#1: Inaugural Poems
Open from December 1, 2020, to January 18, 2021. Accepted poems were published daily from January 1 through Inauguration Day, January 20, 2021.
ASSIGNMENT PURPOSE
The purpose of this assignment is to write a poem in response to or commemorating the next inauguration.
We are well-acquainted with the power of poetry to express our hopes and heartaches related to all matters of personal and public life. For this assignment, we would like to receive submissions that communicate in the special language and craft of poetry an inaugural poem.
This may be an expression of your perspective on inaugural day or what you would deliver if you were chosen as the ceremonial poet for the inauguration of our next president and vice-president.
Additionally, we encourage you to consider a range of choices you might take in narrative perspective, setting, audience, and form.
CONTRIBUTORS
The following poets have contributed poems to this assignment:
Jerry Bradley, Jerry Craven, Sherry Craven, Jesse Dioron, Chris Ellery, Charles Etheridge, Lyman Grant, Katherine Hoerth, Vincent Hostak, Kathryn Jones, Yahia Lababidi, karla k morton, Juan Manuel Pérez, Thomas Quitzau, Carol Coffee Reposa, Marilyn Robitaille, Sumera Saleem, Jan Seale, Herman Sutter, Marcy L. Tanter, Jeffrey Taylor, Loretta Diane Walker, Seth Wieck, and Antoinette Winstead.
Read the poems here.
Texas Poetry Assignment will also host a reading of selected inaugural poems on Tuesday, January 19, 2021, 7 pm CST.
PROGRAM FOR JANUARY 19, 2021 READING
FORMAL INTERESTS
We are interested in poems that demonstrate careful attention to the elements of shape, line, music, comparison, and balance, and especially how those choices contribute to the cooperative harmony of form and content in the poem. For more on this perspective, see the five formal causes of beauty in poetry.
HOW TO SUBMIT
Poetry submissions should be saved in Microsoft Word document format and composed in Times New Roman, 12 point font. They should be attached to an email to editor@texaspoetryassignment.org and include within the body of the email a brief cover letter and a 50-word biography.
ACCEPTANCE AND PUBLICATION
This call was open from December 1, 2020 to January 18, 2021. Accepted poems were published daily from January 1 through Inauguration Day, January 20, 2021.
PUBLICATION RIGHTS
Writers will retain all rights to their work published on this site.
