Sonnet Bake-off Selections
 

I know my mind and I have made my choice;
Not from your temper does my doom depend;
-- Edna St. Vincent Millay (Fatal Interview, sonnet XLV)

Dear Poets,

The deadline for the sonnet bake-off submissions has now passed. I made no final decision until after 6 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, just in case we had some submissions from as far away as Hawaii, but no, the last one was received at around 3 p.m. EDT.

What a ride! Sixty sonnets in total, with a male/female submission ratio of 70% to 30%.

Most popular themes?

40% death
20% love
15% misc. vignettes/"slices of life"
5% war
20% (combined) on the themes of food, faith, animals, illness/disease, the art of poetry

(Of course some categories crossed over, such as death/war, love/death, etc.)

Tomorrow morning I will mail the selections to Mr. Turner Cassity for his comments, which I hope to receive back here in Canada in time to start posting the first two on April 1.

There were at least five sonnets that, due to the number agreed upon, I was unable to send, and over which I agonized. Truly.

I would like to thank the sixty poets who sent in their sonnets, and hope for a lively discussion of the finalists on the 'Sphere!

Until April 1,

Cathy

Sounds like a Drills and Amusements challenge--"combine the themes of food, faith, animals, illness/disease, and the art of poetry in a single sonnet"...and 12 of the 60 actually managed to pull it off, you say...

Seriously, thanks for all your work on this, Catherine. Looking forward to reading the lucky dozen (and probably seeing the rest on the Metrical or TDE boards at some point).

I read the blind file going to Turner Cassity yesterday. I honestly think it's the best crop in our eight bake-offs. Cathy has done a superb job, the sonnets are excellent, and I don't envy Turner the job of making any choices among them. Thank you, Cathy. Thank you, poets.

I can't wait to see the selections. I applaud Cathy for her hard work.

Actually I was thinking about writing a sonnet about the time I got food poisoning from some oldish ham, and faith and prayer pulled me through. I was going to call it Ode to Old Ham from a Ditto.

I never found the time to write it though and now I am kicking myself. It seems it would have been exactly what Cathy was looking for.

Thanks for your work indeed Cathy. I have read through piles of poems in my old days as an editor and after a while it can be like sniffing melons in the supermarket. There is never enough time.
Janet

Thank you for your kind words, Janet. It wasn't so much that there wasn't enough time, it's that there were so many wonderful, meritorious sonnets and I had to make some extremely hard choices. I almost feel worse about those I wish I could have sent along to Mr. Cassity than happy about those I did.

I hope the cyclone warning has passed and that all is well with you.

Cathy

Cathy,

Thanks for your efforts.

About those five or so sonnets you agonized over: perhaps after the Bake-Off you could post them on a single thread on Distinguished Guest. Of course, there would be no obligation for comments or voting, just an opportunity to flatter the poets in question and for the rest of us to read some more sonnets. However, I understand if this is not in keeping with the spirit of the Bake-Off....

Best,

Stuart

Stuart,

I believe that suggestion was made last year, but if I recall correctly, only the names of the poets and their sonnets were named, due to concerns about future publishing. So I will name the honorable mentions and their authors.

Regards,
Cathy

Cathy,
I would prefer it if the runners up weren't named. There is something a little degrading about the process. Enough that the poems you selected are up for discussion. That's the point of the exercise after all.
Janet