Poetry Matters

Prose. Partner and an undeniable cornerstone of the Prose. community, @rh, recently asked you all to participate in a poetry challenge with $250 "on the table" as incentive.

He created the challenge (theprose.com/challenge/2379) early last month. With the help of some colleagues and, after several days of deliberation, he has decided on a winner.

Who will it be?

There is no one better to ask than the creator of the challenge himself, @rh:

Before anything—A huge thank you to everyone who participated in the challenge. I have been nothing less than floored at the turnout of entries and the talent on display. To the super-swell individuals who helped me narrow down the winner: another big thank you.

What would compel someone to cough up his own cash for the sake of a poem?

I’ve said it before elsewhere but it is worth saying again, writing has always been good to me but I haven’t always been good to it. This is my way, aside from writing, to make up for that.

Poetry in particular has on no uncertain terms saved my life, both in reading and writing. Before Prose. I had not written a single serious poem in close to a decade. It wasn’t until I dipped my toe in the water (on a piece titled “one final heartbreak”) again here that I ended my estrangement between my first love.

Poetry, the exemplar of what heights the written word can achieve for hundreds of years over, has in recent time fallen by the wayside. Certainly more people write it than they read it and that by itself is enough to lament over. I want to read more poetry.

No, fuck that. I want to read more good poetry.

One more thing before we get to the winner.

Kelly Knox (@kwknox), in addition to being a valuable set of eyes as a judge, will be doing an analysis of the winning piece AND other entries of note. Please take the time to view his contribution, as it is just as valuable in my eyes as the money.

Deliberation was hinged on balancing three basic criteria listed on the challenge-- form, content, and fire.

Form:

Did the writer demonstrate a command of language? Rhythm? Did they push a new form or execute something more traditional?

Content:

What did the writer convey? Did it matter?

Fire:

What kind of feeling was behind the work? Did it smolder, explode? Did it leave something behind for the reader beyond images?

To this end, I feel the winner is clear:

"Antigone" by @EBJohnson. (Look for the link in the comments below.)

In her work the writer took a chance with experimenting with a new form which drove the piece forward. By the end, the imagery was with you still and it managed to do what good writing should do for other writers—push you to do better.

Kelly Knox will go into more depth with the entry as well as the other notable submissions.

...

Please visit The Official Prose. Blog for Kelly Knox's full in-depth analysis of the top "Poetry Matters" entries, as well as clickable links to the works mentioned here, later today at: blog.theprose.com/blog.