[Tim Murphy]

I don't know that I'd say it's corrupt, but it is certainly incestuous! And Quincy is right, Mike and Bob are like me, Sam Gwynn, Paul Lake, and the late Alan Sullivan, charter members of the West Chester Gun and Couplet Club. Take heart Quincy, and enter next year. Rhina's to the left of FDR.

[RCrawford]

Thanks everybody!

Well, mostly everybody.

I say read the sonnet when it comes out and judge for yourself. It has ZERO political content. And no maple trees (so I doubt Mr. Juster could tell it was mine).

This should be about the poetry. When a tank of heating oil costs almost $1,000, PoBiz is such a stupid term.

Congratulations to the other finalists!

--Robert

[Rick Mullin]

Tim, you're ruining it for everybody!~,:^)

Congratulations, Bob. Politics or no, I'm sure it's rock-ribbed!

Rick

[peterjb]

Congratulations to Robert Crawford on a second win! And many thanks to Pat and others for their kind words about me in this thread.

[Cyn Neely]

Awesome news!
I remain a fan

[Tim Murphy]

I just learned something interesting which bears directly on Quincy's spurious charge of corruption. Mike absented himself from the Powow workshop every time a sonnet was discussed for a year. So he had never seen nor heard Bob's blind submission. Rhina has already begun doing the same thing.

[Rick Mullin]

I love Rhina. I love Michael Juster and Bob Crawford. And Michael Cantor.

But maybe a non-Pow Wow judge next year? Perhaps someone from the New York School who is unlikely to run into many sonnets in the course of doing business, but who knows the excellent from the good? Perhaps from the Colorado School? I do think the Neverov needs to open a window, so to speak. I bet we would have a surprising roster of winners and placers.

Just a thought. I may be broadcasting my ignorance of how the system works--I, too, send nothing to The Salon.

NB: The "surprise" for me on this year's rooster, surprising as in making me happy, is Peter. It's great to see him place, as he has been so supportive of all of us and writes, as we have seen, beautiful sonnets.

RM

[Marion Shore]

My question is, who picks the judge? I highly doubt it's a Powow member! So choosing judges has nothing to do with whether they are Powows or not. The fact is, many Powow poets happen to be stars of the formalist scene, which is why they are chosen as judges.

Seems to me there've been a lot of non-Powow judges, in recent memory. Rachel Hadas, Dana Gioia, Charles Martin, Timothy Steele, to name a few.

BTW, many congratulations, Bob! I'm sure it's well deserved.

Marion

[Rick Mullin]

My understanding expands as the window opens...a crack~,:^)

RM

[Quincy Lehr]

Just to make something absolutely clear--I never thought that there was a fix or Jorie Graham-style pre-determined winner. Given Juster's recusing himself from the discussions of sonnets in the various workshops he frequents--which I did not know he had done!--it's clear he behaved honorably. I owe him and Bob Crawford apologies for operating on faulty assumptions and incomplete information.

If I have anything else to say on the matter, I'll do so on the General Talk thread.

Congratulations, Bob.