One of ours takes first place in the March IBPC!

In her final month as IBPC judge, Pascale Petit has chosen one of the three poems entered from our Poetry Forum as first place winner: Laurie Byro’s sonnet-like “The Bird Artists,” which was originally written for a tribute to W.S. Merwin, posted in December on our Forum, where it was greeted with comments of “almost perfect in terms of diction and flow” and “a mystery, an ancientness that transcends place. Beautiful, beautiful work...,” and finally discovered for the IBPC by poetry guide Margy Snyder. Petit recognized that this poem represents “poetry as spell or charm, as container and transformer”; she “marvel[s] at its compact power,” in which “Not a word or space is wasted. Vulnerable, visceral and ethereal, it lingers in the imagination and draws me back....” Congratulations to Laurie -- we’re very proud of you, and grateful for your contributions to the About Poetry Forum!

We’ve posted all the winning poems in this month’s competition, together with Petit’s insightful comments, for your reading pleasure.

Our entries for the April IBPC are due by the 3rd, so keep your nominations coming! Post your choice of the poems you think should represent our Forum in the IBPC folder, and be sure to notify the poet whose work you have put forward, to give them a chance to supply the information & permissions we must have before we can include the poem among our entries.

Related resources:
About the IBPC
Requirements for IBPC nominees
Anthology of the monthly IBPC winning poems
Archive of poems entered in the IBPC from our Poetry Forum