It's Christmas and I dare flirt with the advanced editor. By the time I had finished, I was thinking about the penner's of our country's great documents and I wanted that handwritten, gall ink feel to it.

I had to laugh at my ending. I was intending to purposely cut it short to sort to provide a counterpoint break. But as I have always stated in my freestyle poetry, that I could not sacrifice the rhyme and meter for the meaning. It just turned out that the best meaning matched the rhyme and meter scheme of the poem. I just can't win.

I also can't help but think about the International Society of Poetry convention. I went to my first, a couple months after my first post and looked forward to the symposiums to get a handle on writing, this new love that I found. To be honest, there is no way to fit in the lectures what it would take to write poetically, but for the time frame, you got a very good taste of what is involved. So much so, that through percolation, it helped me tremendously.

I attended the second year and for the most part, they were the same lectures. I tried to attend, but got lost between the black hole of the lecture and display rooms. Told that I should be lecturing myself. I told the people, "Take it easy on the convention, I scare them enough already."

Where my ideas lie is from poetry actually being so much more expansive then I ever realized it could be. However, when I tried to communicate my idea's the professors and convention workers who got a little hesitant, even looking for an out. I think I understand that, there is the competition aspect and also the great make-up of the people are first year attendees. They know what is best and works. They also come under the gun, at times unfairly so and nobody likes a person to make a scene. My honest opinion is that, they are true to their word and the prize awards are valid and they do a great effort. On an odds basis, you still have a better chance winning there then most competitions. It will always boil down to the judges opinion, like it or not.

I plan to contact them with my ideas. First the lecture series can not be changed as it is too valuable for the majority first year attendee's. For people that attend multiple times, I would like to see a more advanced series which would include the expansiveness of poetry in society. It is everywhere and I have used it to convey even political thoughts and some very serious, journalistic ideas. Humor as well. Maybe a few for fun contests. They do a performance and write a quick poem, possibly an after hours seminar where the stage crew is at hand to help develop performance and give the people a taste of the lime light. Well actually, the burnt eyes. There is a lot of talent available there and even relating their experiences would prove a benefit to the attendees.


I am glad that this contest came about. I was ready for it a year ago. To be honest, I enjoyed writing poems enough, but never thought that I would have so much to say about poetry and poets themselves. I you told me this would happen a couple of years ago, I would have told you the same thing that I told my English teacher when she advised me to try to write poetry, "You're F-ing crazy."

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