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  • Poems Sidebar

    This is a sidebar area for poems post type widgets.

  • RSS feed: Web News Web News

    • Justin Mitchell’s Poetic Science 101 Takes Readers on a Poetic Exploration of Love, Fatherhood, Faith, and Identity - Carroll County Mirror-Democrat
    • Ameen Animashaun and Edinam Denoo Win $1,000 Each in the Inaugural Alhaji Arole Agarawu African Poetry Prize - Brittle Paper
    • Kids’ art, poetry emphasize Nonviolence Week in Ohio - The Vindicator
    • Fancy a bit of concrete poetry? - Wokingham.Today
    • Canadian author Anne Carson wins literature Nobel for 'bold and inventive' works that blend genres - The Washington Post
    • Anne Carson, genre-defying poet and classics scholar, wins Nobel Prize in literature - Los Angeles Times


Poetry Contest Poetry Contest

  • PUBLISH YOUR OWN BOOK OF POETRY

    You can publish your own book of poetry for as little as $599! Click here to learn how.

  • Editor’s Note

    The number one question our editors receive is—what do the editors and judges look for when judging the contest? The number one answer we give is creativity. Unlike prose, writing composed in everyday language, poetry is considered a creative art and requires a different type of effort and a certain level of depth. Of the thousands of poems entered in each contest, the ones that catch our judges’ eyes are the ones that remove us, even just slightly, from the scope of everyday life by using language that is interesting, specific, vivid, obscure, compelling, figurative, and so on. Oftentimes, poems are pulled aside for a second look based simply on certain words that intrigued the reader. So first and foremost, be sure your poetry is written using creative language. Take general ideas and make them personal. In his infamous book De/Compositions: 101 Good Poems Gone Wrong, W. D. Snodgrass imparts, “We cannot honestly discuss or represent our lives, any more than our poems, without using ideational language.”

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