The Prismatic Self: A Gauntlet of Mirrors within the Arena Poetry Contest

What to Submit?

Overview

This is not your typical poetry contest. Forget selecting your “best” stand-alone piece. This challenge asks more—demands more. I am calling on poets to forge a single, unflinching poem that becomes a living battleground of the self.

Within its lines, your conflicting inner forces—memory and desire, fear and ambition, shadow and light—must collide, converse, or come to uneasy peace. Your poetic ink should serve as a mirror and crucible. Where truth is tested under the heat of introspection.

Step into this arena where every word you write is a revelation and every stanza a reckoning. This is a challenge not just of craft, but of courage.

The Ask

I ask you to write one poem—only one—that doubles as an entry into a contest and a meditation on what it means to enter contests at all. Why do you create? Why do you need to share your words, to be seen, to win—or to risk losing? What does recognition mean to you? Or rejection?

This is your chance to explore what drives you to write—and what haunts you when you do. Go beyond performance. Go beyond persona. I want your truest voice, your rawest self, shaped with the sharp edge of your finest art.

This isn’t just a prompt—it’s a gauntlet. I am looking for poems that dare to wrestle with ambition, vulnerability, doubt, ego, purpose. That don’t shy away from discomfort. That stare down the reasons you keep returning to the page.

Are you brave enough to meet yourself in the mirror and not look away?

This is the contest about contests. If you feel a little sick before hitting submit—you’re probably getting close.

"One poem. No mask. No mirror. Just the soul, exposed." - Poet

Rules and Guidelines

1. Theme and Content

• The poem must directly address the poet’s own experience with poetry contests, including motivations, anxieties, aspirations, and the paradoxes of seeking approval through art.
• The poem should include at least one self-reflective question and one moment of vulnerability.
• The poem must reference, either literally or metaphorically, the idea of a "contest," "arena," or "judgment."

2. Form and Structure

• Any poetic form is allowed (free verse, sonnet, villanelle, etc.), but the structure must serve the poem’s emotional and philosophical depth.
• Maximum length: 20-40 lines or 400 words, not counting spaces and structural elements
• Title required: "The Prismatic Self"

3. Technical Challenge

• The poem must contain at least one extended metaphor relating to mirrors, masks, or stages. And extra points for using at least One Anadiplosis, One Conceit, One Litotes, and One Synaesthesia and finally a Neologism that captures an internal state for which no adequate word exists. (You must provide a brief definition of this word in the footnote.)
• Incorporate a quotation (real or invented) that represents a voice of judgment-this can be from a judge, an audience, or the poet’s own inner critic.

4. Submission and Anonymity

• All entries must be submitted anonymously (no identifying information in the poem or file).

5. Judging Criteria

Entries will be judged anonymously based on:

1. Depth & Authenticity of Exploration (30%): The poem's success in genuinely engaging with complex inner dimensions.
2. Artistic Merit & Craft (30%): Quality of language, imagery, form, musicality, technical skill, and overall execution.
3. Integration & Internal Dynamics (30%): Crucial Criterion. How effectively the poem blends together the distinct inner facets. Is the interplay compelling? Does the poem achieve a sense of complex unity, tension, or synthesis? Are transitions handled skillfully?
4. Overall Impact & Originality (10%): The poem's resonance, memorability, and freshness of voice or perspective.

Prizes

First Prize, Glory
Second Prize, Glory
Third Prize, Glory
Seven Honorable Mentions

Preparing Your Entry

Submit one copy of your poem online. Format your poem. Please make your entry easy to read — no illustrations or fancy fonts. 

English Language

Poems should be in English. Poems translated from other languages are not eligible, unless you wrote both the original poem and the translation.

A Note to Poetry Contestants

You are welcome to enter this contest, whether or not you won a prize in one of my previous contests.

Note from Sponsor: