Poetry.com

I’ve always thought Poetry.com was the only place to go for serious poets. But after an unsettling, and rather disappointing experience with the poetry contest they offer, I feel obligated to warn fellow poets: To let them know not to get their hopes up when entering this contest, lest they get their hopes and dreams crushed by an organization that seems to be out for nothing but the money.

Don’t get me wrong, Poetry.com does offer a few excellent services on their web site: The Poetry In Motion Generator is a very resourceful and fun feature that I’d recommend to any aspiring poet.
And the Archives of poetry are great for allowing amateur poets to showcase their work o many readers around the world.

Here is where the bubble bursts.

Poetry.com offers a contest wherein anyone with a poem can enter. It seems like a great opportunity right?
Then when you receive a letter from them saying that you’re a finalist in the contest, and can you please confirm your poem for publication in an anthology, which you may have a copy of for the low price of seventy dollars – sounds a little fishy, but how exciting to be a finalist and have your work published!
Although you can’t afford a copy of the anthology, in which you helped to make, you sign and mail the confirmation, feeling honored to have been chosen out of the thousands of others.

And guess what else?

They must have really loved your poem because the next thing you know, you’re an invited guest to Washington, where your poem will be read, and where you’ll receive awards for your poetic accomplishment.
Oh my god! Aren’t you honored? For the low price of around five hundred dollars, plus the cost of travel, hotel, and food, you’ll be honored for your poetic accomplishment along with the thousands and thousands of other people who entered the same contest.

You couldn’t afford it could you? Not many can.
Well don’t worry: If you’re not able to make it to Washington, they will honor you anyway, by having someone else read your poem at the event.
Not only that, but they’re even going to send you your awards through the mail. You can have all of this (the reader, and the awards) for only around a thousand dollars.

Do you still feel honored?

The fact that Poetry.com can’t even personalize their letters tells you right there that all they’re doing here is collecting poems for free so they can publish an anthology and get rich off of it.
If you are a serious poet, this whole ordeal will piss you off. You shared your piece of work and now they’re trying to make money off of it – money that should go to you, the artist, and not the organization that’s supposed to be honoring you.

How many of you have gotten these letters?
How many of you paid for the anthology, the trip to Washington, and the awards?
If you don’t believe me, submit a poem to the Poetry.com contest, and tell me in a few months what happens.
I guarantee you’ll feel just a tad ripped off, for your heart and soul went into this poem, and Poetry.com will have you break the bank to get it back.