[Roger Slater]

CHILDREN'S BAKEOFF/WORKSHOP

It's time for the first ever Children's Poetry Bakeoff/Workshop. I am pleased to be the host of this inaugural event, but even more pleased to announce that our Distinguished Guest will be the phenomonally gifted and prolific children's poet, J. Patrick Lewis. Pat has published over 65 books of children's poetry, and the mind-boggling diversity of his work makes it impossible to do it justice in brief introductory remarks. The common element in all his work is a perfect mixture of craft, wit and intelligence, qualities found in his "silliest" poems for the youngest readers as well as in his weightier poems for young adults. Pat's work exemplifies Auden's famous remark that "while there are some good poems which are only for adults, because they pre-suppose adult experience in their readers, there are no good poems which are only for children."

Procedures and Guidelines

E-mail up to forty lines of children's poetry to me for inclusion in the event. Please send the poems in the body of an email to rs@bookbuzz.com by March 5, and use the word "bakeoff" in the subject line. The poems can be published or unpublished. You can send as many poems as you like, but the total lines you submit should not exceed forty. I haven't limited the total number of poems because good children's poems are often short and simple, and I didn't want to set up poem quotas that would discourage people from sending in such poems in favor of their longer and more sophisticated efforts. With total line limits instead of total poem limits, I'm hoping we will see a greater diversity of poems.

If you like, you should also feel free to group more than one poem in a single entry. For example, if you have five children's riddles that are technically separate poems, you may choose to submit them as a single entry to the Bakeoff. If there is a vote, people would vote on those five poems as a group, rather than individually. I would encourage people to do that if they have poems that seem that they might go together, even if only loosely.

Pat has asked me to screen the poems for him if we end up with a large pool of submissions, as I hope will be the case. I don't suppose I need to say much on the subject of my biases when it comes to children's poetry, since I suspect that they are shared by most of the people here. My favorite children's poets are J. Patrick Lewis, Richard Wilbur, X.J. Kennedy, Shel Silverstein, A.A. Milne, Lewis Carroll, and the Browning who wrote "The Pied Piper of Hamlein," which is tied in my mind with "Horton Hears a Who" as the best rhyming children's story ever written. I totally welcome poems that are merely funny or silly, but if you can sneak in some sophistication along with the playfulness, so much the better. If there's poop in your poem, it better be there for a good reason and not just because the word is guaranteed to make a child giggle. (Remember, "there are no good poems which are only for children," and I would add that the hard part is appealing to adults. Kids are relatively easy.)

You should also know that I may (or may not) be inviting entries from a handful of people who are not regular members or participants at the Sphere. For present purposes, Alex has waived the fifteen-post requirement. Whether or not I do will depend in part on the response we get from our regular members. I don't actually know how many of you write children's poetry, but if I'm flooded with quality poems by our membership, I will be less inclined to invite others.

I don't know yet how many poems Pat will comment on or that I'll post every day. That decision will be made after the submissions are in and we know how many we have, how long they are, and how much discussion they are likely to engender. I imagine we'll post at least the usual 10-12, but it's also possible the number will be higher.

I've called this a Bakeoff/Workshop since it's not clear yet whether we'll vote on "winners" or not. I'd like to have a vote, just for fun, but the likely diversity of entries could make it difficuilt to compare poems. How can one meaningfully compare an excellent four-line poem for toddlers with an excellent 16-line poem for twelve year olds?

One final note, for those who care. We will be using codes in each entry to avoid search engines, and we will not include actual poem titles in the subject fields.

Thanks! I look forward to receiving your submissions.