Hi Rus,
Just wanted to let you know I wrote a poem for this contest and it was posted for a little over a day until I went to the site and read the "fine print" about submitted poetry/prose. I don't know if this is a standard newspaper thing but I was shocked with what the lawyers for the paper came up with. I emailed Lawrence, the contact at the Chronicle, and had him take my poem off the site. I don't give that kind of power over what I create to anyone; especially a "perpetual right". Here is a copy of that bit of lawyer-ese:
QUOTE
The fine print: By submitting your poem to The Chronicle of Higher Education, you agree that The Chronicle may consider your poem for publication; if your poem is chosen, you agree to give The Chronicle of Higher Education a perpetual, worldwide, nonexclusive right to copy, display, publish and use the poem, in print or online, without further obligation to you. In addition, you represent and warrant that you are the sole author and owner of all rights in and to the poem, and that the poem is original and does not infringe upon any statutory copyright or any common law right or proprietary right of any individual or organization.
The underlined part (I did that) was the crux of my concern. Don't know if you saw or read that part and if not, wanted to give you the heads-up. Here is the poem I submitted; hope you like it. I utilized the same sonnet format and rhyme scheme used by Keats.
Apollo's Weavers
Though bound with Time’s strong hands and Fate’s caprice,
I wandered through antiquities’ domain
while lost within the lines of sweet refrain.
Adventures, shared in contemplative peace,
are gifts to eye and mind without surcease.
Those moldering in graves and crypts would deign
to have me at their side ere they were lain
on flowered bier. With words, they can release
tight fetters, lending thoughts quilled wings for flight
into the shadows of disheveled time.
With missives writ, my memories bedight
in silken phrase and sonnet’s structured rhyme.
Their panoply of vistas, apposite…
weave tapestries of life; serene, sublime.
Larry