The Way of the World

This contest is open to all poets who are up to the challenge of writing about what they see and think and feel about the real world.

I would like to link this contest to the upcoming Earth Day on April 22, but by no means should you limit the theme for this contest to that. I want earthy stories to come out of your poems, stories full of grit and real world characters that one wouldn't easily forget.

Prose poems are allowed. I encourage you to enter free verse poems. I am not excluding poems with rhyme and meter, provided it follows a strict rhyme and meter format. The poem should not be less than eight lines (so that rules out haiku, tanka and other very short poems--sorry) nor more than eighty lines.


This is my first contest, so I'm not going to be so strict. There are only a few rules that I would like you to follow:

1. No formatted text. I don't want to see italicized, bold or colored text. There is no excuse for this, so if you feel that your poem -should- have even just the one word formatted, then by all means, I won't stop you from finding the right contest for it.

2. No fancy characters. Standard punctuation characters are allowed, and I will consider other special characters on a case-to-case basis. But except for ellipses (...), I will not allow poems that have special characters repeated in a way that is more design than function.

Example: She [[won't]] get out of my head!!!

Not only were the brackets in strict violation of the rules, but so were the exclamation marks. This rule applies as well for the question mark.

3. I will not stop you from including an image in your poem. But as much as possible, limit it to one, and please credit it properly. In which case, I expect to find a link to the original location of that image in your Author's Notes. If I find that a poem has more than one image, I will notify the author of this offense but I will only suggest that the other pictures be removed. The poem will not be disqualified, nor will it incur a deduction when I am judging it, whether or not the author has removed the picture. But fair warning, more than one image in a poem is kind of distracting for me while reading.

Notes and Reminders:

I don't mind if you don't comment on other poems in this contest, but if you do, please leave constructive criticism that the poet can understand and use in future. That way, if the favor is returned, you will have gained even more than you bargained for in joining this contest.

Complaints and other violent reactions about the contest rules and/or misconduct of any of the participants should be directed to me THROUGH PRIVATE IM. Inquiries and other types of messages can be done through the contest message box.

And lastly, profanity, sex and other mature themes SHOULD BE RATED PROPERLY. If I perceived that a poem has not been rated properly, I will remind the author through private im. However, whether or not he/she decides to change/add to the ratings is strictly his/her business. It will not affect my judgment of the poem in any way necessary for this contest.


So, that's all folks. Try to wow me with your entry, and remember to have fun!



Cheers,
abernaith



Top Image: "The Sun Hunter" by Abdusalam
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/29979673


JUDGE'S NOTES (May 7, 2007)

Sorry for the delay on commentary and awards. I am short on time right now, but I hope that tomorrow I will be able to make time enough to type all the comments and finally close this contest. Something to look forward to though: the finalists are up.

-abernaith