Be patient, Tim! My meters are of flannel and need a bit more ironing.

Julie Stoner

I decided against this old number ;)

Catwalk Sonnet for Forums.


Here is a poem for knife and fang.
Dismember it, fillet it, flay it alive,
bone it and vein it. Circumcise--
remove any evidence it once sang.

Correct it, admonish it, condescend,
explain that its attitude fails the test
of current theology. Poorly dressed
for catwalking fashion toward the trend.

Sneer, leer and jeer at inadequate chic,
a general levity, blatant clarity,
occasional mention of human stupidities.
Beat at its meter, repeatedly pick
on its feeble metaphor, weak modality.
Death, sex and self the eternal quiddities.


Janet

Tim--

Is the Bake-Off restricted to published sonnets?

Lisa

No, Lisa. Published or unpublished are fine. I've received a LOT of sonnets, and I've yet to hear from some of our best sonneteers. From the raft of material floating afore me, there are several which I'd like to see Sam tackle. But that leaves room for more.

timmurphyis@att.net

Tim,

If it please you, I'd like to donate a photograph as a prize for the sonnet Sam likes best. If he should happen to pick mine, I'd send the prize to 2nd place. This is assuming he judges them in such a way, of course.

Alternatively, once the selected sonnets plus Sam's critiques are posted, we could have the members vote via e-mail to you on their favotite among them, and I could make the "award" that way...

(robt)

Robert, in each of the previous years, three sonnets were judged "the best." Sorry, I just don't think of this as a competition, rather as a showcase for our best work within this maddening form which has been strangling me for thirty years! Especially this morning.

More than showcase it is an opportunity for us to hear from a Davis, an Espaillat, a Gwynn, what these expert fabricators of sonnets see in our labors.

Do these have to be *new* sonnets, or can they be sonnets already workshopped here?

Lo

Most of the sonnets will have been workshopped here, Lo. Not all, by any means. Some of our best writers only comment and do not post their work for critique. And frankly, as gatekeeper, I'm at a disadvantage, because I don't visit Met I. However, I am happy to read anything sent me and pass it on if I think it has real merit. So far, about one in five sonnets has passed the post. I sympathize with Bill Baer who receives 3500 submissions per year to the Nemerov Prize fostered by his magazine The Formalist. Well, if we were giving out $1000 to our winner, we'd probably be swamped. It does not escape me that half of the Nemerov prizes have been won by Spherians.