The Business of Poetry

Yesterday in the Toronto Star (newspaper) there was a small article about an upcoming poetry competition. Now I brake for poetry!! So I stopped and read the rules:

1. The poems must be taken from the words and topics published in the paper.

2. The competition starts in November.

3. Poems should be no longer than 300 words. Anything longer gets stamped TL;DR :)

4. Poems maybe haikus, sonnets, limericks, quatrains or any other manner of verse.

5. The top poem in each category wins a $100.00 gift card to Indigo (local book store chain).

6. Categories are: Politics (national); Profit (business); Score (Sports); Transform (GTA - Greater Toronto Area); Illuminate (insight); Explore (travel); Equality (foreign); Heart (life); Fame (entertainment); Home (new in homes); Speed (wheels).

7. Submit each poem separately to poetry@thestar.ca, with the category of the poem in the title line and your contact info.

This is very curious. First, the star is our second string paper behind The Globe and Mail, which has always been considered the paper of the upper classes. Secondly the article was in the business section of the paper, which few wannabe poets, I assume, would read. Who am I to judge? Maybe there are a lot of CEOs who are closet poets :)

Here's my take on it.

There once was a paper, The Star
That chose to take poetry quite far
They held a contest,
Which, I must confess,
Has totally raised their savoir!

The picture? I think that it's going to be a really silly day :)

Have an awesome day!!