Group-Sponsored Feminist Ars Poetica Contest

Details

Why write poetry? What is your purpose, message, impetus? What drives you to create this fluid thing we call a poem? An ars poetica (“art of poetry”) is a poem that speaks to a poet’s reason for writing poetry. In this contest, we want to specifically hear about why feminist poets write poetry, either poetry about feminist issues or from a feminist perspective. If you consider yourself feminist, why do you write poetry? And given the writing of poetry, what is it you seek to communicate and/or accomplish? The ars poetica has been historically male dominated; let’s break tradition and speak to the female experience. Please submit poetry only (use the genre “poem” when posting) in keeping with the ars poetica tradition, with a focus on feminism through poetry. Poems can be in any form (traditional metrical poetry, free verse, prose poetry, etc.), but must not exceed 500 words. Submit respectful content only, no explicit pornography, violence, hate speech, or otherwise unacceptable content. Submissions with such content will not be tolerated and will be disqualified.

This contest is sponsored by the Feminist Poets group, stop by and consider joining us.

To learn more about the ars poetica tradition, read this. Here are two poems you can read as examples of poems that some have called feminist ars poetica/manifestos: “I am New York City” by Jayne Cortez and “Ten Years After” by Susan Sherman.

Winning entries

Winners have been announced! Log in to see them.

Prizes

Rules

• Poetry only please. That means no novels, novel chapters, short stories, flash fiction, flash non-fiction, etc. Poetic prose is acceptable, but you must use the genre “poem” when posting to Scribophile so it is clear that it is a poem. Submissions that are not poetry will be automatically disqualified.

• Only new, previously unpublished work will be accepted.

• Winners will be announced on or before January 31, 2017.

• Entries must be no more than 500 words.

• Multiple entries are allowed.

• Work must have Public visibility on Scribophile until a winner is announced.

Submission guidelines

• To enter the contest, post your work on Scribophile and check the box that says “Enter this work into the Group-Sponsored Feminist Ars Poetica 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.

• If you have placed in a contest in the past with a particular piece, you may not resubmit that piece in other contests.