I shall have to puzzle over Clive's comments on lineation for the rest of the span left me. And give thanks for his friendship. One of the marvelous things about Alex' creation is its bringing writers together, even across the sea. Frankly, I prefer Clive's breaking of the Whitman lines in half, but then, I dislike Whitman. Weigh in on the thread, comrades. My purpose today is to announce Sonnet Bake-off, Year Three.
The EfH and I have repeatedly expressed our view that too many sonnets are written. To my shock, I just realized that 6 of the 42 poems in my new manuscript total 14 lines. As Patsy says in ABFAB, "you can never have enough hats or gloves." I'll add, "you can never have enough sonnets."
Sam Gwynn is our third adjudicator of what for me is sheer fun. I put him with Rhina and Dick Davis, our previous judges, not on his volume of sonnets written, but on their excellence. I propose to change this year's contest, not that it is any contest. Though I shall screen out inferior work, Sam will choose the poems on which he comments. The postings will be "blind," no indication of author until Sam has commented.
Please email your submissions to
timmurphyis@att.net. We'll get rolling around April 1. Happy St. Patrick's Day.
yr lariat, Timothy