Poetry donnybrook

[Ralph Copleman]

Look,

When I enter a poetry contest that I'm told will be decided by vote, I don't
expect people to change the rules after the entry period has concluded.
That's like, I dunno, changing the Law of Two Feet into, perhaps, the Law of
One Arm and One Leg midway through an open space meeting!  Vote me up or
vote me down.  Either way, I can take it.

Second, the official rules of the OS Poetry Contest (you could look this up
anywhere you want to find it) say quite unequivocally that a person may
submit a poem after the entrance period has been closed.  I made this rule
myself when I organized the first contest back in 1947, so I know it's true.
The fact that it's a stupid rule and the fact that when the rule was
formulated there was no such thing as e-mail should have no bearing on
whether Harrison's poem may be included.  He's out there suffering terribly.
Let the poor guy in already.

(I do, however, propose another new rule based on Harrison's poem.  Any
entry, I should think, needs to have more than 50% of its content come from
the submitting poet, not Rene Descartes.  (I mean, if HO wins, who gets the
prize?  Does he have to share it with the dead guy?  Or what?  I think this
rule should also apply to Otto von Bismarck, whom I believe is also dead,
although more recently, and several other people, too.)

Lastly, voting, like the Law of Two Feet, is more an expression of
preference, not necessarily a judgment of quality.  If it were the latter, I
would probably never vote.  Have you seen the "quality" of American
politicians lately?!

So, let's all hurry up and vote for Joelle's poem and get on with getting it
on.

Ralph Copleman

P.S. Be careful about subscribing to any of my political opinions.  I live
in New Jersey (USA), where the saying "Vote early and often" was first
coined.

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html