Formal Fluency: Line Break Challenge

Details

The line, as Lynne Rees argues in this essay in Frogpond Magazine, is "the fundamental structuring tool in writing poetry."  This is true in traditional (formal) poetry, where the line is often the smallest unit in a poem, but it is equally true in more experimental forms like free verse or prose poetry. 

In her essay, Rees includes a list of 10 "possible reasons for breaking a line," ranging from the organizational to syntactic, and explores them in more detail. Although this article is only discussing line breaks in haiku, all of Rees' reasons are equally applicable to other forms of poetry--or even the non-formal, as she herself notes.

For the mini-contest this week, you don't have to write haiku, but you do have to use at least 3 of Rees' reasons for breaking lines—either all in one long-form poem or in several shorter ones. Alternately, you can use the same reason 3 separate times.

Be sure to label your line breaks with the numbering system she uses, too. That is, if you're making a line break to "introduce a dramatic effect" put a little [6] after the end of that line, so I know that's what you intend it to do. Note that you don't have to use these numbers on every single line break, but If I see any entries that don't contain at least 3 numbers, I'll disqualify it.

Winning entries

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Prizes

Rules

• Entries must be received before midnight of Sunday, April 15th (UTC time), and winners will be announced within one week of that date.

• Entrants should read the Frogpond essay by Lynn Rees titled "Going Organic: Line Break in Free Form Haiku before participating.

• Entries must be one long poem or three short poems, and must show at least three instances of Rees' line break reasons in the text.

• Part of our mini-contests is sharing what you've learned: although it's not required, we'd appreciate it if you come weigh in on the group discussion thread here

• Only one entry per member, please. Multiple entries will all be disqualified.

• Work must have Public visibility on Scribophile until winners are announced.

• Winners must have a valid Paypal account, or we won't be able to send the prize money!

Submission guidelines

• To enter the contest, post your work on Scribophile and check the box that says "Enter this work into the FF Line Break Challenge contest". Your work will automatically be considered. The checkbox will be visible until the contest deadline, which is in UTC time.

• Entry is free, but you'll need karma points to post your work. You can earn karma points by writing critiques of work by other members.