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Jacob van Ruisdael
about 1675
Compliments of the
National Gallery of Art, London
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What did you want to be when you were a child? Did a passing siren convince
you that the most exciting future you could pursue was to be a firefighter? Did
you want to be like your favorite singer, movie star, or teacher? Did you think
you might someday be president or prime minister? What inspired your dream? Who
encouraged or discouraged you? Did a calm looking sky give you a sense of calm
and make you think you'd like to be a weatherman?
Once, I Wanted to Be
the Weatherman
I saw a sky that took me back to long ago.
Its coat was gray and calm its look to third grade thought.
Then I gazed into the gentle frown my teacher gave
these dreaming eyes.
My hope to be the weatherman
put on her coat to stand in line. . .
for outside games and empty swings
on a playground gone.
~ Barbara Robinette
previously published by Lucidity
Bio: Barbara Robinette has read and written
poetry since she heard “O, Captain My Captain” recited while watching President
Kennedy’s funeral procession on television. She is a college drop-out from the
1970s and happily earned her living, first as a bank secretary, then later, as
a secretary at a university.
Though she
was busy working and raising children, the love of poetry always simmered on
the back burner. Now in retirement she has the time to actively pursue both the
reading and the writing of poetry. Barbara writes her poems for the everyday,
working person. Several of her poems
have appeared in The Penwood Review, Cave
Region Review, Eureka Literary Magazine, California Quarterly and others.
She has published two books of poetry.
She lives
with her woodsman husband, a playful dog and one sleepy cat on an acreage of
woods on the Arkansas Ozark Plateau.
The January Challenge:
One interpretation of the challenge
for January is to submit a poem recalling what you wanted to be when you were a child.
Did you end up fulfilling that dream, or did your goals change as you grew?
Ponder the questions above the example poem by Barbara Robinette and see what
you come up with. OR maybe once - even as an adult - you wanted to be someone or something other than who you thought your were. Maybe now, you have a wish, a dream, a hope of what/who you may yet become. You can take the prompt in that direction if you prefer.
Your poem may
be free verse or formal. If you use a form, please identify the form when you
submit your poem.
Title your
poem unless it is a form that does not use titles. Single-space. Note that the
blog format does not accommodate long lines; if they are used, they have to be
broken in two, with the second part indented (as in the poem “Lilith,” one of
the November 2018 winners). Read previous
poems on the blog to see what line lengths can be accommodated.
You may
submit a published poem if you retain
copyright, but please include publication data. This applies to poems
published in books, journals, newspapers, or on the Internet.
The
deadline is January 15.
Poems submitted after the deadline will not be considered. There is no charge
to enter, so there are no monetary rewards; however winners are published on
this blog. Please don’t stray too far from “family-friendly” language (some
children read this blog). No simultaneous submissions, please. You should know
by the end of the month whether or not your poem will be published on this
blog. Decision of the judge or judges is final.
The poet
retains copyright on each poem. If a previously unpublished poem wins and is
published elsewhere later, please give credit to this blog. I do not register
copyright with the US copyright office, but by US law, the copyright belongs to
the writer unless the writer assigns it to someone else.
If the same
poet wins three months in a row (which has not happened thus far), he or she
will be asked not to submit the following two months.
How to Submit Your Poem:
Send one poem only to wildamorris[at]ameritech[dot]net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for “dot”). Put “January Poetry Challenge Submission” in the subject line of your email. Include a brief bio that can be printed with your poem if you are a winner this month. Please put your name and bio UNDER the poem in your email. If the poem has been published before, please put that information UNDER the poem also.
Send one poem only to wildamorris[at]ameritech[dot]net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for “dot”). Put “January Poetry Challenge Submission” in the subject line of your email. Include a brief bio that can be printed with your poem if you are a winner this month. Please put your name and bio UNDER the poem in your email. If the poem has been published before, please put that information UNDER the poem also.
Submission of
a poem gives permission for the poem to be posted on the blog if it is a
winner, so be sure that you put your name (exactly as you would like it to
appear if you do win) at the end of
the poem.
Poems may be
pasted into an email or sent as an attachment (no pdf files, please). Please do not indent the poem or center it
on the page. It helps if you submit
the poem in the format used on the blog (Title and poem left-justified;
title in bold (not all in capital letters); your name at the bottom of the
poem). Also, please do not use multiple spaces instead of commas in the middle
of lines. I have no problem with poets using that technique (I sometimes do it
myself). However I have difficulty getting the blog to accept and maintain
extra spaces.
Poems shorter
than 40 lines are generally preferred but longer poems will be considered.
© Wilda Morris
