Greetings and Welcome

One and All to the Poets Pub!!

A message from Bill and Myna,

It has been brought to our attention that some people may feel there is a lack of transparency in how we judge our contests, and although it has never come up before, Bill and I would like to address this.

First, all the work that is done here at the Pub, "Behind the Bar" is on a volunteer basis. We do this because we love the Pub and its members and want to have a place for all of us to share our passion for poetry. It takes time every day, to keep up with the posts, answering questions, designing new contests, covers, stickers etc. This time cuts into the time that each of us, that work at the Pub, have to devote to our own works. Posting poems and answering enquirers, etc., can take up to a couple hours a day. When you consider that Bill, for instance, has a full-time job that can take up to 50 hours a week of his time, it is a miracle, at times, that there are any hours left over.  The Chatter alone, takes anywhere from 4 to 6 hours each week to produce. and considering that Myna does home schooling and is very involved in her family's lives, again, a miracle that there are hours left to devote.

Second, none of our judges are professional poets or writers. Some of them have some schooling that helps with the judging process, but again this is all volunteer. Our judges have been writing and reading poetry for over a combine 60 or 70 years (or more depending on how many judges we have). Does this make them professionals or experts? No, it does not, but they do have a good working knowledge of what makes a good poem.

There are times when decisions have been so difficult that outside judges, who are not connected with the Pub or Poets themselves, have been asked to give their opinions, based solely on what they consider appealing.

Third, let us explain a bit about our judging process.

1. Before a poem is posted we try and make sure it follows our guidelines, laid out in "Behind the Bar". If a poem does not fall within our guidelines, it is rejected.

2. Next, does the poem follow the instructions given for the particular contest? If a poem is completely wrong, we inform the poet and give the author a chance to change their poem and resend it. Otherwise we post the poem as it was sent. If there are spelling errors, line count errors, syllable count errors, we do not correct them, it is the poet's responsibility to make sure their poem is correct when they submit it. Examples are usually given by Bill or myself, so that there should not be any errors in interpretation. We give every opportunity to all Poets to submit a poem that follows our exact guidelines. Failure to do so is not a fault of the Poets Pub, but the poet themselves. Any of these errors will be counted against them in the judging.

3. When the contest is over, our judges start their process of reading each poem, multiple times. Their first consideration is how well the poet interpenetrated the prompt for the month and how well poet followed the directions and/or style. They look for poems that are unique, well written (punctuation, proper spelling, etc.) and actually have a poetic flare to them.  Words strung together; does not a poem make. They check each poem to see if the author has answered the comments that were made on the poem, as it is always a requirement of our contests. It is always a disappointment when our judges find a great poem, but the author has not replied to any of the comments, because the poem must be disqualified. It is clearly stated that all comments must be answered. This is not a suggestion, but a contest absolute.

4. Our judges make all of their decisions separately, choosing 5 poems, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and two honorable mentions. Those poems are given a numeric value - 5 points for 1st, 4 points for 2nd, 3 points for 3rd and each of the honorable mentions get 1 point each. We then compare the judge's choices and the person with the most points wins. We also use this points system when we ask for votes from the Pubbers.

We do not influence each other or other judges. All decisions are by the judges of their own accord.

5. One thing we DO NOT take into consideration is how many votes a poem has, unless that it is specifically a part of the contest. We do not consider the number of reads. If we did that, the first three people who submit their poems would always win...they always get the most votes and reads.

What we do look for, and the only thing we look for, are poems that follow the guidelines and that appeal to each and every one of the judges separately. There is absolutely no favoritism given and we do not take into account the length of time that a poet has been a part of the Pub or how popular the poet is. It is done on the merit of the poem alone, as it appeals to each of the judges.

We hope this addresses any questions on our judging process.

Bill and Myna

Author: Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694)

<Japanese>
Furuike ya/ Kawazu tobikomu/ Mizu no oto

<English>
The old pond
A frog leaps in.
Sound of the water.

**********************

Author: Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694)

<Japanese>
Mono ieba/ Kuchibiru samushi/ Aki no kaze

<English>
When you say something,
The lip feel cold.
The Autumn wind.

*****************************

Author: Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694)

<Japanese>
Natsukusa ya/ Tsuwamonodomo ga/ Yume no ato

<English>
The summer grasses.
All that remains
Of warriors' dreams.

***************************************

Random Prompt – Write a poem about an adventure you wanted to go on as a child

JANUARY CONTEST –

Our first contest of the new year is open for submissions.  The next prompt will be posted on Wednesday, January 15th!   Please see our contest book for full details.

A POETS PUB WELCOME –

Bill and I would like to ask all of you to join us in welcoming a new member to our team

@MysteriousDryad

Many of you may have seen her around the Pub, joining in on contests and challenges, as well as engaging in comments on a regular basis.  She has become a welcome, friendly face around the Pub.  MysteriousDryad has graciously offered to help out "behind the bar", and Bill and I are thrilled she has joined our team.  As an introduction, we did a mini interview, so that all of you could get to know her better.

So, MysteriousDryad, tell us a little something about yourself.

A young poet, amateur writer and designer are what I do here. Outside of Wattpad, I'm either writing or spending time with my family. Family means a lot to me, both blood-related or not.

Writing is something I do on the side, not to good at it honestly, but I'm on the learning side. I never realized how time consuming it could be until I started. Though, since I started, I won't end it now.

My personality is INFP which could be where my empathy comes from. If I can help someone, work related or not, then I'll my best to do so. I love helping out especially if it'll help someone out in the end.

How long have you been writing poetry?

I've been writing poetry since April of 2019 and I don't see myself stopping any time. Maybe one day, I can see my poetry go places.

Who is your favorite poet?

Honestly, it would have to be Bill. Bill's poetry has inspired me in many ways than one. Frankly, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have got to where I am today.

What would your life motto be?

"If you can think it, then you can do it." It's probably not a life motto but it is something I've learned recently. I didn't think I would do Graphic Design, Poetry or Writing, but here I am.

If you can think, then you're most certainly can do it. If you're having fun, then that's all that matters.

Thank you MysteriousDryad for joining our team!!

POEM-A-WEEK –

Our Poem-A-Week Challenge started anew, January 1st, 2020.  If you have been a part of this challenge in 2019 and wish to continue, let us know and we will put you on the participants list for 2020. 

ATTENTION:  There seemed to be some confusion concerning this challenge.  Let me try and clarify:

1. This is just a challenge, not a contest, participation is encouraged, not mandatory.

2.  All of the prompts given in the Chatter can be used for this challenge, but they are not mandatory either.  You can write your poems about anything you want.  We will be posting a specific Poem-a-Week prompt each week as an added twist to this challenge.  The twist being you only use the Poem-a-Week prompts for this challenge, but again IT IS NOT MANDATORY.

We are going to work it a little different this year.  Each week in the Chatter we will give you a prompt for the Poem-a-Week Challenge.  So, you will need to check back each week to get your new prompt. 

We will also have a participation sticker as well as a completion sticker and certificate for those who choose to join and complete the challenge.

To participate challenge, all you need to do is create a book on your own profile or use one of your existing books, then let us know what book it is and start writing.  You can also send in your poems to include in our collection here.  Please PM us if you take on the challenge so we can add your name to the participants list.

Poem-a-Week Participants

Poems & Writings inspired by Webster's Dictionary by aMusedAndPoetic

Sillage by Nynaeve

Weekly Whimsy by Anneshiningstar

Poem A Week - 2020 by most_bay

Concours by Schwethz

The Quantum Journal by MichaelTyger

Poetry Beans by undoubtedlymine

Please stop by and check out their books, show them some Poets Pub love!

IF I MISSED ANYONE PLEASE LET ME KNOW AND I WILL ADD YOUR NAME TO THE LIST!

Poem-a-Week Prompt

Week Two Prompt – Take a few moments to sit outside with your eyes closed then write a haiku about the sounds you heard.

SOCIAL MEDIA –

We would also like to announce that our newest Poet in Perpetuum and longtime Pub member sonakshisrivastava is now heading up our social media sites!!

Thank you so much sonakshisrivastava for all your hard work in getting these up and running!

We encourage everyone to like/follow us, it will help you to stay in the loop.

Poets Pub Facebook Page - www.facebook.com/Poets-Pub

Poets Pub Twitter - https://twitter.com/pub_poets

Poets Pub Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/poets_pub/

storytellers-saloon

The Storyteller-saloon would like to Congratulate

@Gadralneure

for winning our December short story challenge. 

WELL DONE!!!

We would like to send out a huge thank you to everyone that participated in our December Challenge!

Our January prompt is up and we invite everyone to stop by and participate!!

We already have our first two entries for January, please consider stopping by and let the authors know what you think.

If you haven't read any of our Write the Story entries yet, I would highly recommend that you take a moment to check them out!!  Then consider send us your entry as well!! If you know anyone that might be interested in this challenge, please, don't hesitate to pass on the information.

Every month I will be posting a new short story writing prompt along with several words to use in the story.  The stories will completely vary in genres.  Please check out our contest book for full details!

Lyttlejoe's Busted Gulch Volume 13:

The towns folk of Busted Gulch are all still busy getting their Secret Santa gifts ready.  It looks like 3 Gun, Harriet, Unger and the Doc have all their gifts ready!! Brandy and Colton made it to Oh Aces and found a trap had been laid for them.  It seems that Regan intended to lure Brandy away from BG and Bruce so that his men could take care of Bruce.  Jacob and Josie got their Secret Santa gifts ready and delivered.  Denver began relaying the story of his half sister Talulah Grey to his family.  Sister Mary Grace was able to get her Secret Santa gift ready, with the help of the ninos of the orphanage.  It seems a naked man tried to rob the General Store.  He was quickly subdued by the fine deputies of Busted Gulch.  The Christmas trees arrived by train, everyone in town was excited to see them and even more excited to start getting them decorated.  The Mayor met with the city council about the offer made by "black hat" and they quickly approved the deal.

If you want to find out what's next, head on over to The Storytellers Saloon and check out Lyttlejoe's Busted Gulch Volume 13!!  Don't forget to add it to your reading list, new chapters are posted daily!

flash-fiction-forum

We are having our FFF Write-off to determine the Master of Flash for 2019. Starting today and lasting into January of 2020, we will be inviting past winners of FFF monthly competitions to send us a new story to add to the Masters of Flash collection. The collection already will include all the winning entries from all contests since September 2018, when the FFF was introduced.

Each winner will have the opportunity to send us a new story of their choice to include in the collection. We then encourage all writers to reach out to their followers and have them check out the entries in the competition, as the winner will be determined by fan votes.

The winner will be announced at the end of January 2020.

As part of the Pub-Verse of sites, we encourage all Pubbers to drop by the FFF and take a look. The Flash Fiction Forum has struggled to gather new followers and we ask ll Pubbers to support one of their sister sites.

Random Prompt – Write poem that uses ALL of the following words – explore, dream, maze, quest, and brave.

Featured Form

Haiku

It is widely accepted that the master poet is the one that developed and perfected the art from of the Haiku. 

During the Edo period in Japan the literary art form known as Renga was very popular.  It was a collaboration style of poetry consisting of two basic parts or stanzas.  The first stanza being the 5-7-5 (syllables/sounds) format, is a basic statement; the second stanza is only two lines of 7-7 (syllables/sounds) and is a response to the original statement.  Poets would often write upwards of 100 stanzas together in a back and forth exchange of ideas and statements. (Please note that this is an extremely simplified explanation of a renga.)

Matsuo Bashō is credited for separating the hokku (opening stanza of the renga) out and developing it as a stand along poetry form.  He went on to become the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. 

Check back next week for more fun facts about the poetry art form known as the Haiku.

Well, that's it for this week folks!! I hope you all have a super-duper week ahead!! Enjoy the rest of your weekend and.... remember to keep those pens and keyboards flying!!

Cheers from your Mystres of Chatter
MystresMyna