First Prize???

First prize??? Kid me some more. I will not name the magazine, but they are not kidding, they just sent me their big announcement. First prize. The author gets an entire chapbook printed.

If you eliminate women and gays from the editorial staffs of literary magazines, there is hardly anyone left to judge a poem. That is not a comment on this particular magazine. They all list their personnel somewhere, often with pictures included. The comment is that you can expect the same from all of them when it comes to their big winners. Sometimes the magazine wants poems about certain topics. But what topics would they ask for?

Friends and neighbors, in general, no matter what these magazines claim, you have virtually no chance unless your writing heavily includes one or more of the following:

1 Those po' folk, and Racism
2 Those po' folk, and alternate sexuality
3 Those po' folk, and refugees
4 Those po' folk, and da po^/lice
5 Those po' folk, and hungry chillun'
6 Those po' folk, and war

You gwang to lose.

Is that about it? Ummmmmm, there are a few more politically accented, politically correct, politically motivated slants the white, ultra-liberal, urban eggheads on the editorial boards of most magazines are fond of. Not to name them all here, but merely to show the particular slant you will always respect, friends and neighbors, or you will lose. Anything multi-cultural has the jump. You don't need rhythm, you need to tell them what they want to hear, validate them again. Be compassionate and inclusive to bring home the bacon, if you want bacon and eggheads.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

First Prize???