[MR] next year's poetry smackdown

[rangernealson at aol.com]

Greetings to all the great and glorious wordsmiths ofAtlantia-
 
For the last three years at KASF there has been held a GyrthOldcastle Poetry Smackdown, in which we have celebrated (and roasted) a varietyof topics (and each other) in various poetry forms.
 
The 2011 KASF shall include a fourth installment and thisyear we are changing the format a bit.
 
At the next KASF poetry smackdown we are asking eachparticipant to choose an actual historical persona from a time before 1600 torepresent.  That person should come froma time whose poetry forms you feel you can attempt to write in.  (So if you like to write Shakespeareansonnets, choose a historical figure who was around in the mid to late sixteenthcentury, for example.  You could evenchoose to be Shakespeare).
 
We want all contestants to commit to entering beforeDecember 31st so that on January first we can then determine atrandom one other contestant for whom you will write a poem in praise and oneother person for whom you would write a poem ‘slamming’ them.  (So if you were shakepeare it might bedetermined, at random, that you were going to be praising Joan of arc andslamming Snorri Sturluson, two other contestants, both in Shakespearean style)
 
We want to encourage both new and experienced poetrywriters.  Writing in a language otherthan English is NOT required.  Actuallyshowing up to KASF is NOT required, though your poetry has to come and it willbe read aloud.
To make it more fun we are encouraging those who will cometo KASF to dress as the historical person you have chosen, but again this isnot required.
I have chosen Hildegard von Bingen and will do my best todress as an 11th century Benedictine abbess.  Lord help us.
 
If you are interested in this contest, please contact me andlet me know.
 
-In service,
 
Master Dunstan LeHeryngmongere.