[John Samson]

http://www.first-scottish.co.uk/the-referendum-rant/

Sorry if this is already on Eratosphere. The link is to a poetry competition inviting contestants to give a Robert Burns take on the forthcoming Scottish Independence Referendum. Cash prizes, presumably in whatever currency us Scots vote for.

[Chris O'Carroll]

Thanks for posting news of this competition, John. The Spectator had a recent comp calling for poems on the referendum in the style of William McGonagall, but this is a horse of a whole different color, or a tartan of a whole different design.

As I read the competition announcement, the organizers mention Burns but don't actually ask that entries be written in imitation of his style. Do you have reason to believe that Burns pastiche is what they're looking for?

Two things in the announcement give me pause:

Any metrical form is welcome – the ballad stanza, rhyming couplets, iambic pentameters, free verse are all welcome options.

Surely they don't think that free verse is a metrical form?

More recently the [group behind this comp] sponsored the Reboot of Tam o’Shanter, attracting nearly 80 poems from all over the world, almost certainly a record for a poetry competition.

Can they really be so out of touch with the universe of poetry competitions that they believe 80 entries comes anywhere close to being a record?

[Matt Q]

Perhaps logically it could be argued that free verse is a metric form in the sense that it's form is defined in terms of the absence of metre, it's the null case But I doubt that's what they were thinking, more likely the person writing the blurb wasn't a poet.

I think the 'record' they're claiming has to do with the length of the poems in that competition, since the poets were asked to rewrite Burns' Tam O' Shanter: On the page for that competition they state: "Nearly 80 contributions were received of over 300 pages, making the competition a candidate for the Guinness book of records. The winners and all contributions were published on Facebook." But that claim doesn't make too much sense either, I guess.

You can find the winners of the Tam O' Shanter competition here on Facebook. I had a quick look, I wouldn't say the quality struck me as great, but those are long poems; that's an awful lot of rhyming couplets -- and as I say, I only had a quick look at a couple.

Anyway, at least there are six prizes ranging from £25 to £300, and they seem to have a reasonable set of judges.

[Graham King]

From the brief given on that link, it seems clear that:

-The poem is to be what 'someone like Burns alive today' might write re the impending constitutional change;
obviously, open to wide interpretation!
-It need not emulate Burns' style, language, form or metre.
-It could be long (cf Tam O'Shanter) but need not be (and probably ought not to be that long!)
-It can argue on either side of the debate, or be even-handed.
-'Give us something new.'

So basically anything poetic whatsoever that pertains overall to the matter in hand and is fresh, not hackneyed, appears to be invited.

[John Whitworth]

If you want to win anything then you had better be FOR Scottish Independence. No-one on the other side will win a brass bawbee. How do I know? The names of the guys mentioned tells me. And one hundred and fifty lines? You have to be joking.

Having said that I have something that might do.

[John Whitworth]

Here is something sent to Lucy which you might be interested to see:

Help !
Dear Lucy,
Thank you for your past help in publicising Tam o' Shanter reboot , and I wonder if I can once again enlist your help .

I sent you details of a new competition ,The Referendum Rant (Rules etc attached) requesting views on the forthcoming referendum in Scotland, in verse.
Since the competition was launched at the beginning of April we have had over 40 entries but the standard , frankly , has been disappointingly low . Now we know from the experience of the Tam-o'-Shanter reboot that there are some very good poets out there , but we are just not reaching or inspiring them.

We have extended the closing date to September 8 and I just wonder if a puff from you might get the ink running.

Very grateful if you could do something .

So many thanks

Best wishes

Hugh


Hugh Lockhart
10 London Street
Edinburgh
EH3 6NA
0131 556 3743

Come along now. All he has is a load of rubbish. Time foor us to slip in. And we've got till September!