After Poems Cash Prize Poetry Contest

AFTER POEM CONTEST — $100 PRIZE

Calling all poets who read like writers and write like they mean it.

I’m looking for the best after poem—a piece written in response to or modeled after another poet’s work. Whether you’re echoing a sonnet, interrogating a free verse fragment, or turning a classic inside out, make it unmistakably yours. The most succesful versions of after poems don't try to summarize, rather they enter into a conversation with the work they are paying some kind of homage to with an awareness of the conversation at large about poetry and literature generally.  

If you must use AI, use it for the best good—throw that sucker through spell check, ask for a verb tense agreement analysis, some clarity, and whether your lines follow whatever convention you’re working in. Please for the love of all that is holy, and above all: EDIT.

Format matters:
At the risk of sounding overly prescriptive, PLEASE Italicize the original poem’s title and author at the beginning of your submission, in the body of the text, double-spaced ahead of your first line (example to follow). This is particularly important for less well-known works, and is a dealbreaker for placing first if it's missing. 

Example:

Title (required by PS to publish the piece but not included in the body text)

after [poem name], by [famous/generic poet] (in the body text)

First line, note the double space ^ between this and the italics
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah second line of poem,
you get the gist now, right? 

First place:  $100 paid via Venmo or any other reasonable/legit currency transfer app

Second and third: Real feedback on what worked and what just missed getting into first.

All others:  By SoupMail request only, I'll tell you why you didn't place wherever you thought you belonged. Nicely, but the truth. 

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