Denver County Fair invites writers to take part in Bounty, the third annual poetry contest featuring poems inspired by agriculture, gardens, food and farms. Now in its third year, the Denver County Fair is a modern interpretation of the traditional fair — a super-charged mix of pastoral passion and urban crazy.
Poetry submissions may be of any length and any style but must relate to the theme of agriculture, food, gardens or farms. Contest is open to Colorado residents. Poems must be previously unpublished and have not received awards in other competitions. One poem per entry fee. Multiple submissions accepted. Submissions are judged by a panel of literary professionals. All judging is blind.
Two Categories: Adult (ages 18 and over); Youth (ages 10 - 17)
First Place: Blue Ribbon + Tattered Cover Gift Card + Poetry Performance + $50
Second Place: Red Ribbon + Tattered Cover Gift Card + Poetry Performance
Third Place: White Ribbon + Tattered Cover Gift Card + Poetry Performance
Finalists: Poetry Performance
Entry Fee is just $5 and provides a free pass to the fair.
To Enter:
1. Check the Competition Information: http://www.denvercountyfair.org/competitions/
2. Use the online entry form to pay your $5 fee: https://denver.fairmanager.com. Online entries receive one FREE day pass per entrant.
3. Submit your poem by Thursday, July 25, 2013 via email to poetry@denvercountyfair.org. Include your name, address, telephone number and category (Adult or Youth). Submit the poem in a Word Document or paste in the body of your email.
Winning poems will be on display at the Denver County Fair, August 9-10-11, 2013, and winners and finalists are invited to read their poems at the Denver County Fair Poetry Performance on Sunday, August 11, 2013.
Entry Deadline: Thursday, July 25, 2013
The 2012 Denver County Fair First Place, Blue Ribbon Poem:
What We Make
for Frederick H. Stitt
This is a very old recipe.
The kind your hands know
better than your head.
Take the zucchini
from the fridge. Think of your job,
of your husband working late,
of your father
who fell last week,
more than a thousand miles away.
Think of the bruises that blossomed,
black then green, on his forehead,
across the span of his ribs.
Grate the zucchini.
You will need three cups
and one of mozzarella.
Break three glorious
lop-sided, orange-yolked eggs
and think now of your father
as the young man turned from the camera,
modeling suits in a catalogue—
his frame that broad and fine.
Add flour, oil, salt and pepper,
loads of fresh basil, baking powder.
Let the onion do its worst.
Think of your dog,
his sturdy joints
going stiff,
even his wag an ache,
and how he goes to his leash
still, every time, in a lather.
Mix and load into a butter-greased,
8” pan. Think of the rich flesh and rough stones
of peach season,
which is right now every morning
bursting the day open
in your mouth. This is August.
Bake a while at 350˚.
It will rise. It will fall. It will mingle
with fresh tomatoes and Romano.
Think. It will be delicious.
And then, one bite at a time,
it will be gone.
- Kathryn T.S. Bass
The 2011 Denver County Fair First Place, Blue Ribbon Poem:
Seed Starters
Strange how the rain comes
on days like this, when blue
in any context is a lie, a scratch
on the sky’s socked-in surface,
and the gutters on the house next door
leak like sieves, cracked and bowed,
dropping water into sidewalk ponds.
We let the sound in when
it suits us, note the downpour
but cannot feel the storm.
Cities wrestle for sky, jostle
for land. Every single tree
in this western town was planned
and planted by hand, century-old
wood sentries still standing
despite fickle Front Range weather.
And each spring in North Denver
amidst jungles of broken glass,
brownfields and bindweed, backyard Edens
wake from their Superfund-site slumber
and prove the naysayers wrong.
We order starter kits, lower the downspouts,
sift our compost and shed our socks.
Next weekend we’ll turn the raised bed,
let it rest a spell. And before we know it
we’re parents, standing over our bright
seedlings, cooing. The tomatoes wake first.
We cannot stop smiling.
- Meghan Howes
For more information, contact Drew Myron • Denver County Fair • Director of Poetry • poetry@denvercountyfair.org.
Please join me!
Drew
