I thought it was possibly scammish. I published poetry through Poetry.Com and received one of those
invites claiming my silver cup trophy is waiting.
(for one poem... yah..ok)
The joy for me was seeing my poem published and published as the first poem you turn to in a book of about 200 poems. That was my trophy.
Hello everyone !
Why do you ask Alice?
Have you ever gone to one of those? Are they real or are they really full of it?
Yes, it looks a little scammish to me now too, if every person with one poem sent to them has been invited.... No, I've never been to one of these things, and maybe never will, but I thought I'd see how far widespread the invitations are.
These people {International Library of Poetry, or Poetry.com, or the Poet's Society} said they found my work on the internet and liked it a lot, etc., etc., and I gave them permission to use a poem they proposed and wrote them a new one. They are putting two different poems of mine in two anthologies, and those two poems on a 3CD collection which holds 33 poems altogether... Does all of this go out to every poet who has sent them one poem? I've always sort of warned people off this sort of thing, and now find myself involved....
I don't like their posture of making money from our egos, so to speak, but then again, if it weren't for this organization, maybe poetry would not be so widely recognized or loved as an art form. Who knows?
It would be interesting to attend a conference of our fellow poets, but the cost is outrageous - although the silver trophy is very nice, and I'd like one! Wouldn't you? But I don't consider it for 'outstanding achievement in poetry' if every person who ever clicked on their website, who may have only written that one poem in their entire life, gets one too...
Pam, if you're reading all this at some point, I'd have to say it's up to you if we go and check this out. Maybe I could write an article about it and sell it to Poet's and Writer's Magazine or something.
I'm really not ready to stand up in front of large audiences and read my work out loud yet, either. I can't even read one to a friend without getting all choked up, or to the kids. They're all my life, my heart - my nephew is sitting here telling me just to treat it like a business, I guess remove myself from my self, or something like that.... Wondersmith West in front of an audience? I'm not so sure..... What do you all think?
No, I haven't heard about this. Send me some details, Alice.
About what your nephew said - these poems are our blood and guts, our hearts and souls! It's our passion about the subjects that makes our poems good! Remove that edge and they would be very flat /stark indeed.
Hey, any excuse for a trip!! LOL
Love Pam
...the one titled 'Did you book Aruba yet?' I sent it yesterday, or Friday night. That has all the details, or a lot of them anyway. Just phone me if you didn't get it - Krystal is on the phone right now though, wait five or ten minutes first...
Poetry.com has said they've published three of my poems. I've wondered about them for a while... I mean, seriously, I think they just send out an e-mail to everyone saying that you can have a silver trophy and attend this big gala, "oh ya, but first, you've got to give us money". It all does sound a little scammy to me too. Has anyone here bought any of the books or tapes?
Hi everyone,
I have a young friend (about 20 in age) who submitted a poem to a contest and I believe it was through Poetry Com. They told her she was in the running for a few thousand dollars worth of prize money, and the competition was narrowed down between her and two other people. I will check with her and see what has been happening for her with this. I was slightly worried about this for her, but no mention of money from her in any way was mentioned to me.
This is definitely something to find out about.
Suzanne
