It has not escaped our notice, that more than one poster here has a flair for the pen. It occurred to us, that a judged poetry competition would be most gratuitous, and excellent. I propose thus:
That, beginning today, there be two weeks for all who would like to participate to indicate intent,
That each participant pledge $5 US to the winner,
That MagsJ judge the competition, unless she would like to participate, in which case we would need an alternate,
That the 2nd edition be judged by the winner of the 1st edition, and so forth, or by a surrogate named by MagsJ or Carleas should they be unavailable, ideally MagsJ once again,
That all poems be written in equal meter and length, to be decided in this thread,
That all moneys be sent to MagsJ, or Carleas, via paypal, once registration is closed, participation dependant,
That a special thread someplace be erected, to publish the poems in cycle.
I’ve had a number of short stories and one poem (so far) published in magazines. I’d be interested in doing this but I’m opposed to a fixed meter or length.
The idea is to have a uniformity, to allow for an easier comparison of skill for the judge. It’s in the spirit of competition here, nobody is writing their magnum opus.
Also, even though I am suggesting (a small amount of) money to get some artistic commitment, it’s meant to be fun.
That’s also a reason for the single judge. One one hand, we pick one single person whose taste we trust. On the other, we acknowledge that judging a poem is intrinsically subjective, we won’t insult the participants with the additiion of a second judge and the pretense that that would add objectivity.
