Memo
To: All Writers, Editors, Publishers, and Contest Creators
From: Ruth Y. Nott
Date: Copyright 2002
Re: Special Announcement - Please Read Carefully
Uncharted Lines
I'll tell you a secret, just between me and you,
submitting my poems is the wrong thing to do.
I was born in an age after poetry died,
when the beauty of rhyme has been cast aside.
When the words that come unbiden to mind
are dropped upon pages in uncharted lines
that twist or curve or jump back and forth
where no one can figure their meaning or worth.
Their intentions masked in ubiquitous phrases
right out in the open on their typewritten pages,
trying to say in "implying" words
the obvious meaning which is somehow unheard.
Yet judges of contests and editors too
have nothing better in this world to do
than shower their prizes and contracts on these
unfathomable writers of gibberish - pu-leese!
So, no more will I write, and stuff, and stamp,
or on the doorsteps of editors camp,
while waiting and wishing for prizes and fame
when honoring that gibberish is their only aim.
I have recognition - from family and friends.
So, on their praises only will I learn to depend.
And whether I write it in pencil or chalk,
those judges and editors can just take a walk!
