Poets, BEWARE

Here is a warning from my friend's blog (she is Carolyn Howard-Johnson, poet, author, blogger,educator) to all those poets who are tantalized by the prospect of winning prizes. Just submit, we are told...it's free. You will win a gazillion dollars (plus or minus) and a free copy of our collection in which your poem will be published.

Someone just sent me an email that they had entered a poem in one of these contests.

Look. Poetry is a difficult genre to write because you're dealing with the moment and emotion. Your words are precious to you and you hope they will become precious to your reader. It is perhaps, the most honest form of literature. You can fudge emotion when you write prose, but I believe poetry comes from the gut. So don't be fooled.

Here's the link: http://sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com/2008/09/norma-sundbert-tells-poets-to-beware.html

Fooled you, didn't I? You were expecting a snootful of political ranting? JUST WAIT till the next entry to see what happened in Minneapolis to an AP reporter. Journalists, beward. The men dressed in black, with the helmets, bulletproof vests and automatic weapons, tasers and REALLY big clubs are coming for you and your cameras.