Our Forum’s Envoys to the June IBPC

The Forum poets were active this month in pointing out poems worthy of InterBoard Poetry Competition nomination, and we’ve selected three good ones to represent our Forum this month:

• “My Mother the Cobalt Blue Butterfly Star,” by Guy Kettelhack (GuyBlakeKett), a poem in which his trademark internal rhymes and enjambment condense his mother’s presence as image, avatar, ghost and reflection into potent, unusually short lines.
• “Plant Me Deep” by Deb Ouellet, a lovely parable of a last will and testament that was voted co-winner of this month’s challenge for poems inspired by lines from Milton Acorn’s “The Island.”
• “The Bracelet” by Forum newcomer Gabriel Greenberg (tommyhorn), a powerful melding of memory and the physical present moment of eating duck in a Thai restaurant that vibrates like a hallucination.

Kudos and luck in the judging to all three poets! Patricia Smith, famed slammer & performer, ousted journalist, teacher and author of our 2006 book of the year, completes her term as IBPC judge with this month’s competition, and we’ll be back with the winners she chooses at the end of the month.

In the meantime, please remember that it’s up to you, our readers, to keep the IBPC nominations coming! Whenever you see a great poem posted on our Forum, no matter where it is, come on over to the InterBoard Poetry Competition folder and nominate it! And be sure to notify the poet whose work you are putting forward, so that he or she can post the required permission and information before Poetry Guide Margy Snyder selects next month’s 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
April - June judge, Patricia Smith