New Venue for Haiku! (Limericks, cinquains and free verse, too)

Our short-fiction contest has been so popular, we thought we’d give lyrical writers a chance to strut their stuff! The contest is open to everyone up to the challenge of creating poems shorter than 100 words. You are welcome to submit up to three poems, as long as each entry comes on its own piece of paper <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"> </script> with your name, address and daytime phone number clearly printed. Be sure to read the complete rules below.

The best poems will be printed in our Nov. 15 issue, and the top three entries will receive prizes.

The contest includes a kids division for those 12 and younger and a teens division for those 13-17.

Same rules, same deadline. Include your age with the entry.

Plus, there’s a spoken word contest! We’ll pick the finalists. Winners will be crowned at our poetry slam at the Crux Art Collective on Dec. 1.

This contest has special rules; see below.

Written poem rules

You can write your poem in any form—rhyming or not—as long as it does not exceed 99 words (that includes ifs, ands, ors and buts). Count carefully because we’ll have to disqualify even the best entries if they go over by so much as a word. Only three entries per person.

Hyphenated words are not considered one word, i.e. compound adjectives like “red-light district.” Exceptions are words that don’t become free standing when the hyphen is removed, like the “re” in “re-examine” is not a real word. Contractions count as one word, as do acronyms like NASA, but initials do not.

The title will not be included in the word count, but be kind to our editors and keep it short.

Numbers count as words too, but here’s the tricky part: twenty-eight is two words, but 28 is one.

There’s no limit to punctuation, so use commas as much as you like.

Spoken word rules

Please submit one entry, no longer than 99 seconds, on DVD or VHS. Alternately, you can e-mail us a link to a video posted on YouTube or another site.

We’ll select up to five finalists. Each will perform the piece he/she entered at our poetry slam, and the top three will be selected following the performances.

Please include your name, age, address, phone number and e-mail so we can invite you to the event. (Details will be forthcoming.)

Our deadline is Nov. 1 at 5 p.m.

E-mailed submissions are preferred: <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"> </script> (please specify Poetry 99 in the subject field).

You can mail entries to Poetry 99, 353 E. Second St., Chico, CA 95928.

You can fax entries to (530) 894-0143.