer offers top prize of $200 in fee-charging category, $50 in free category. FFW is an excellent resource for both literary and commercial freelance writers, offering useful e-books and newsletters that list paying markets for different types of writing. Fee is $5 per essay. Themes change annually. Enter by email (no attachments).

10/31: Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize +++
Entries must be received by this date; formerly October 1
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 at least one previously published book in any genre. Entries should be a minimum of 100 double-spaced pages. The 2010 prize (deadline in 2009) is for a manuscript-in-progress.

10/31: PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest for published books of fiction by US citizens offers top prize of $15,000, four runners-up of $5,000. Send 4 copies of book to the Foundation office. Recent winners have been well-established writers such as Philip Roth, Ha Jin and John Updike.

11/1: Dzanc Prize +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral contest offers $5,000 stipend to authors with a fiction manuscript-in-progress (novel or story collection) who submit a proposal for literary community service. Service projects may include offering a writing workshop at a local school or library, or volunteering at a nonprofit book festival. Email your CV, synopsis and 10-page excerpt from your manuscript, and service proposal as MS Word attachments to prize@dzancbooks.org.

11/1: Eugene S. Thorpe Award ++
Entries must be received by this date; formerly August 15
Recommended free contest from libertarian think tank The Foundation for Economic Education offers $2,000 for essays, 2,000 words maximum, on an annual theme relating to free markets. Enter by email. No simultaneous submissions.

11/1: 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.

11/1: Naval Intelligence Essay Contest ++
Entries must be received by this date; formerly August 1
Recommended free contest from Naval Intelligence Professionals offers top prize of $1,000 for essays on a selected topic concerning naval intelligence. Maximum 2,000 words. One entry per person; no simultaneous submissions.

11/30: Canute A. Brodhurst Prize for Short Fiction +
Neutral free contest offers $400 for the best story accepted by The Caribbean Writer during this year. All eligible submissions to the magazine are also considered for the David Hough Literary Prize for an author residing in the Caribbean ($500), the Marguerite Cobb McKay Prize for a Virgin Islands author ($200), and the Charlotte & Isidor Paiewonsky Prize for first-time publication ($200). Send 1-2 stories, maximum 15 double-spaced pages each. The Caribbean should be central to the work, or the work should reflect a Caribbean heritage, experience or perspective. Email entries accepted.


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

Barrelhouse
Entries must be received by December 1
Barrelhouse, a literary magazine with a pop-culture twist, seeks unpublished poetry, fiction and essays on the theme of "Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll". Editors say, "We're looking for your best stories, essays, and poems about any aspect of the unholy trinity that ties together musicians as disparate as Bret Michaels and Snoop Dog, writers as divergent as John Cheever and Stephen King, and actors as startlingly different as Sasha Gray and Robert Downey, Jr. Here at Barrelhouse HQ, sex, drugs, and rock and roll are more American than Tim McGraw and the Patriot Act combined, and we want to hear your take on one, two, or all three. Got a great poem about a dirty, life-altering encounter you had behind a dumpster while stoned in college? Got an amazing essay about how listening to Husker Du helped you get your shit together and start working on that sex addiction? Or a story about a second-rate, Better than Ezra-esque rock band touring through the meth fields of middle America to the Coke-dusted walls of a shitty Brooklyn brownstone? Or anything, you know, remotely like that? Send 'em our way."

Mother Loss Poetry Anthology
Entries must be received by December 1
Editor Susie Beiman seeks poems, prose-poems, and short prose pieces on the theme of mother loss. "Desired poems will cover the initial raw grief through time to poems that are more uplifting. The intent is not to dwell on death itself but rather to place it in loving perspective. From sad to angry, from tender to humorous, all will be considered. Content will deal with your mother's life, her influence and/or your relationship with her. Through the writers' varied experiences, readers will recognize themselves and be encouraged in knowing they are not alone." Submissions should be 100 lines maximum for poetry and prose-poems, 750 words maximum for short prose. Maximum 5 entries per person. Previously published work accepted with acknowledgments. This anthology is still seeking a publisher. No website; send entries as a 12-point font, double-spaced MS Word .doc attachment to motherlosspoetry@gmail.com, or mail to Mother Loss/Details, 8663 River Crossing Boulevard, Indianapolis, IN 46240.

Spiritual Sign Stories
Entries must be received by December 15
Writer and editor Susi Walter is seeking anecdotes of divine occurrences for an anthology geared toward a young adult audience. "The purpose of the book is to help young people follow the spiritual signs they are given in everyday life... It could be a prayer that was answered, an intuitive voice, a physical sign, a vivid dream, or something else remarkable or miraculous that happened to you in your life. The story must have a 'proving' quality about it, and a purpose-driven focal point. The sign should evoke a positive change in the character." Entries should be 800-1,200 words, typed, double-spaced, in 12-point font, with author's name, address, phone, and email address in the top left corner. Submit by mail or email as an MS Word .doc attachment, or tell your story over the phone (instructions on website).


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NEW LITERARY RESOURCES

BookRix
BookRix is an online community where authors of poetry and prose can upload their work and receive feedback. Membership is free. The site is based in Germany but has an English-language section. BookRix offers several free contests throughout the year, with prizes up to $1,000; winners are decided by members' votes.

Kartika Review
Kartika Review publishes literary fiction, poetry, and essays that endeavor to expand and enhance the mainstream perception of Asian-American creative writing. The journal also publishes book reviews, literary criticism, author interviews, and artwork. They focus on works relevant to the Asian Diaspora or authored by individuals of Asian descent. Issues can be read for free as PDF files on their website, or purchased as hard copies.

Tanka News & Haiku Headlines
This blog operated by MET Press publishes contest announcements and other events of interest to the worldwide tanka and haiku poetry community.

Wild Apples: A Journal of Nature, Art, and Inquiry
Wild Apples is a twice-yearly journal of writing and visual art. Taking its name and inspiration from Henry David Thoreau's essay, "Wild Apples", the journal brings together the work of artists and writers who are connected by the common threads of care for the environment, engagement in social concerns, and commitment to the arts and the way they shape our world. This is a print journal but selections are available online for free download as a PDF file.


See our complete directory of resources 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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NEW RECOMMENDED BOOK

The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell
This hard-hitting memoir by a young veteran of the 2003 Iraq war portrays a failed system of military leadership that exposed infantrymen to pointless risks as their mission became increasingly unclear. Crawford joined the Florida National Guard before 9/11 for the tuition benefits, then found himself unexpectedly shipped to Kuwait. Scarcity of men and materials meant that his unit's tour of duty was continually being extended, yet they were not given the tools to do the job. Crawford's writing captures the brusque camaraderie and profanity-laced talk of soldiers, while his literary prose brings these harsh scenes to life.


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MORE SPONSORS' MESSAGES

2010 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market—New Edition!
Annual directory for fiction writers from Writer's Digest includes over 1,100 listings of magazines, book publishers and literary agents. Other helpful resources include advice from well-known authors and information on conferences and contests for fiction writers.

2010 Poet's Market—New Edition!
Published each August by Writer's Digest, this is the best annual directory of over 1,600 presses, magazines, journals, contests and more. Helps you find publishers who are looking for your kind of work.

2010 Writer's Market—New Edition!
Annual directory for prose writers from Writer's Digest offers over 3,500 listings of book publishers, consumer magazines, trade publications, literary agents and other markets. Includes a "Query Letter Clinic" and pay rate charts for professional freelancers. ("The most valuable of tools for the writer new to the marketplace," says Stephen King in On Writing; "If you're really poor, ask someone to give it to you for Christmas.")


Alibris Coupon

Get $2 off your next purchase of $20 or more of books, music or movies when you use promo code SAURON on checkout at Alibris! Hurry, this coupon expires October 20, 2009.

Office Depot 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.

Enjoy $30 off purchases of $150 or more at OfficeDepot.com. Excludes Technology. Offer Expires 12.31.09.

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FEATURED POEMS FROM OUR SUBSCRIBERS

I Remember
by Judian James

I remember yesterday's blue heart
its color drifting on the morning air,
as the sky absorbed its hue.
The angels all knew you were gone.

I eased my soul out through my sleeve—
shaking it in the mourning breeze,
I hung it out to dry.

I remember before yesterday, when
you would melt me under fresh, moist breath.
Your kisses lingering on the blush of my brow,
cool, liquid kisses to the rhythm of our song.

But then, you were gone.

Now, I crumble and cry.
My soul tumbles in the wind,
and my heart plays its grief in beats
causing every part of me to pain.

I will be whole again
as soon as I survive
this infernal, internal rain.


Copyright 2009 by Judian James

This poem is reprinted from her new poetry chapbook, Levitate, now available from FootHills Publishing.


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Wand
by Diana Gordon

It's not the traffic, a hot river slowed
on I-91; it's the loose dog—
Look, I say to the fairy,
smudged lipstick, mascara and a wand.
On the seat between us, a pumpkin
with Magic Marker eyes.
The dog scoots among stopped cars.
There's a party atmosphere, children waving
through passenger windows, the sky crayon blue.
Police try to catch the dog.
When we come to be in front, the dog is calm.
It isn't that he's lovable; he has a trash-can head.
It isn't the officer unholstering
his gun; it's that we cannot leave.
It isn't the dog's heart blossoming
on a stalk of blood, or the spread legs of the man,
shot after shot, or the smile that escapes him
as he houses his gun and waves us on.
It's the stillness of the wand.


Copyright 2009 by Diana Gordon

This poem is reprinted from her poetry collection The Fourth World, which will be released in February 2010 as a limited-edition letterpress volume by Adastra Press. It originally appeared in Descant: Fort Worth's Journal of Poetry & Fiction under the title "Free Radical" and won that journal's 2006 Betsy Colquitt Award for Poetry.


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Often I Wish I Were
by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer

a potato.

Eyes opened
in all directions.

Unafraid
of the cold earth.

The difference
between life and death
for somebody.





Copyright 2009 by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer

This poem is reprinted from her bilingual Bulgarian/English poetry collection The Air Around the Butterfly, published by Fakel Express.


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Eating the Earth
by Pamela Spiro Wagner

After Tyrone, the little boy next door,
makes her eat a handful of dirt
for telling lies
about where babies come from
her father says it will do her no harm.
You have to eat a peck of dirt
before you die, her father says.
He also says she hadn't lied:
babies do come that way.
She cries after her father
leaves the room and she sleeps
all night with the lights on.
Her father tells her other things,
that earthworms eat their own weight in dirt
every day and that their do-do
(he says "excrement")
fertilizes our food.
She makes a face over that
and doesn't believe him.
Besides, she says, we're people
not worms.
And we're so great, huh? he says.
Well, I'd rather be a girl than a worm.
He says nothing.
He is grown up and a doctor,
he doesn't have to worry about
being a worm.
But she does.
That night she dreams that Tyrone
dumps a jar of worms down her shirt
and that their dreadful undulations
become hers and she begins
eating dirt
and liking it,
the cool coarse grains of sand,
the spicy chips of mica,
the sweet-sour loam become her body
as she lives and breathes,
eating the darkness.


Copyright 2009 by Pamela Spiro Wagner

This poem is reprinted from her collection We Mad Climb Shaky Ladders, which was published this spring by the Laurel Books imprint of CavanKerry Press.


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Advertise to 25,000 Poets and Writers
Promote your contests, websites, events and publications in this newsletter. Reach over 25,000 poets and writers for $65. Ads may contain up to 250 words, a headline and a graphic image. Find out more and make your reservation here:
http://www.winningwriters.com/advertisers.php

"We are very pleased with the response to our ad in your newsletter. The number of entries in the novel contest totaled nearly 100, about 40% more than usual. The number of poems doubled. We'll be back in January when our 2010 contest opens. Thanks ever so much."
Roger Paulding, President, Houston Writers Guild

"We can tell by our data readings that Winning Writers is an economical and efficient way to advertise both the Anderbo Poetry Prize and The RRofihe Trophy/Open City Short Story Contest."
Rick Rofihe, Publisher & Editor-In-Chief, anderbo

"I'm very pleased with the variety of responses we've received, and I very much appreciate the care you took in adding links and generally improving the copy I sent you."
Mark Schorr, Executive Director, The Robert Frost Foundation

See more testimonials.

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PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Website Sells Words and Supports Literacy

Buy a word and support international literacy efforts. Web entrepreneur Jeremy Burghall has created the website www.EveryWordIsForSale.com with the goal of raising $2.4 million. Burghall is donating 25% of the total raised to ProLiteracy, the world's largest organization of adult literacy programs.

The www.EveryWordIsForSale.com website consists of the entire text of the book The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles, first published 99 years ago. Each word is available for purchase as a hyperlink advertisement to the buyer's website.

"The book inspired the idea for the website," Burghall, 27, said. "I want to increase opportunities for people seeking self-improvement. ProLiteracy's international programs give budding entrepreneurs in developing countries the basic literacy and math skills they need to help their businesses succeed."

Individuals and companies can buy words for $100 each with the stipulation that they must purchase every instance of the word. The most common, and therefore most expensive, word is "the", which Burghall hopes to sell for $123,900. Supporters are encouraged to buy words related to their products or services. For example, attitudetravel.com has purchased the word "travel".

"Partnerships with young entrepreneurs like Jeremy are so important to the work ProLiteracy does around the world," said Lynne Jones, ProLiteracy's vice president for development and membership. "Many of our international partner programs offer literacy instruction that helps adults start and grow their own small businesses."

ProLiteracy supports adults and young people in the U.S. and internationally who are learning to read, write, and do basic math by training instructors, publishing instructional materials, and advocating for resources and public policies that support them.

Support ProLiteracy's vital mission. Click here to learn more. Click 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 "Note to Van Helsing" by Brian Donaghy. (Tracy Koretsky will return as the author of Critique Corner next month.)

If you would like a chance to be critiqued, please email your poem to 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!


Note to Van Helsing
by Brian Donaghy

Seduction is an art,
And so is death.
To fan the spark of life,
Until raging flames consume the body.

She died in ecstasy you know.
Sobbing her thanks,
As her soul burned away like a wick.

I can still feel her now.
A heartbeat unique among millions.
Within the heated flow of her veins,
Had lain the throbbing birth of womanhood.
Untouched!

An unmarked page,
Floating in the rain.
She danced between the drops,
Waiting for my pen to make its mark.

How could I resist,
This island of purity,
In a sea of sin?

The deep longing within her loins,
Given voice through quickened pulse.
It cried out for me,
And I raged in turn,
To cleanse my soul in the waters of this untapped well,
To douse damnation's fires in this virgin's red fount.

Gentle, so gentle the pursuit.
A soft smile to mask my fangs,
A caress like silk from razor-ed nails,
A knowing look with earthy promise,
And suddenly, so suddenly,
She was mine!

Fragile little leaf,
Twirling in the wind,
Crying on the edge of eternity,
For the thunderous release of the storm.

Within shadows her flower opened,
Within whispers her petals fell,
Within shivers her womb curdled,
To the cold offal of a dead man's seed.

Fruitless rite, empty husk, innocent damned.

She seemed familiar,
Did you know her Abe?

Perhaps your other lambs will bring me peace.


Copyright 2009 by Brian Donaghy


This poem was first published on MicroHorror.com in April 2009.


Critique by Jendi Reiter

Just in time for Hallowe'en, this month's critique poem by Brian Donaghy is based on characters from Bram Stoker's Dracula. In style and tone, "Note to Van Helsing" is a straightforward entry in the erotic-horror genre that Dracula exemplifies, rather than a critical reinterpretation or ironic pastiche, of which there have been many in modern times.

Vampires are the superstars of the monster world because they represent the unholy marriage of our two great preoccupations, Eros and Thanatos. In the Victorian era, arguably the heyday of the Gothic romance, sexual taboos could be explored more freely if the literal storyline was about violence rather than sex. The tragic outcome of uncontrolled passions in the horror novel could redeem a sensual story from charges of immorality.

To some extent this dynamic is still at work in the immensely popular Twilight novels, where the decision to transition from human to vampire is a powerful metaphor for adolescent girls' anxieties about their sexual awakening and the attendant risks of peer-group ostracism and family estrangement. Similarly, one could argue that Anne Rice's elegantly tragic, polyamorous vampires reflected the conflicted emotions of the gay community during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s. Does the sublimation of erotica into horror reflect the misplaced priorities of a culture that finds violence less obscene than sex, or does it defend the sacred mystery and momentousness of sex in the age of casual hook-ups?...

Click to continue reading this critique

This poem, our critique and contest suggestions for poems in this style appear in full at:
http://www.winningwriters.com/resources/critiques/2009/urc_0910donaghy.php

See all of our poetry critiques.


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