SDMB Poetry Sweatshop - November 2010 edition.

Cafe Society
1

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the logistics thread for the November 2010 Poetry Sweatshop. These have been tremendous fun in the past, and have produced some top notch work from the participants.

I do realize this is Thanksgiving weekend in the USA, but perhaps this is just the excuse some people need to slip away from family for an hour and spend some quality computer time.

As with the past Sweatshops, any interested poets will have one hour to write a poem - any style, form, length, rhyme scheme (or no rhyme.) - but the poem must incorporate three words chosen at random. The words will be in an auto-reply message that can be received by writing to sdmbpoetrysweatshop at gmail dot com after 9 AM EST, Thursday, November 25th, 2010. (Please remember to mention your SDMB username…) Send the poem in a reply to the auto-reply, and the time stamps will show whether the poem was completed within the hour or not. Sorry, lurkers - entry is restricted to those who are permitted to post on the SDMB, be they Guests, Members, Charter Members, Mods, Admins or other interesting titles.

In the last hour of the Sweatshop, an Anthology Thread is started and the words are announced in its Original Post; at the end of the Sweatshop (i.e. at 9 AM EST on Monday, November 29th, 2010) a poll is established, in which readers are encouraged to vote for their favourite poem. At the close of the poll, the poet with the most votes is acclaimed Poet Laureate of the SDMB. Past Poets Laureate are tracy jo, Maserschmidt, The Hamster King, Pandoranoid, Maserschmidt, Elendil’s Heir, mauxlicious, Elendil’s Heir, Serenata67, Le Ministre de l’au-delà and Le Ministre de l’au-delà. No, those aren’t misprints - Maserschmidt, Elendil’s Heir and **Le Ministre de l’au-delà.**are all two time winners.

I would like to begin this month’s Poetry Sweatshop on Thursday, November 25th at 9:00 AM EST, and close on Monday, November 29th at 9:00 AM EST.

Since the April sweatshop, we have used a multiple choice poll, and I’ve been very pleased with the results. Unless there are any strenuous objections, I’d like to keep the poll multiple choice.

And, of course, if there are any logistical considerations, this is the place to bring them up. I’m hoping lots of you can find a spare hour sometime this weekend.

Best wishes,
Le Ministre de l’au-delà

2

Yeahhhhhhhh, this is really terrible timing for me, since my boyfriend is in town for the holiday. It’s possible I may be able to find an hour, but probably not. Regardless, I’ll look forward to seeing everyone’s contributions.

3

Well, that’s exactly the sort of thing that worries me. If it totally doesn’t work out, folks, let me know and I’ll figure something else out. (There’s not much point in having a sweatshop where no one can participate.)

4

Given that this is a heavily U.S. board, I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a lot of people with conflicts because of Thanksgiving.

5

Thanks, Ministre. It’s gonna be iffy for me, but I’ll try.

6

The time stamps show that a poem was or was not written within the hour. I’ve always tried to schedule these over weekends because people seem to have more free time. What if, I extended the period to the next Thursday, Dec. 2nd? Yes, technically that makes it the Nov./Dec. Poetry Sweatshop, but other than that… Maybe poets can squeeze some time over their lunch break at their day jobs, maybe steal an hour in the evening or first thing in the morning. To sum up, then -

Would it make it easier for more people to participate to extend the writing period to a full week?

Lemme know what you think, everyone.

7

That would certainly give me a much better chance of participating.

8

And here we go…

I’ve arbitrarily decided to end the November Poetry Sweatshop at 9PM on Thursday, December 2nd. Happy Thanksgiving to all the American Dopers, and I hope some of the poets can find some time to write over the next week and a bit.

9

I wanted to give this a bump in case anyone is looking for something to do today that doesn’t involve crowds or shopping.

10

maserschmidt - I just re-arrived home to find your poem. Good work!

Still more time before Thursday’s deadline, everyone!

11

Mr. Excellent - welcome to the sweatshop, and thank you for an excellent entry.

12

Sorry, that’s 9 p.m. in which time zone? Eastern, same as the OP?

13

My apologies - 9 PM EST, Thurs., Dec. 2nd.

I’m optimistically looking forward to seeing a poem from you, Shot From Guns.

14

And there’s a poem from Clockwork Jackal - well done!

15

One last bump before tomorrow’s close. I have four poems so far - there’s always room for one more.

16

Things have been crazy here, but I hope to submit something by the 9pm EST deadline.

17

I just received a poem from Barking Dog - way to go!

18

And from Elendil’s Heir - good on you.

Just over three hours left to go - anybody else game?

19

Can I just apologize in advance for my Vogon-ish entry?

Ok then.

20

Will I bleed from the ears?

Apology rejected.