For the dark poetry contest 2022, we want our participants to skillfully craft a dark poem for our upcoming anthology, “The field of black roses”.
Dark poetry has psychological benefits and shows humankind’s capabilities to withstand catastrophic situations. Through this contest we want you to write about darkness, grief, heavy-hearted mess, melancholy, despair, mournfulness, dismally low-spirit, or existential crisis. You can also surprise us by writing down your own understanding of the importance of darkness in one’s life. Don’t forget to read our judging criteria and Terms and Conditions before making the submission.
The winner and top finalists will get the winning titles and certificates as a token of appreciation for their work.
All the selected participants will get a chance to publish with us.
Deadline: 28th February 2022.
Judging criteria:
Uniqueness – 50%
Creativity/Style and Originality – 30%
The coherence of form and structure (harmony of words, presentation) – 10%
Clarity of imagery and language – 10% => TOTAL – 100%
Rules:
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The competition is open to anyone aged 18 or over.
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Poems may be on any subject and in any form or style as long as it goes well with the theme for the contest.
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They must be typed and not longer than 40 lines (excluding title).
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Remember one poem submission per contest.
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Poems should be in English, must be the entrant’s own work and should not have been published or accepted for publication elsewhere (including online), should not have won another poetry competition, or be the translated work of another poet.
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All poems are judged anonymously and should not bear your name, or any other form of identification.
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Our judges will read all entries.
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No changes can be made to a poem once it has been submitted.
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The decision of the judge is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
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WinglessDreamer Poetry Festival Trustees, employees or associates, or members of their families, may not enter.
February 28, 2022 | Wingless Dreamer | Announcements
It’s okay to not be okay.
You’re are not obliged to be perfectly fine
and that’s perfectly fine.
Feel what you feel
But don’t let it
Control your life. -r.h.Sin
Through our Black Roses Dark Poetry Contest 2022, we wanted to spread this message and wanted our participants to channel their emotions, and process their feelings without any filter. Dark poetry doesn’t necessarily have to be all about evil spirits, blood-spillage, self-guilt, or horror crimes. It can be more than that. The spectrum of dark poetry lies beyond the horizon. If it makes you feel, it shouldn’t matter if it’s dark or not, it should just help you heal.
We got various submissions for this contest in the past few months. Reading all the submissions, and feeling what the writers have to say was a memorable experience for not only our judges but also our editorial team. Even though we were having a lot of trouble choosing just one winner, we were successful to single out a grand winner for this contest.
So, what is the wait for? Let’s announce the winner of our contest with a big round of applause!
We are thrilled to announce the winner of the Black Roses dark poetry contest 2022.
The grand winner is:
ANDY BETZ – AU REVOIR
Andy Betz has tutored and taught in excess of 40 years. He lives in 1974 and has been married for 29 years. His works are found everywhere a search engine operates.
Congratulations Andy! You’ve done a marvelous job in your literary piece. Well done.
A big round of applause for our runner-ups.
The first runner-up is:
DAMIAN WHITE – WE LOCKED EYES
After graduating from Davidson College and enduring two bouts of homelessness, the author rekindled his love for poetry and found solace in the pen. He was born in Columbus, Ohio to young African American parents and raised by his mother. When he left a Ph.D. program in 2014, after winning the Ford and National Science Foundation Fellowships, he erupted in tears as the uncertainty of the future agonized him. Though he’d published a few peer-reviewed sociology papers, he bore an insatiable craving for expressing himself creatively. After 7 years, he wrote I Made A Place For You as a triumph over the suffering that nearly took my life away several times. He is a loving husband, stepfather, son, nephew, grandson, and author.
The second runner-up is:
BRIAN YAPKO – THE EYES OF THE WILLOW
Brian Yapko is a lawyer whose poems have appeared in multiple publications, including Prometheus Dreaming, Cagibi, Poetica, Grand Little Things, Hive Avenue, the Society of Classical Poets, Chained Muse, Tempered Runes, Garfield Lake Review, Sparks of Calliope, Abstract Elephant and others. His debut science fiction novel, El Nuevo Mundo, will be published in Summer, 2022 by Rebel Satori Press. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Let’s have a big spherical of applause for our top finalists:
DARBY JONES – CATHEDRAL
Darby Jones is an emerging anthropologist and poet studying at the University of Queensland. In 2021, he was selected as UQ’s inaugural Humanities and Social Sciences Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Scholar. Inspired by the likes of Robert Mapplethorpe, Richard Siken, and Bret Easton Ellis, Darby’s poetry contemplates the fragility of the human condition from a queer perspective.
GAVIN BOURKE – LIVING MYSELF TO DEATH
Gavin Bourke grew up in the suburb of Tallaght in West Dublin. Married to Annemarie living in County Meath, he holds a B.A. in Humanities from Dublin City University, an M.A. Degree in Modern Drama Studies, and a Higher Diploma in Information Studies from University College Dublin. His work broadly covers nature, time, memory, addiction, mental health, human relationships, the inner and outer life, creating meaning and purpose, politics, contemporary and historical social issues, injustice, the human situation, power and its abuse, absurdism, existentialism, human psychology, cognition, emotion and behaviour, truth and deception, the sociological imagination, illness, socio-economics, disability, inclusivity, human life, selfishness and its consequences as well as urban and rural life, personal autonomy, ethics, commerce, science, grand schemes and the technological life in English and to a lesser extent in the Irish Language.
BRAD BUCHANAN – DAVID 8 UNREVISITIED
Brad Buchanan’s writings have appeared in nearly 200 journals, and he has also published three book-length collections of poetry: The Miracle Shirker (Poets Corner Press, 2005), Swimming the Mirror: Poems for My Daughter (Roan Press, 2008), and The Scars, Aligned: A Cancer Narrative (Finishing Line Press, 2019). His most recent book is the prose memoir Living with Graft-Versus-Host Disease (Armin Lear Press, 2021); he has also published two academic books. Emeritus Professor of English at Sacramento State University, he was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma in February 2015, and underwent a stem cell transplant in 2016, which involved a lengthy recovery and temporary vision loss. He is currently in remission.
MATTHEW HUMMER – KAIROS KRONOS KAOS
Matthew Hummer was born in a dead-end town in Pennsylvania. A narrow street of close homes by the tracks is called Broad Street. But, as kids, we believed that lie. Because a child sees the wideness of the world between fence and alley. The dim streetlights let us see the stars. https://scribenswriting.weebly.com/
K.T. REID – SHADOW
K.T. Reid is a poet who believes that there are many overlooked burgeons for those who experience the ability to thrive when dealing with dark times in one’s life. K. T. Reid is an African-American male writer living in Texas. He hopes to have his first full length project/collection published early to mid-2023. The original pieces included in this submission are as follows: “Mavroneri,” “Hourglass,” “Shadow,” “Less Home,” and “The Onset.”
HORIA POP – THE VOICE
He is a writer living in France. Works in the movie industry and hopefully will combine soon words with images.
MARTHA JACKSON – SENTINEL
Lover of words and images and the grief that besets the soul. Poetry is pain written in stanzas. 30 years of experience in writing and performing poetry.
TRACEY DEAN WIDELITZ – TONIGHT, I SAW YOU
Tracey Dean Widelitz is an emerging writer, poet, and photographer, and is the author of ‘A Heavenly World’, a forthcoming published children’s book. Her poetry has been published in Wingless Dreamer’s ‘Dreamstones of Summer’, ‘Dawn of the Day’, ‘Whispers of Pumpkin’ and ‘My Cityline’ Anthologies, and she was the Grand Winner of Wingless Dreamer’s ‘Dreamstones of Summer’ Poetry Contest. Her photographs appear in ‘Months to Years’ Winter 2022 edition and ‘Camas’ Winter 2021 edition literary magazines and Las Lagunas Art Gallery upcoming February show ‘Captured’ (Photography) 2022-Online Edition. Visit her website at https://www.traceydeanwidelitz.com
TERRY BRINKMAN – DEAD BUTTERFLIES
Terry Has been painting for over forty five years. Has Five Amazon E- Books. Poems in Rue Scribe, Tiny Seed. Winamop, Snapdragon Journal, Poets Choice, Adelaide Magazine, Variant, the Writing Disorder, Ink Pantry, In Parentheses, Ariel Chat, New Ulster, Glove, and in Pamp-le-mousse, North Dakota Quarterly, Barzakh, Urban Arts, Wingless Dreamer, LKMNDS and Milk Carton Press.
T.M. HUDENBURG – FLABLE OF ANCIENTS
T. M. Hudenburg is a writer who works and resides by the coast