Bring Out Your Dead! A Halloween Sonnet Contest

 If there's one thing that gets the words flowing, it's death. And with tomorrow being Halloween, the day after All Saints Day, and November 11 Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, and/or Veterans Day, no time could be better for a contest focused on those we have lost. Another day coming up shortly is US election day, and writing a sonnet will help get your mind off all that.

Between 12:01 am and 11:59 pm EDT, October 31, 2024:

  • Send a word doc or pdf with one or more sonnets to anrettie@gmail.com. 
  • Send $5 Canadian for each sonnet submitted to  paypal.me/AlexanderRettie OR if you're in Canada, save us both fees and e-transfer to anrettie@gmail.com.
By 11 am EST November 5, I will announce a winner, who will receive 50% of the submission fees! All contestants will be contacted by email.

I'll publish the winner and any other sonnets I like here by 9 pm EST, November 5 -- to give you some fun news no matter how the US election goes.

Guidelines
  • I'm not going to quibble about what counts as a sonnet, but I will tell you I like end rhyme, meter, and fourteen lines. So there's that.
  • Previously published poems are fine if you have the rights, but let me know where the poem was originally published so I can give credit.
  • The sonnet should deal with the dead in some way.
  • The sonnet should NOT deal with US electoral politics in ANY WAY, but the victims of any nation's or people's foreign or domestic policy are perfectly acceptable subjects.
  • Name your file the title of the poem and DO NOT include your name or other identifying information.
  • Add a note to your PayPal payment indicating the title of the poem or poems you're paying the submission fee for.

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