A New and Exciting Competition!

Calling All Creative Minds!!!

A New and Exciting Competition!!!

Anyone can pen a poem.  Just look at Joyce Kilmer! However, it takes a special kind of talent to inspire others to write top notch poetry. In this spirit of getting others to do the work that you could do yourself if you weren’t so dedicated to inspiring other people to do it instead, we present you with the inaugural New Ideas and Themes for Poetry Prompts International Competition. 

The New Ideas and Themes for Poetry Prompts International Competition (NITPPIC) is a groundbreaking idea in competition for creative minded individuals who have become jaded with the pedestrian offerings of current poetry contests. The NITPPIC realizes that poetry is only as good as the prompts that birth it!  Unfortunately, those prompts have not been recognized and given their due credit. That is, until now!  This competition is not interested in your poetry. That takes too long to read, and frankly, some of it is utterly incomprehensible.  We believe that   prompts are the new poetry!

You may enter your inspirational prompts into one or more of the following categories:

1.       Photo Prompts: These are photographs which inspire others to write great poems. Photographs may be your own or taken by someone else. Please note that extra credit is awarded for submitting photographs that are not your own, as this demonstrates that you are too busy inspiring others to not only not write poetry but also to not take photographs.

2.       Form Prompts: These prompts consist of a poetry form invented by you.  You must give your new poetry form a name and explain the rules for writing a poem in the form.  Extra points are awarded for each self-referential element in your poetry form, i.e. naming the form after yourself, syllable counts to match your birth date, rules to include your zodiac animal, etc.

3.       Word/Name Prompts: These prompts are simply a word or words that should inspire others to write poetry. We suggest foreign words, words that are difficult to pronounce, words that most people will need to look up in a dictionary, or names that will need to be Googled.

4.       Is this a Prompt or a Dissertation? Prompts: These prompts rely on your arcane knowledge and your lack of dinner party invitations. Wow us with your brilliance on some little known literary figure.  Summarize your extensive reading on the Italian versus the English sonnet. Compare and contrast Greek and Roman mythological figures in the writings of your favorite poet. Then after blathering  on until you are satisfied that you have demonstrated your intellectual superiority, state a prompt that has little or nothing to do with your previous discussion.  Points awarded on how convincingly you demonstrate an attitude of complete indifference toward the actual prompt.

Please note that inclusion of any actual poetry inspired by the prompts entered in this competition will result in immediate disqualification. 

Good luck!