Valentine's Day Poetry Contest - DISCUSSION THREAD

poetinahat · Feb 11, 2007

And they're off! All the entries are up.

Poets, please check your own poems and let me know if there are any corrections.

Okay, here are the VOTING RULES:

Voting is open NOW, and will close at 11:59PM on VALENTINE'S DAY, Wednesday, February 14 (US Eastern time).

To vote:

Send me a separate Private Message (PM) for each contest, with subject line "VOTE: Valentine's Contest" or "VOTE: Anti-Valentine's Contest" as appropriate.
List up to THREE different poems for each contest, for First, Second, and Third place. A first-place vote is worth three points, second-place is worth two, and third-place is worth one. [Feel free to vote for your own poem as one choice.]
When voting for a poem, quote the NUMBER and TITLE as listed in the poem's post.
Only one vote per AW member.

Tie-breaking rules are the same as for the Festive Season contest: if two poems have the same number of points, the one with more first-place votes wins; next tie-breaker is second-place votes.

Here's a place to discuss the contest. Have fun, and encourage your fellow AWers to read and vote!

Doctor Shifty · Feb 11, 2007

OK, where is everyone?

Thanks Mr Hat for all the work behind this.

Stew21 · Feb 11, 2007

lots to read! I can already tell, I'm not going to get anything done today because I'll be so busy reading these.

KTC · Feb 11, 2007

Ooh! I can't wait to read. I don't know if I feel dark or breezy today? I may just start with the Anti poems!

Stew21 · Feb 11, 2007

i started with the anti poems. Did a first read through without really comparing them...now I'm going back in.

Annie O · Feb 11, 2007

Thanks Poet, for all your hard work. Wow, what a wonderful selection!

Annie O

Stew21 · Feb 11, 2007

5 favorites for the antis for me - oh the narrowing downs are painful.
I'm going to the Valentine's now to confuse myself further.

KTC · Feb 11, 2007

5 is the number of the universe, just so you know. Take those five points and send them inward to your heart. They will answer your question.

Stew21 · Feb 11, 2007

do you have immediate favorites, K?

KTC · Feb 11, 2007

Yes I do, Missy. I think I recognize yours too. But if I voted for it, nobody could accuse me of favourtism. You are one of my very favourite poets. It would make sense that I would linger towards your words. I have 4 favourites and blood will have to be spilled for me to decide on #1 between two of them. I think each contest the wonderful hat-covered poet puts on delivers higher and higher quality stuff. This one is the toughest for me. Great work by all. I'm so impressed with the consistency of quality. Makes voting harder. I have 6 favourites in the LOVE category. I think the ANTI will be easier to vote for for me. I love hate and I hate love and I love love and I hate hate. I love poetry on all of the above.

Stew21 · Feb 11, 2007

the love ones are more difficult. I'm curious if your guess on which is me is correct. I have my suspicions about yours as well. I narrowed the anti to 4, though I have to cut one more and then choose an order, and have to struggle through the love poems.

laurel29 · Feb 11, 2007

I haven't read through the Anti poems yet, but I voted for the Love ones...it was so hard since I really wanted to vote for 4 not 3. I kept changing my mind on the order to assign them. Finally I sent off the PM so couldn't change it anymore. I thought I could tell who a few of them were from - even though I don't really know anyone here. You have distinct voices

.

skelly · Feb 11, 2007

Great job PIH ... thanks for all the hard work. Got my votes in, finally. Not easy. I sat there with the little arrow over the "submit" button for several minutes. Are you sure? Are you reeeeeeaaallly sure? Excellent contest though. Great poetry.

Pat~ · Feb 11, 2007

The poetic well has run dry lately, so I didn't post a poem, but I sure look forward to reading the entries and casting my vote. Thanks, Rob, for all your hard work (again!). You're terrific!

Stew21 · Feb 11, 2007

I have four for each category and haven't narrowed them down yet. That elimination is that hardest part once you know the ones you like.

Stew21 · Feb 11, 2007

Ok, I just bit the bullet and did it. I read them all again and made my choices - votes cast. Now we just have to wait and see.

moth · Feb 11, 2007

What awesome entries! A lot of them I read more than once, just for the pleasure of it because I really liked them.

I have 3 choices for Anti and 4 for Love, though I think I know which will be the 3 for that one. (I think.) However, I'm going to sleep on it to be sure, and vote tomorrow.

KTC · Feb 11, 2007

I'm sleeping on it too. I will be a different person tomorrow. I'm going to compare what today's me chose with what tomorrow's me chooses and split the difference.

Stew21 · Feb 11, 2007

i just went by gut instinct today. I'm afraid to go back and read them tomorrow for fear I will want to change my mind.

dahmnait · Feb 11, 2007

I read them all once and decided to wait until I have time to fully appreciate them. But then, I procrastinate anyway.

There was a clear number 1 choice in the anti-love group though. I just don't know about the rest yet. I have a few favorites that I need to go back and read again.

Stew, you should never second guess your gut instinct. It's usually right.

Stew21 · Feb 11, 2007

are you kidding? I second guess everything. In fact, I'm still second-guessing my entries, though I think my anti-V poem may stand half a chance of placing well, I have no hope for my V Poem. Speculation is evil in such cases as these.

dahmnait · Feb 11, 2007

I refuse to second guess my entries. They were written quickly with absolutely no editing. You said it well,

stew21 said:
Speculation is evil in such cases as these."

I decided as soon as I hit send that they were complete the way they were.

I doubt, however, that you are capable of writing a bad poem. :tongue

dclary · Feb 11, 2007

Neither of my poems will place this time. There's just too many good ones in the pool.

KTC · Feb 11, 2007

That's what I was thinking, Dclary. They're so exceptional.

jst5150 · Feb 11, 2007

All:

First, thanks to Poet again for riding herd on this one. And once again, thanks to you all for your submissions. The work is astounding -- again. It's a privilege to be in your ranks.

I have not made my choices yet. I'll take the time to read Monday night. However, for those of you struggling with a grading curve, this is how I did it last time and how I will do it again this time:

I read every poem. I graded on a 1 to 5 scale. In the first round, I weeded it down to 13 selections.

In the next round, I scrutinized each more carefully. In this round, I searched for emotional resonance. The holidays are about emotion. I also became focused on originality of verse. With this, I got to 6.

In the final six, I read them again and again, searching for something ... something that made me take a breath. I found three.

Those were the three I voted for.

Again, I say thank you for writing them, and, again, thank you all for contributing.

Valentine's Day Poetry Contest - DISCUSSION THREAD

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