New Orleans writers! If you’re a poet, poetry lover, or even a poetry hater, in celebration of National Poetry Month the Latter Library is hosting its first annual Worst Verse Bad Poetry competition. Eligible to all current students in the greater New Orleans area, the Library welcomes submissions of original bad poetry by the end of April, for a public reading and performance of the worst verses on Thursday, May 16th.

The rules are:

• Students at New Orleans area high schools and colleges are eligible to enter
• Poems must be original work, previously unpublished
• Poems must be 40 lines maximum
• Poems can be in any form – rhyme is encouraged, but not required
• Subject matter must be PG-13 or below (use your judgment!)
• One submission per poet
• Submissions will be judged anonymously by a panel of local poets, readers, librarians, and book-lovers.

To enter, email your submission with cover sheet including your name, school, class, age, email address, and phone number to kmartin@neworleanspubliclibrary.org by April 30, 2013. The best of the worst will win gift cards to local bookstores worth up to $50 (yes, you read that right) and new journals to fill with good poetry. We’re looking forward to reading the very worst of your work — so get writing!

Asymptote have just published their new issue; among other treasures, it features fiction by Pere Calders, translated by Lawrence Venuti, and an excellent interview with Margeret Jull-Costa. Their indiegogo campaign is up through the end of the month; please do consider supporting them.

 

To further celebrate National Poetry Month, tonight at Cafe Istanbul is Don Paul’s Poetry Ball 4, featuring some of the finest poets and writers in New Orleans — Megan Burns, Chuck Perkins, James Nolan, and Kalamu ya Salaam. Entry is free, but they’ll pass a hat. Details are available at the Cafe Istanbul website.

Today marks the start of National Poetry Month; more information — and free posters! — are available at the Academy of American Poets website. Knopf also maintains a daily poetry email newsletter all month long, well worth signing up for.

Also, given the month, I’m honored to say that I’ll have a poem in Magma 56, published this summer.

It’s that time of year again; for those in the New Orleans area, there’s a bounty of poetry-related events to celebrate National Poetry Month. First up are two events on the same day, the annual (and much-loved) Poets Reading Poets event at the Latter Branch of the NOPL on April 6th at 2pm, and far, far downriver, the Edible Book Fair at the Alvar Branch. Unfortunately they’re concurrent with time as well as place, but book lovers on either end of town have much to look forward to. Downtown folk, save the Uptown crowd some leftovers?

As ever, the 17 Poets reading series continues with a string of excellent performers (full list available here) every Thursday night, and I’m honored to be leading a poetry appreciation night at the Norman Mayer branch of the NOPL at the end of the month. Further bulletins as events warrant on that, but until then, hope to see you out and about during one of the loveliest months of the year — no matter what old Tom would have said.