The Political Poet Poetry Competition in Honor of Emily Dickinson

The Political Poet Poetry Competition in Honor of Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

April is National Poetry Month, and The Political Poet is having a poetry competition in honor one of the most celebrated female poets, recluse and humanist, Emily Dickinson.


"If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry." Emily Dickinson

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, and 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. 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.

The amateur category is being introduced this year. If you are not a previously published poet then your entries qualify for our new amateur category to encourage new poets and students. Your entries will still be considered for the regular competition, but only unpublished poets qualify for the new prize. Please notate your entry as AMATEUR POET for this additional consideration. The Political Poet defines published poet as anyone previously paid for their poetry, sold chapbooks or won monetary prizes in competitions where their work is then featured. If in doubt, ask for a ruling by email stating your question to poeplace@aol.com in the subject line state POETRY CONTEST QUESTION.  

Email submissions to poeplace@aol.com and put THE POLITICAL POET 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, and phone (optional) with your submission(s). Deadline for submissions is March 22, 2013. Finalists will be notified by March 31, 2013, and their names posted on The Political Poet blog along with honorable mentions.

The top 6 actual poems will be posted on The Political Poet web page throughout April, 2013.

Prizes
1st place gets $50.00
2nd place gets $25.00
3rd place gets $15.00
4th and 5th place get signed copy of Star Child and 13 More Twisted Tales.
1st place Amateur category gets $25.00 and signed copy of Star Child and 13 More Twisted Tales.
Estimated prize values including postage: 1st ($50.00) 2nd ($25) 3rd ($15.00) 4th/5th ($11.95) 1st Amateur ($36.95)

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Congressional Dine and Dash

Now, I’ve not been really critical of President Obama, but in his address to the people today he called Congress out with a pretty funny analogy. When referencing the upcoming debt ceiling battle on Congressional Hill he said, “The American people wouldn’t eat at a restaurant and then not pay the bill.” I immediately ROTFL (rolled on the floor laughing). I’m not sure that was the greatest analogy to use on the American people. We’ve all heard of if not participated in a “dine and dash” at some time in our lifetimes. That 70s Show did a hilarious episode on it. My son is in restaurant management, and I can assure you Americans still try to do the old “eat out and sneak out” consuming their meal then leaving without paying for it. Some Americans are even brazen enough to grab the bag of food at a drive through window and speed off without paying. So, I guess I’m calling the President out for a bad example because most Americans can imagine leaving without paying the bill, not that they would. It has been my experience that a lot of “dine and dash” occurs because of a youthful or drunken dare among friends and seldom because of the inability to pay or actual hunger, and President Obama just openly dared Congress to do a “dine and dash” with the debt ceiling. At this point I rub my forehead and shake my head no because you get that sinking feeling Congress is going to take the dare. I can almost hear the yelling across the aisle now, “You think we won’t? We’ll do it!” The problem is we have no chance of getting away with it. Like many of our wayward youths have discovered, we’ll get caught because the credit restaurant has video cameras and the owner knows our mom. Worse, what type of establishment is it? If we tried to skip out on a Mexican restaurant, we’re liable to get a beat down in the parking lot. So, who holds our debt? Holy crap! We’re trying to skip out on a Chinese restaurant? Are we crazy? We’ll be forced to work at sub minimum wage until we pay off our debt, and you don’t want to know what they’ll do to us if we don’t agree to work it off.