POETRY.COM IS A SCAM!!!!!!!!! Read about it here [link] I sent something to them and when I saw what was really going on I felt like such a fool. If you've already entered, I'm pretty sure your poetry is safe, but don't trust anything you hear back from them. I do, however, suggest teenink [link] if you haven't tried anything yet, you can submit as many pieces as you want for free and if they are published you get a free copy of the magazine (which isn't the highest quality, but hey, it's free, you can say you've been published, and at least it's legitament) I've been published through them twice so far (though I've probably submitted at least a dozen pieces over the years).

Always do some research before entering any writing or art contest though.

Now on to what I originally came to say...

You are a great poet. You can be both very dark (which isn't in and of itself either a good thing or bad), and very sweet, you use some very powerful imagery, and very lyrical (which can be wonderful juxtaposed with the darker images).

One thing I will say (that was said to me my first year in poetry slam and has helped immensely) is to try to experiment with breaking out of the more rigid rhyme and meter, because though it's effective it can be easy for the reader/listener to get caught up in the rhythm and stop paying attention to the words. It's really fun to just mess around with breaking up the timing of something, or rhyming some but not other parts of a piece. And if you haven't, I also suggest trying out some more rigid forms -- your current style would work really well in a pantoum, and you might have fun with villanelles also.

Umm, that was a really long comment. I hope it helps though, you have a lot going for you and I would love to see you grow.


Marika

--
we are the musicmakers, and we are the dreamers of dreams
wandering by lone sea-breakers, and sitting by desolate streams...

--
Take a Chance!
Random Deviation