April is National Poetry Month, and The Political Poet is having a poetry competition in honor one of the most celebrated political poets and humanist, Walt Whitman.
"And your very flesh shall be a great poem." Walt Whitman
The competition is free, no entry fee, but limited to three poems per person. Poems of any length, style, form, structured or free verse. Your poem(s) must be in English. Any subject matter is acceptable, but anything deemed derogatory to anyone due to race, religion or sexual preference will be removed. By submitting to this competition, poets are verifying they are your poems your original work, and you must not assign or license to any other party any copyrights or other rights in your poems. Poems should not contain material that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, pornographic, harassing, threatening, harmful, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, abusive, inflammatory, or otherwise objectionable. In other words, your poems must be suitable to be posted on an unrestricted web site that minors access.
Contest open to individual persons who are 18 or older as of the time of their initial entry. Current and former employees, contractors, directors, and officers of The Political Poet, or Dark Butterfly Publications, their immediate family members (parent, child, sibling, and spouse), and those living in the same domicile therewith are ineligible. Sorry, contest is open to United States residents only. Poets living outside the USA can submit poems for posting consideration, but they are ineligible for prizes.
**************************UPDATE********************************************
Poetry Contest Rule Revision For Minors Under 18. By overwhelming request, minors under the age of 18 can now submit poems to the competition, but all entries must follow previously posted guidelines and be accompanied with a signed statement granting permission from one of the minor’s parents or legal guardians. Prizes won by a minor will be shipped to the parent or legal guardian.
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Email submissions to poeplace@aol.com and put The Political Poet Poetry Competition in the subject line, or send submissions by regular mail to The Political Poet, PO Box 90, Falmouth, KY 41040.
Include your name, address, email, phone (optional) and t-shirt size (in case you're a finalist) with your submission(s). Deadline for submissions is March 15, 2011. Finalists will be notified by March 31, 2011, and their names posted on The Political Poet blog along with honorable mentions.
The top 5 actual poems will be posted on The Political Poet web page throughout April, 2011.
Prizes
1st place gets a signed hardcover copy of Raven Wings and 13 More Twisted Tales, mug and t-shirt
2nd place gets a signed paperback copy of Raven Wings and 13 More Twisted Tales, mug and t-shirt
3rd place gets a signed paperback copy of Raven Wings and 13 More Twisted Tales and t-shirt
4th and 5th place get Raven Wings and 13 More Twisted Tales t-shirts.
Estimated prize values including postage: 1st ($60.00) 2nd ($45) 3rd ($35.00) 4th/5th ($20.00)
Killing for Money or Politics?
ReplyDeleteby Michael B. Owen
Would you regret shooting a man you never met
right in the eye
then watching him die
then wrapping him in a sheet
and throwing him in the ocean
without any sense of mixed emotion
calling it an operation done well and
with surgical precision
as if you were a physician trained to heal
instead of calling it an assassination by a covert Navy Seal
Do you ever wonder if you were definately the good guy
and that your prey absolutely deserved to die?
No proof, no trial, no understanding of exactly what he did
but one side was certain that he was a demon even though others were screamin'
that he was a hero who had been redeemin'
the lives of many people killed by the "great Satan"
while the governments on all sides kept placatin'
people with bullshit explanations
of who was right and who deserved extermination
Do you wonder if the whole story is a a matter of perspective?
Cause we used to give him money to carry out our directive
When he killed Soviets with our supplies and our money
I guess we ignored it or maybe thought it was funny
Do you wonder if he was hidin' out for such a long time
just waitin' for some kind of sign
that we had changed our minds again and put him back on the payroll
cause he knew our intelligence didn't have a soul
Man, I wish that one of us somewhere on some side had the insight
to know that killing people for money or politics just ain't right.
you misspelled definitely in your poem.
ReplyDeleteContacts have said they've been getting the old contest information. If you saved that link then refresh for the newest blog post or follow this link. http://frankandpoe.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-political-poet-poetry-competition.html This is a quick link to the current year competition.
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