Poetry contest and donnybrook

[Julie Smith]

Greetings ~

I find this conversation about voting interesting.  For me, voting in
this context is counter-intuitive.  My inclination is to want to
celebrate all the poems and all the people who were willing to share
themselves with the group.  I also wonder whether some people don't
participate BECAUSE the event has been set up as a contest.

So, a suggestion.  This time, let's vote on content AND process.  We
could keep the content piece stays the same:  everyone gets 5 sticky
dots to vote for the poem(s) they prefer.  The result stays the same:
new OSLIST Poet Laureate.

AND, we could hand out an additional sticky dot (perhaps in a different
color) for process.  We could then cast a vote for Voting or for
Non-Voting.  We would simply be communicating our desire to vote or not
vote in future poetry events.  The new poet laureate can decide what to
do or not-do with what we learn from the process vote.  Hmmmmmm......
that's interesting, isn't it?  The poet laureate already provides
parameters around content (like theme and deadlines and non-deadlines),
so why not also invite the poet laureate to define process (like do we
vote or not vote, and how to choose a new poet laureate if we don't).

These are not matters of grave importance, but we ARE a community, after
all, and a bit of reflection on these things might come to something in
the end.  Didn't Thomas Jefferson say something about the importance of
revolution every 35 years?  And if we've been at this since 1947, well,
it seems we might be due......

Onward into the day ~

Julie

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