20th Inter-Generational Poetry Contest for All Ages!
February 11, 2009
The Friends of the West Roxbury Branch Library is sponsoring the 20th “Inter-Generational Poetry Contest for All Ages”. You can submit your poem (or poems) by dropping your submission in the “Poetry Box” at the library. Be sure to include your name, address, phone number, and date of birth on the front page. Students, please also include your school and grade.
All submissions become the property of the Friends of the West Roxbury Branch Library.
This years theme – Our Family, Our Food
Submission Period
9 a.m., Friday, February 6, through Friday, March 6, 2009 at 5pm
Awards Ceremony
6:30 p.m., Thursday, April 16, 2009, at the West Roxbury Branch Library
Everyone welcome!
Suggestions from poet (and poetry contest judge) Mary Pinard
• Write and enter poems that respond to the contest theme.
• Use your imagination! Be original and avoid clichés.
• Think about voice: Who is speaking in your poem and how best can you portray this character or mood?
• Consider what will help you express your poem’s idea, story, image, or impression.
Some possibilities include the following:
- Word choice
- Imagery, or language that helps paint pictures, sensations
- Sound, including rhythm, repetition, and rhyme
- Form or type: free verse, sonnet, haiku, or something you invent
• Revise, and revise again: Your first draft is only a beginning.
• Read your poems out loud: Are they pleasing to your ear? Do they express meaning through sound?
Two Words to Parents and Teachers: Encouragement & Support
Encourage your children and students to express themselves through poetry. Listen to them read their poems out loud and be positive.
Support their efforts as much as possible by providing them with unstructured time (preferably away from TVs, computers, and cell phones), a quiet space, and tools (pencils or pens, and paper). Give them “permission” to explore, experiment, and play with language.
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