Congratulations to Ian for winning the March, 2016 contest. His prize is a $25 USD Amazon gift card.

Read his winning entry here:

https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/poems/cold-winds-chill-my-breast-acrost...

Don't forget to enter the April 2016 contest!

https://www.neopoet.com/contest/april-2016-limerick-prize-25-usd-amazonc...

Check out the Forums section for the 2016 contests. February is posted, the others will follow shortly.

We will be looking at an expansion of contests in 2016, beginning in February. Each contest will have a theme and will required some fairly specific inclusions as far as style, subject matter, and length.

Additionally, the winner of each contest will get a $25, US dollar, gift certificate from Amazon.com. This will require the winners to provide, privately, their e-mail addresses.

Why are we doing this?

For several reasons.

1) We want you to write outside your comfort zone

Every day I strive to be a better poet.

I will never be a better poet by soliciting people to tell me my work is flawless. My assumption is that every other poet here desires the same type of interaction.

My assumption is, of course, flawed. So, instead of dealing with hurt feelings and the subsequent pouting, I only critique poems when I am asked to.

If you have a specific work you would like critiqued, let me know.

The 2016 contest format will be very structured.

What does this mean?

It means that each contest will have a set of rules and requirements and entries must abide by these rules and requirements.

Why?

Neopoet is a poetry workshop. If all we do is write in our comfort zone, we defeat the purpose of a workshop. If you only write to be told how much of a special snowflake you are, the contests are not for you.

In any relationship, you will have conflict. It is the nature of things and is, in and of itself, neither good nor bad. It is gravity. It exits and ignoring it doesn't negate its influence, it just generates surprise when the consequences of ill thought actions manifest.

I will detail an allegory about raising my children to illustrate my point, but, just so we are all on the same pages, I am talking about the Neopoet community.

I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/exploration-style-subject-and-critique workshop. I know there were some concerns about timing but, as we we ended the workshop, effectively, five (5) days early, I believe we can call it a success.

Are you up for the challenge?

https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/exploration-style-subject-and-critique

How about a killer workshop?

https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/exploration-style-subject-and-critique

Spots are still available.

How are you feeling?

Up to a challenge?

Want to test your ability to write way out of your comfort zone?

Good.

Then join my workshop. It starts May 8th and runs for 26 days.

In that time, 10 lucky people will be assigned a subject and will produce three (3) separate poems and critique 27. You do not get to choose the subject, the styles, or the time.

What could possibly go wrong?

Details are below. This is a 1st come, 1st joined.

Name: An Exploration of Style, Subject, and Critique

Participants: 10