Tips from Our Judges 

 

1) Proofread!! Please proofread - many great poems didn't make the cut for silly grammar or spelling mistakes. It jars the reader out of the experience of reading your poem. It also shows carelessness. You're getting paid for this: do a good job.

 

2) Originality is essential for getting noticed in a High School pool of poems. Subject matter often dictaties originality; everyone writes about their crushes and lovers and vindictive ex's, but no one writes about foot warts, trying to hold in farts at a funeral, or sympathizing with a deer you've just shot. High School is the box, and you have to write your way out of it. 

 

3)  It's okay to start with an emotion to center your poem around - like love - but you have to talk about it in a creative way. Shakespeare covered the love poem (as did many other great poets), with meter and rhymes and even satirized himself. He's covered it, better than most of us will ever be able to cover anything. Competing with him using a garden variety love poem will make it hard to get noticed by a competition judge. 

 

4) Write three poems for every one you intend to send. Often the second or third version of a poem is often more effective. Consider your first poem a practice and then write another that's completely different or aiming at the same topic in a completely different way.

 

5) Rhyme and meter can add an interesting dynamic to your poetry. Once you know what you want to write about, brainstorm words that have to do with your theme or subject. For instance, if you want to write about running, think of words like sneakers, path, sweat, track, etc. Next, think of words that rhyme with the words in your previous list. That way you have a word bank to work with while you are trying to rhyme different stanzas. 

 

6) Consider experimenting with not only rhyme and meter, but also different forms. Sonnets are not the only forms of poems out there! Consider doing your research and look up the following for ideas: pantoum, ghazal, haiku, tanka, sestina and villanelle. Or, try writing a dramatic monologue or an ekphrastic poem. Show that you know a lot about poetry and try to contribute to a conversation that other poets have already started. 

 

7) Challenge yourself to write a poem like your favorite published poet. If you do this, write "after [insert poet here]" right below your title. You can do this to have a conversation with them, to make an elegy for them or just to try being them for a few minutes.

 

8) READ, READ, READ!! You will not write a good poem if you never read any. Read as many poets as you can so you've an idea of what makes a good poem. Do not just read Shakespeare, Donne, Keats, and Wordsworth. There's more to poetry that old British sonnets. Consider reading: Jack Gilbert, Charles Bukowski, Sonia Sanchez, Lisel Mueller, Adam Zagajewski, Toni Hoagland, Lucia Perillo, Lucille Clifton, Etheridge Knight or any other more contemporary poet you can get your hands on.

 

 

For more tips, suggested reading or other general questions, please contact us at sigmataudelta@allegheny.edu.