Minichu

Hi everyone. This is to thank all those who participated in my contests, esp. relating to Minichu. Through various means available on poetrysoup such as comments, blogs, soupmails and ofcourse the fairly good enthusiasm to participate in writing minichu poems, I have received both appreciation as well as constructive criticism of this format. In view of these I wish to make the following observations: 1. Minichu though having a challenging format has evoked a fairly good response. There are those who have got a good grip over it and those who try for it but do get it off a bit either in terms theme, format, continuity, etc. They may not get placed mostly but I appreciate their efforts for trying out. Some of these minichus that may be a bit off but seen on the placement list once in a while are discussed a bit later. 2. Judging other poets' creativity is a very challenging task. There may be some worthy entries that get left out due to limitations of placements as there may be better other entries in the eyes of the judge. 3. I judge blind as per poetrysoup conventions. I do not look up who has written a particular muse in the contest till it is declared. It is only after the results are submitted that I get to know who have been placed in the list as displayed in the results section of contests. If any poet is placed more than once in the contest, it is as per their own merit. And everytime I find some new poets attempting Minichu and getting placed. Also, I get so many soupmails from different poets requesting to understand the format better. 4. In the process of judging Minichus, syllable count, exact rhymes, continuity of theme, twist created at the end, etc. are some important considerations. However, in some very few cases, if they get overlooked because of either oversight (certainly my laziness), or different counters for rhymes & syllable counts give different results (as I do not prescribe any specific one), or for lack of adequate number of minichus (as many a times, other rhyme poems are wrongly entered in minichu contests), I admit for errors to have crept in a few rare cases. I hope this much of benefit of doubt can be given to a judge who spends some of his precious time for the passion of poetry. I am happy to reiterate that Poetrysoup has always encouraged poetry and poets of all hues from all over the world on a single platform in a cooperative and friendly environment. 5. I am sure that most of you will agree that despite for a few of such unintended blemishes, this format has produced many many wonderful minichus by so many poets on the poetrysoup. Encouraged by this, I have ventured to collect such poems with permission from the author poets to publish them in an anthology of Minichu poetry. I am glad to inform that I have received an overwhelmingly encouraging response for the same. I wish to profusely thank poetrysoup and the poets who write their muse here for their kind cooperation in this matter.