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Wednesday 7 September 2011

So your poem's too long for a major prize?

Poet of poems too long to win prizes,
how would it be / if you trimmed / them a bit?
wrote them / the way your / reviewers / transcribe them?
Your eighty five lines / became forty / or less?
(The absolute most / most judges can read!)
I've "slashed" this stanza (in part) to show
how sixteen short lines are reduced to seven.

but u myt nd 2 shrtN yr epic's lines
2 telescope mor of em N2 1.
dat bn so, considA transcribing
1st 2 d lang of txt.



Here, second stanza's translation:-

But you might need to shorten your epic's lines
to telescope more of them into one.
That being so, consider transcribing
first to the language of text.

14 comments:

kaykuala said...

Amazing Dave! You could work it out to an acceptable offering for the judges' bidding. This is educational to me. Thanks for sharing!

Hank

Shadow said...

thank you for that 'translation', i so do not understand this newfangled language our youngsters have invented...

Elisabeth said...

When do you find time to practise texting Dave? And at your age.

What would we do without some of the epic poems. Who cares about the prizes?

jabblog said...

I don't like text language, though I can understand it, but I do like your response to shortening the length;-)

indiwriter said...

Hi Dave,

With me it's the other way round.
I tend to boil things down to their essence and really find it hard to expand.

cheers,

Art Durkee said...

LOL It's always a dilemma, matching a poem to a contest's requirements. Mostly I find I have to dip into the back catalog to find matches, or write something fresh on spec. The rules can sometimes get quite silly, and it's always a crapshoot no matter what you do.

I like your solution here. You might consider becoming the Poet Laureate of Twitter. :) (A venue that has struck me as being perfect for haiku and not useful for much else.)

The Cello Strings said...

fun tease on awards.

fabulous write.

Friko said...

Whatever happened to ballads?

Windsmoke. said...

Text language is nothing but jibberish from an alien planet :-).

Mary said...

Just a thought: I do think there is something to be said for shorter poems. Rambling is for essays. LOL.

Cloudia said...

I confess that I had almost forgotten the pleasure of
reading your perfect little
word machines.

Thank you for kindly visiting!

Aloha from Waikiki;


Comfort Spiral


> < } } ( ° >

Anonymous said...

This is very clever!...But it's a joke, right? Personally, I am very passionate about poets creating their art the way THEY FEEL it should be, the way it pours from their very heart, mind and soul; rhyme or free verse, short or long, in a traditional form or a brand new style...I have always felt that people should write for themselves and the passion within and not necessarily for the acceptance of judges and editors, not let themselves be boxed in like that...But that's just me...To each his own, right? Also, it's funny the way you used the "texting" to make a point. I personally think that texting is not only destroying language, but also decimating the human attention span!...Okay Mr. King, I'll step down off of my soapbox now!...I guess your entry really sparked something in me! But as always, well done!

Dave King said...

kaykuala
I wonder if I could...
Let me know how you get on.

Shadow
I do know what you mean, but did you read what Carol Anne Duffy had to say about it? I think she had a point or two.

Elisabeth
Nope, I don't do much texting. I've tried to keep up - to an extent - but for interest only. (Bsides I've two grandsons!)

jabblog
Mmm, it was a bit tongue in mouth, of course, but I can't help wondering: would they wear it?

indiwriter
Which is the ideal, both for the quality of the poem and for qualifying. Welcome to the blog and my thanks to you for stopping by to comment.

Art Durkee
Thanks for those remarks. A coup0le there to ponder, I think. As for Twitter, though, I am a complete greenhorn. I really know nothing about it at all.

The Cello Strings
Hi thanks for visiting and for the comment. Good to have you, glad you liked it.

Friko
Funny you should say that... I've been trying to resurrect them 9for me) of late. It did seem that school had killed them off.

Windsmoke
Bit harsh, no? I'm still mulling over what Carol Ann Duffy wrote. (Much of which I had thought before I read her, it must be said. Nice to have such confirmation, though.)

Mary
There's a lot to be said for shorter poems, I agree, but long ones have their justifications too.

Cloudia
Wow, there's a comment to set me up for the day! Thank you kindly for it. It is so easy to let a blog slip, isn't it? - Even onme you enjoy visiting. I must say it was good seeing your again. Thanks.

unsungpoet
Thanks for the clever - and yes, it is a joke! I agree with the first part of your comment completely. The texting is, though, I think a more complicated issue. Maybe it's one I ought to turn to at some point! (I have actually posted on it in the past, but it may be time to revisit, as they say.)

Crafty Green Poet said...

I can relate to this, even though my problem often is the opposite, poems too short to be taken seriously by most competitions