Writing 12

Great work in the lab today.

Deadline for the Manuscript: Tues. Jan. 24 (Day 1) Period 5.

No Lates accepted. If you need an extension, speak to me well in advance. Extensions may be given but we are under a publication deadline for The Claremont Review so you could be jeopardizing getting published.

Tomorrow: meet in the Science Bldg. Computer Lab.

Due: Bring 6 or 7 (depending on which group you are in) copies of a poem you want the class to edit for our workshop in the board room on Monday.

Isabella and Karen, you need to bring 7 copies, please.

Tomorrow during class we will each send two poems to the League of Poets National Youth Poetry Contest. For details, visit: www.youngpoets.ca 

Have the poems on your email. You will also need your home address, city and postal code, and a phone number where you can be reached in April. These poems need to be absolutely error free. Search the website for previous winning poems to get an idea of the type of poem that seems to catch a judge's eye.

Here is a copy of the manuscript criteria which I handed to you before the Xmas break:

Manuscript Criteria List: Poetry, Writing 12

Follow your way to an A . . .

Due:Jan. 24. No late manuscripts accepted.

Ensure that you have completed each item. Check each off each item as you finish it.

1. _____ You have included your ten best poems. All of the work is your own.
2. _____ You have edited out clichés, lack of surprise, and dull language.
3. _____ Each poem is titled. The title adds resonance to the poem.
4. _____ Each poem has your name and email address as a header or footer.
5. _____ You are pleased with these final copies and you want to publish them.
6. _____ Any poems not for publication are marked: NOT FOR PUBLICATION
7. _____ Your title page includes a manuscript title such as Soft Green Rain.
8. _____ Your title page also includes name, address, postal code, phone number, and school and home email.
9. _____ The last page of your manuscript is a bio. 1-2 sentences about you.
10. _____ You have another copy at home, at Uncle Fred’s and in a bank safe.

 MANUSCRIPTS WILL NOT BE RETURNED. I DO NOT EDIT THEM. THESE ARE NO LONGER UGLY BABIES. THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL AND READY TO LEAVE THE NEST.

Fly Fleance, Fly!! ( Macbeth).

YOU MUST ALSO submit an electronic copy Jan. 24th. Both are due or you do not receive a mark.  

EACH POEM IS IN A SEPARATE FILE labeled by title.  Include a copy of the bio in the body of the email. Include your name, home address, city, postal code, phone number and home email.

 NO LATES ACCEPTED. If you are sick, send it by cab. They need the money! YOU NEED THE MARKS! The manuscript is worth 50% of term 1, more than any provincial exam.

Make sure that the poems you include match the criteria below:

1. Surprise—I don’t want to be able to predict the next line.
2. Form—line break, caesuras, enjambement, juxtaposition, stanzas, etc
3. Sound—rhythms, syllabics, alliteration, assonance, dissonance, etc
4. Truth—the subject matters to you. You reveal something, make the reader look.
5. Diction—use of language is precise, not fat when you mean chubby, etc…
6. Insight—in the final analysis, the poem is more than description. It offers a vision of the world we were not able to see until we read your poem.

In a manuscript, I expect each copy to be absolutely clean. If there is a typo or mechanical error, I ignore that poem and so will editors of magazines and judges of contests. You are implying via mistakes that your poetry is not important.  I don’t wish to ignore poems. These are your babies—fully grown. Would your mother send you to kindergarten in a dirty shirt with mud on your face?