March Madness – Poetry Tournament

After writing a poem a day for January, and a haiku a day for February, it most definitely IS madness to have put my name down for a poetry tournament in March – but silly, smart or otherwise, I’ve done it. And I’m sure it will be fun! You can read more about it at  Ed DeCaria’s blog, Think Kid, Think. (You can read the official rules here.)

Today the draw went up. Pressure is mounting! It’s a knock-out tournament, so each round – each poem – counts! My Round One ‘opponent’ is Carol Wilc. (It’s okay, Carol. I play nice. :P) 

We’ll each be given a word that has to be used in a short (8-lined) kid’s poem. We’ll have 36hrs to write it, and a further 36 hours to collect votes. I could be calling on YOU for votes. Though only if you like my poem!

“To vote, readers simply select their preferred poem from the pair of options presented, then click the “Submit Vote” button. Once submitted, votes cannot be changed.” If you stick around and peruse the site, you can vote on other pairs, too. “In total, 64 poets from around the world have joined the event; and together, by the end of this tournament, these poets will have written 126 new children’s poems in just 21 days!” (Quoting Ed DeCaria)

Some schools will be visiting and voting for their preferred poems. I can just imagine the great discussion this will prompt. And the suspense/interest, as the prompts and poems roll out. I suspect that the tournament will be a focus of interest for the next three weeks – certainly for me!

Two of my #MoP12 fellow poets are taking part. And a number of my twitter buddies. I’m kind of glad I’m not against any of them in Round One.

Hoping you can pop over to Ed’s blog tomorrow and show your support for children’s poets around the globe. Because you can’t have a poetry tournament without voters!  New prompts and poems will be appearing regularly. (Mine goes up on Day Two of the tournament – 13/3/2012 – Chicago time.)

See you there!

Have you signed up for March Madness? Please leave a comment. I’d love to follow your progress & cheer you on.