Len Krisak, the power behind the Powow Throne, has graciously agreed both to screen and judge this year's submissions. I shall have a great deal more to say about him shortly. Fascinating story, really, Tim Steele's office mate at Brandeis under JV Cunningham, translator and poet extraordinaire. Fer chrissake's his Horace is forthcoming from Carcanet, no less. I mean, they publish AD Hope! Send your sonnets, one apiece, please, to timmurphyis@att.net; and I shall forward them to the mage.

Tim, Tim, Tim. You have to post a deadline! Otherwise, how will we know when the very last minute is? Honestly.

Julie Stoner

Good Point, Julie! Send by Sunday, June 19, day or evening. I have to take to the road next week, and Len can mind the store. When I return, it's Haiku and Senryu time with Lee Gurga.

Tim, that doesn't leave much time, so are we looking for sonnets we've workshopped here? Any other guidelines? Is the contest anonymous? How many finalists do you think will be posted, and who'll post 'em?

Carol

Tim -

I am relatively new here and would like more information.

Thanks.

Catherine Chandler

Let's push it back to the following Sunday, the 26th. I shall simply forward emails to Len, so he'll see the authors' names. This really isn't a contest, never has been, more like a celebration. I've no idea how many sonnets I'll receive or how many he will choose to comment on. Sonnets need not have been workshopped here, merely written by members.

Tim - sorry to bug you for more submission details, but my inner engineer keeps asking questions.

New stuff (written in the past year) only, or whatever? Published okay, or unpublished only?

Michael Cantor

Michael, let's say published or unpublished, last two years.

Tim,
We stopped posting sonnets because every time we did someone asked why it was a sonnet and shouldn't we cut the last two lines?;)
Janet

Janet, I looked back and found I've written six sonnets since June 2003, but one of them's already been baked. That leaves five to choose from, and two of those are light verse. Maybe I can add a couple of lines or trim a couple of lines and make something else into a sonnet... http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/ubbhtml/biggrin.gif

Carol

Well, I haven't written anything. Maybe I can add 14 lines and make it into a sonnet?

Tim dear, may I bring up a slight oversight?

Whatever happened to the Translation Sonnet Bakeoff????

Translation Sonnet Bake-off? YES!!!!!

Catherine Chandler

The Sonnet I Almost Entered

I hereby write this sonnet for the bake-off.
I've read the guidelines, honored every rule.
But there's an apprehension I can't shake off:
Instead of praise I'll win just ridicule

As all the folks who gather here will cavil
With my meter, rhymes, and what I've said,
And when Len Krisak pounds his judge's gavel
I won't just lose, but I'll be lynched instead,

Since sonneteers, though gentle folk, grow moblike,
When folk like me profane their gentle art,
And they don't sit around and suffer, Job-like,
But stick a critic's knife deep in the heart.

On second thought, this year, like other years,
I will contribute nothing but my cheers.

Ha, that was cute. I'll see you on the sidelines, RS, and I brought a cooler full of beer for the tailgate party.

I whisper timidly that I notice that len Krisak capitalises all his lines. I am against this practice. Where does that place me in the oven?
Janet

Up against the wall, of course. http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/ubbhtml/smile.gif

Lo

Janet,
My guess is that Len will judge the poem on its content and form, not on whether it uses initial caps.

Susan

Lo
Or the hottest point near the roof ;)
Janet

.....
Susan,
I could start more modestly by capitalising his first name. I am so sick of seeing editing scars under my posts.

Of course I realise that Susan. I was joking--sort of. He is an extremely interesting poet. I just wish I had written more sonnets.
Janet

Translated sonnets are more than welcome. Don't worry about the presenece or absence of initial caps.

Translated sonnets are more than welcome. Don't worry about the presenece or absence of initial caps. Roger, of the batch I've seen so far, yours is the best. Fortunately, I'm not judging.

Tim,
I apologise for my false-start entries.
Final just sent.
Janet

Would you need permission from rights-holders to post translated sonnets?

------------------
Svein Olav (The poet formerly known as Solan )

Svein,
I don't think so if it's just for this forum.
Janet

I have received scores of sonnets, all of which I have duly forwarded to Len. He will post his choices and his comments next Thursday. Many thanks to all of you. Anyone else wishing to be considered should get to me by Saturday, for I'll be on the road thereafter.

Quick question since you're leaving town: Do the sonnets have a better chance if they're ip?

Probably a silly way to phrase the question, but then it's a silly night. I mean tet is acceptable I suppose? But less than welcome, or ?? Because I may have to change my entry, and time's a wastin.

Terese: No prejudice against tet. In fact, I have forwarded several, including your Ronsard.

Thanks, Tim. Have a good trip!

Terese

I have no idea if I'm breaking some sort of rule or set of protocols here by posting in reply to a number of questions that have arisen, but here goes (I have just finished posting the nine sonnets I thought particularly worthy of comment, so there's a faintly ridiculous, too-late quality to what's being said).

What Tim has said deserves my seconding: I have no prejudice against inital caps, tetrameter, or other minor variations. One of the nine sonnets commented on was written in IP (and a fine sonnet it was, too), but seemed to me, no matter how many times I re-read it aloud and re-counted syllables, to contain an inadvertent hexameter line. But you will notice that didn't stop me from singling it out as one of the best.

I hope that helps.

I'll be curious to hear others' favorites, particularly given that Len hasn't disclosed the authors' identities. I think "Fire" is probably my favorite.

Pffft ... half the collection are my favourites, Tim, and the other half are more than decent runner-ups. But if I had to pick one, the brutality of Aftermath will probably make it the one I remember in 1 year's time.

------------------
Svein Olav (The poet formerly known as Solan )

They are all in IP, though nicely substituted. I think the hexameter line is meant to be read with elision on mem'ry, the way most of us pronounce it outside poems.

My favorites are (1) Your Other Men and (2) Fire. But all the finalists are worthy. My least favorites are M. Magus and To Petrarch. Some of the others I recognize from the board, but I don't recognize any of these four and have no clue as to their writers.

Carol

Carol:

I tried that syncopation for "memory," but still didn't feel comfortable with the syllables I had left.

Strong poem, though.

I'd vote for "Your Other Men" and "People Who Give You Things," I think. But I loved most of the 9 and might vote differently another day. I seem never to get tired of sonnets, so I really enjoyed this. Thanks to Tim Murphy, Len Krisak, and all the writers. I wish there could be more posted here! Best, --Simon

My top three picks are "Your Other Men," "People Who Give You Things," and "Aftermath." No matter how barraged we are with sonnets, good ones like these are always a pleasure.

Thanks, Tim and Len, for arranging this.

What a fine selection of sonnets.
Mr Magoo's very clever, but too esoteric, I think--the author's having fun, but the reader's not given a fair chance.
I'd pick most of them as winners, depending on my mood. At the moment I'm in a Larkinesque frame of mind, so am favouring "People Who Give You Things".
Best regards,
David

My three favorites (of a very good bunch) are "People Who Give You Things," "Your Other Men," and "Closing Parishes in Boston." I think all of the poems are technically quite good. What made these the most memorable, for me, was how much was at stake emotionally and how charged the language is. They are all "wow" poems.

Susan

Another fine group of sonnets. Thanks, Tim, for your annual efforts organizing this, and Len, for selecting and commenting on this year's group. (Tim, if you collected several years' worth of your bake-off here, I suspect you'd have a sonnet anthology that would rival anything else of its kind in print!)

My own personal favorites among so many good ones are "Catullus" (a classical allusion with completely contemporary bite and feeling), "Fire" (breezy, smart and seemingly effortless), and "Aftermath" (channeling Browning so well, as others have noted, that Browning himself would be jealous).

Let me add my thanks, Tim and Len and bake-off contributors. Yum!

Julie Stoner