The O, JULIET Love Poetry Competition

Your shoulders are broad beneath your shirt
I see them, hard and strong, with arms that have held me,
hands that have found me, fingers that have touched me.
These shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, built the Temple of Love,
lit my heart's fire, plumbed my soul's well,
plucked the sweet Fig of Desire, and placed it on my tongue.

-- Juliet Capelletti

When I initially made the decision that "my" Romeo and Juliet would not only be 15th century Dante freaks but amateur poets themselves, it didn't quite compute that they would both have to write love poetry...meaning I would have to write verse in both their voices. I must say, it gave me pause -- in all the years I've been writing I'd only dabbled with poetry for fun (I didn't let anybody read it except my husband). But I decided to take the plunge and while of course it's not Shakespeare, it was a lot of fun. It didn't hurt that neither Romeo nor Juliet were themselves anything more than amateurs. But the experience got me thinking that readers might like to take a crack at writing poetry about everybody's favorite emotion. Thus, the O, JULIET Love Poetry Competition was born.

There'll be two separate contests (and winners), one for adults, and one for young poets age 13-18. If you fall into the latter category, you'll need to let me know that in your entry. The winner in each category will receive a signed copy of O, JULIET, a Renaissance style leather-bound journal in which you can continue writing your award-winning poetry and prose, and a leisurely phone conversation with me.



To Enter, simply send in your poem (of any length) here to this blog by February 2nd. Please clearly include your name, email address and whether your poem should be judged in the adult or 13-19 year old category. The two winners will be announced on Valentines Day, 2010.

Lots of love,