[R. S. Gwynn]

I'll be posting eight poems forwarded from Tim over the next couple of days. Any other posts that I initiate will be one of the sonnets under consideration.

[Tim Murphy]

Sam will name his favorite in a few days, but both of us are interested in the views of the members. And I'm baffled by the lack of response here. So consider this a call for ballots.

[Roger Slater]

Oh, we're supposed to vote? It's hard, since it's a close call and every one of them (I think) will be tweaked a bit before being finished. But if I had to pick one for top honors at this moment, I'd narrowly give the nod to Demon Rum.

[Robt_Ward]

I'd like to thank Sam for the time he's spent on this bakeoff. I, too, am surprised by the lack of response. Perhaps it's an indication our sonnets, this time, did not excite much interest? Oh, well... Back to the drawing board, or the editor's bed, I'd say...

(robt)

[Carol Taylor]

I've commented on some of these on the board, and there is more than one that I really like and wouldn't mind seeing win. But if you're asking me, The Swearing in of Calvin Coolidge is out ahead of the pack.

Carol

[Tracy Estes]

From the sidelines
stated by someone who doesn't have an intimate knowledge
of all things sonnet:

Demon Rum and The Bateleur

kick ass.

------------------
It's a dog-eat-dog world and I'm wearing Milk Bone underwear.

[Tim Murphy]

I think what's going on here is the contestants and their supporters are all sitting back, because we're not supposed to give away who the authors are. Last blind deal I ever host!

Robert, this group is in no way inferior to the previous two years' selections. Gwynn and Stallings and Tufariello and Murphy aren't in this group, but we have some interesting new voices and a few of our old stalwarts.

Instead of voting, it might be more fun if everyone simply guessed who these poets are! The secret sits in the center and knows.

[Chris Childers]

Okay, I'll guess. The only two I don't know for sure are "Butchering" and "The Curse of Canaan," and I'll say Krisak and Lake, respectively. Too many of these have been workshopped here already; I remember them all.

My favorite, by the way, is "Demon Rum." In general I must admit I am not as impressed with this year's batch as last year's; maybe I'm under the weather, but there's no "Aftershocks" in this group.

Chris

[This message has been edited by Chris Childers (edited March 23, 2004).]

[R. S. Gwynn]

I'm off for Chicago Friday and won't make a final decision until next week, so I do encourage you all to increase your advocacy of your favorites, to which I'll attend closely. There's also one late entry coming, probably tomorrow.

[Robt_Ward]

Tim,

I didn't say they were inferior, though; just that they perhaps did not attract as much interest... That could be a measure of topicality as much as anything, I don't know. But I am definitely not saying they are Bad poems, for the record...

Anyway, the dam done burst and the bottomnlands are flooding now, so all's well.

(robt)