Look, When I enter a poetry contest that I'm told will be decided by vote, I don't expect people to change the rules after the entry period has concluded. That's like, I dunno, changing the Law of Two Feet into, perhaps, the Law of One Arm and One Leg midway through an open space meeting! Vote me up or vote me down. Either way, I can take it.
Second, the official rules of the OS Poetry Contest (you could look this up anywhere you want to find it) say quite unequivocally that a person may submit a poem after the entrance period has been closed. I made this rule myself when I organized the first contest back in 1947, so I know it's true. The fact that it's a stupid rule and the fact that when the rule was formulated there was no such thing as e-mail should have no bearing on whether Harrison's poem may be included. He's out there suffering terribly. Let the poor guy in already. (I do, however, propose another new rule based on Harrison's poem. Any entry, I should think, needs to have more than 50% of its content come from the submitting poet, not Rene Descartes. (I mean, if HO wins, who gets the prize? Does he have to share it with the dead guy? Or what? I think this rule should also apply to Otto von Bismarck, whom I believe is also dead, although more recently, and several other people, too.) Lastly, voting, like the Law of Two Feet, is more an expression of preference, not necessarily a judgment of quality. If it were the latter, I would probably never vote. Have you seen the "quality" of American politicians lately?! So, let's all hurry up and vote for Joelle's poem and get on with getting it on. Ralph Copleman P.S. Be careful about subscribing to any of my political opinions. I live in New Jersey (USA), where the saying "Vote early and often" was first coined. * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
