[Roger Slater]

The March Madness Children's Poetry Tournament is underway. Sixty-four poets compete in brackets organized like a sports tournament. In round one, there are 32 head-to-head pairings, and each round eliminates half of the remaining poets until a winner is chosen.

The twist in this tournament is that in each round, the poets are given a word that they must use in their poem. Then, thirty-six hours later, they must deliver the poem.

The first round poems have just been posted. My poem had to use the word "cahoots," and my opponent had to use the word "foibles." Here is the match-up where you may vote on which poem you prefer. I honestly do not care if you decide to vote for the other guy. There are no prizes. I would just ask you to look at my match-up as well as some of the others in order to support the tournament and its promotion of children's poetry.

[Matt Q]

Interesting that you are each given a different word rather than being given the same one to compete on. Cool competition though.

I voted for your poem, Roger/Bob, because I thought it was better. Judging by the votes cast so far, you'll win this round by a large margin. Good luck with rest of it and let us know when the next one's up.

Matt

[Michael Juster]

I'm a conscientious objector to Facebook, but if I weren't, I'd vote for you both out of personal loyalty & because yours is WAY better.

[Michael Cantor]

Neat competition, voted for you, but wish both competitors had the same word - assigning different words leaves it in the hands of the Gods (too much depends on who gets a better word) rather than the Poets. Considering how much thought was given to modifying other elements of the contest to make it more competitive, I'm surprised this wasn't addressed.

[Roger Slater]

Thanks, everyone. I did urge Ed Decaria, the man behind the competition, to assign the same words to each poet, but he chose not to. I'm not sure how he goes about it, but he attempts to assign words of the same level of difficulty. I agree that it would be both more fair and more interesting if both poets had the same word to work with.

[Jim Moonan]

Great cause, interesting contest, wonderful poems - Cahoots hands down : )

[Jennifer Reeser]

There would be no contest. Even if I weren't of the opinion that there is hardly a children's poet writing in English, who is as good as you. Delightful poem, Roger. My vote is cast. Thanks.

[Roger Slater]

Thanks, everyone. Jennifer, you embarrass me. But not as embarrassed as I'm going to be when I have to post a Round 2 poem using the word "fomenting," which I'm pretty sure you won't find in the children's poems of Robert Louis Stevenson or AA Milne. I'll keep you posted when my matchup is online. My opponent is a poet named Miranda Paul who has been assigned the word "cacaphony."

[Gregory Palmerino]

Fe, fi, fo, fum, enting, Roger! Good luck.

[Julie Steiner]

Well, that's not fair at all. "Cacaphony" is inherently funnier than "fomenting." If I were you, I'd use both words, just to even things up. (Maybe your opponent would be up for using both words, too.)