AMC Online: "CREATIVE COPYING POETRY CONTEST"
WHAT IS CREATIVE COPYING?
Creative copying has been widely used for centuries to come up with some greatest works of art. Shakespeare did it, TV shows borrow from movies, movies borrow from books, books take if from our lives — you name it. The idea of creative copying is to take an existing work and reinvent it. Reinventing it is the key, as pure copying without the zest would produce boring and lifeless results.
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
- food,
- education,
- love,
- social isolation,
- money.
EXAMPLE:
A model poem by Archibald MacLeish about what a poem should be begins:
A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit
A possible poem creatively imitating it on the topic of death can read:
A graveyard would be wonderful and warm
As a spring storm.
HERE’S HOW TO ENTER “CREATIVE COPYING POETRY CONTEST”:
- On FACEBOOK, VKONTAKTE, and INSTAGRAM:
1) Compose a poem imitating Robert Frost’s Fire and Ice in terms of the number of syllables, stresses, and rhymes. Make sure it is about one of the following topics: food, education, love, social isolation, or money.
2) Post your poem online on your Facebook, VKontakte, or Instagram page.
3) Tag American Center’s account on social media (@acmoscow on Facebook and VKontakte; @amc_moscow on Instagram) and add the hashtag #amc_creativecopying2020. If your post with your poem doesn’t have the tag and the hashtag, we won’t know that you’ve entered into the contest.
- THROUGH GOOGLE FORM:
1) Compose a poem imitating Robert Frost’s Fire and Ice in terms of the number of syllables, stresses, and rhymes. Make sure it is about one of the following topics: food, education, love, social isolation, or money.
2) Go to this online form: https://forms.gle/dNg7bvRhewnRyohi8 fill it out and post your poem, then click submit.
We accept only creative copying poems written in English.
Winners will be announced in June 2020. We may also pick a few Honorable Mentions—the final number will depend on the number of entries received. Winners in each category will be awarded prizes.
QUESTIONS?
Please contact us at: [email protected], putting “Creative Copying Poetry” in the subject.
Fine Print: You can enter as many poems as you like, but you can only win one prize. By entering the contest, you certify that your poems are your own creations. Poems that are plagiarized will be disqualified from the contest. All decisions as to winners will be made by the American Center in Moscow staff and guest judges, and all decisions are final. Any poems you share stay yours, but we get a standard “non-exclusive, perpetual” right to use them.
The winning poem written by Zhanna Spiricheva:
Let’s try our food without the salt,
For just a little.
Come on, be brave, be cool, unfold
The truth of life deprived of salt.
There are a lot of thoughts to whittle:
Too many sweets that you can add,
Too much of nectar in a flower…
Is it too bad?
Well, just devour.

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