WD Poetic Form Challenge: Interlocking Rubaiyat Winner
With the next poetic form challenge just around the corner, here are the results of the Writer’s Digest Poetic Form Challenge for the interlocking rubaiyat. Exactly 30 poems made the…
With the next poetic form challenge just around the corner, here are the results of the Writer’s Digest Poetic Form Challenge for the interlocking rubaiyat. Exactly 30 poems made the original cut, so it was difficult getting down to a Top 10 list and eventual winner, but here we are.
Here is the winner:
Snowtime Blues, by William Preston
When winter winds return and blow,
my dreams are cloaked in indigo:
we walk again, once more a pair,
across the bright and crunching snow.
I feel again the morning air
and watch the sun emboss your hair;
the dried corn still perfumes my mind
and snowbirds join us, pair to pair.
These visions hold me in their bind:
the diamond ponds I left behind;
the cleanest sky I ever knew,
and there was you, beauty defined.
Now I know, whatever I do,
a part of me is there with you.
Frozen in gold, burning in blue,
a part of me is there with you.
*****
Build an Audience for Your Poetry!
Learn how to find more readers for your poetry with the Build an Audience for Your Poetry tutorial! In this 60-minute tutorial, poets will learn how to connect with more readers online, in person, and via publication.
Poets will learn the basic definition of a platform (and why it’s important), tools for cultivating a readership, how to define goals and set priorities, how to find readers without distracting from your writing, and more!
*****
Congratulations, William! I love the images and sounds, and I love the blues.
Here’s a complete look at my Top 10 list:
- Snowtime Blues, by William Preston
- Newborn, by Taylor Graham
- Visitations, by Jane Shlensky
- Ars Poetica, by James Von Hendy
- Ode on a Totem Pole, by rlhZbdPOET
- Prop, by Karen Pickell
- Survival Rations, by Pat Anthony
- Ambition, by Connie L. Peters
- Rubaiyat for D.B., by Bruce Niedt
- For Elaine, by RJ Clarken
Congratulations to everyone in the Top 10! And to everyone who wrote an interlocking rubaiyat!
Look for the next poetic form and challenge just around the corner.
*****
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer’s Digest Writing Community, which means he maintains this blog, edits a couple Market Books (Poet’s Market and Writer’s Market), writes a poetry column for Writer’s Digest magazine, leads online education, speaks around the country on publishing and poetry, and a lot of other fun writing-related stuff.
He loves learning new (to him) poetic forms and trying out new poetic challenges. He is also the author of Solving the World’s Problems.
Follow him on Twitter @RobertLeeBrewer.
*****
Find more poetic posts here:

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.