Neal Whitman, US

 

 

Free Verse Found Poem   A Judgement Call   i. the judge gives advice* Use spell check. Write clearly. Use as few words as possible. Make your point as quickly as possible.   ii. the judge sorts into piles** NG Not Good NTG Not Too Good NTB Not too Bad NB Not Bad and if something is very special NAAB Not at All Bad   iii. the judge makes a decision No one reads the same poem twice.••• So, sleep on it and re-read the next day. Re-sort as need be. Read out loud NAAB poems. Rank 'em. Call the winner. * The travel section of the Sunday New York Times features "The Haggler" by David Segal. In his feature on December 11, 2011, "Your Ticket Is Void (Unless You Pay More)," he recommended advice he found on a blog, "Leighrowan's Posterous" regarding how to write "mature, but adamant" letters of complaint to airline companies." Seemed to me good advice for submitting poetry –– to a journal or a contest. •• Graduate students at Harvard were dismayed by Robert Fitzgerald's comments scribbled on their poems until they figured out his code ••• Long ago, I heard NPR interview with Paula Vogel when she won Pulitzer for Drama. As I recall, she said, "200 people go the theater and see 200 plays." Since then I often repeat on the "campaign trail" (public recitals), "No two people read the same poem and no one reads the same poem twice."   "precious stones" Haiku Thread "waters of spring" Kukai Results