Poetry contest submissions - Am I ready?

I have been wondering for sometime if any of my earlier poetry was good enough for submitting to a contest. With some editing and modifications which I have been working on. Well it is something whilst I have problems with writing new poems.

I saw however that there are competitions for Haiku. Not saying that they are easier, in fact they do not immediately suit my style. For instance read: Poetry contests for new poets.

I have therefore submitted three haiku to the Haiku Foundation contest for the new year (2013). I havae edited three that have been posted in this blog which does not count as publishing for this contest. They are:-

traditional haiku:

Footsteps in the snow
freshly fallen, crisp and white
follow them, should I?

modern haiku: 

Poetry  is words
words live forever
forget me not

innovative haiku:

Inspiration grows
Poetry
new thinking, new skills

I await results with anticipation although I don't really expect to hear anything, I can already see other edits / changes which I could have made. Is any art ever perfect?

watch this space!

Haiku to overcome writer's block

I have written about my difficulties creating poetry at the moment. I am not sure why this is but to reiterate, I used to be able to write poetry quite freely but I seem to have dried up. I have sought and discusssed possible reasons but this has had little effect.

I have been reading more modern poetry and not enjoying the so-called "free poetry", as published in many modern magazines and in their web-sites. I think I have come to accept non-rhyming poetry; but poems without structure and rhythm and  readwith no sense to the line lengths has left me cold. I think this is because before I am a writer, I am a musician and an artist. I like to be able to pick up a poem and read or more likely "perform" it without having to study the nuances which the poet may or may not have thought about.

I have seen texts which seem to excuse this on the basis that the message is the most important thing and the overall structure of the poem should noy be allowwed to get in the way. Bullsh*t. This is lazyness on the part of the poet. I have seen free poetry which I have enjoyed but the poet has considered his reader and made it obvious by various techniques what his intentions were.

Similarly, I can enjoy abstract art - but by no means all of it.

I am of the opinion that reading so much poetry that I find almost offensive has been bad for me, drying up the stream of what seems to be considered childish crap. I still find ideas relating to things happening around me but I just seem to run out of steam. However, I have been reintroduced to Haiku - short and to the point. This has given me a way forward to explore some of these ideas without worrying about completing long(er) poems.

So here are a few Haiku written during the snow this week.

Early morning snow

glist'ning in the morning sun

bringing fear to some

Red flowers, white snow

A beautiful sight to see

such blooms cannot last

glistening at dawn

white frost covering the ground

dangerous to tread

Footsteps in the snow

freshly fallen, crisp and white

follow them, should I?

Lamp posts line the road

lighting my way thro' the dark

warm thoughts, home awaits.

Footsteps, pristine tracks

snow records where I have been

short lived memories

A forecast of snow

stores are filled with hectic crowds

shopping in panic.

Creative writing prompts for poems

I am really suffering from a bad case of writers block. Nothing is happening for me at all this month. I have become so desperate that I have been searching for poetry prompts on the internet and thought that I would share a site with you. Creative writing now.

Let me give a couple of examples, I hope that the site owner won't mind:-

9) Write a poem from the perspective of a character in a fairy tale.
10) Write a poem using all of the following words: moth, angle, cloth, tangle.
11) Write a poem that tells the story of a specific love affair or marriage.
12) Write a poem in the form of a message or letter to your future self.
13) Write a poem about the color red or another color. (Some ideas for brainstorming: How does the color make you feel? What things do you associate with that color?)

Go to Creative Writing Now for many, many more examples. Oh, and wish me luck using a few of these.