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What criteria would you use to select a poem for competition entry?
I keep seeing comps that I would like to enter, but I am so overwhelmed by the number of poems I have written that I end up not entering any.
Comments
I can only suggest 3 things:-
i) read the winners from previous years. Do they have a 'style'? Are yours like that? e.g. my poems tend to be quite simple in their language and structure. Some comps seem to like the more heavily metaphorical ones, so I would doubt I would do well in those.
ii) get someone else to read them and see what impresses them. It can sometimes be hard to tell how much of what you were feeling/trying to express has actually reached the page successfully.
iii) enter comps that publish a long and shortlist so at least you are likely to get some feedback!
Other than that, you can only go with your gut!
Some, of course, are credible by name - 'Swanrick' comes to mind, yet others, and I'm being very cautious here, seem as if they're a front for bolstering an ailing organisation.
I look at the judges' own work, look at what has won previous competitions and look at the poem I'm thinking of entering through narrowed eyes - then I don't enter it because I think it's crap!
You could try entering a smaller competition first and see how you do...
My only success with poetry was to win a sack of bird seed a few months ago. I think good poems are as varied as good novels and would agree with other posters that you submit any that you think are worthy of an audience - you never know what will grab the judge.
I much prefer a theme to narrow down the options. I've had a few published, and I've just counted up sixteen shortlistings and one win for poetry - but that doesn't include the very BIG name comps, so not quite there...
I think I've just read them too often to be able to assess if they're any good, and now, when I look in my Poetry file, I just see hundreds of titles.
'Wood and trees' springs to mind.
If I can whittle possibles down to just a few, I might ask for some objective advice!
You've given up paid work to become a writer, Keith? Eeek.
Yes, poetry for competition is hard especially when they don't have a word/line count or clear theme wanted. I always struggle with knowing if my work IS poetry, or just ramblings.