Calling all poets

DISCOVER YOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY

“Come on down!” invited Monty Hall, host of the TV game show “Let’s

Make a Deal.” Well, your local library is making a similar offer.

Come on down! Enter “Versfication,” our fifth annual poetry contest.

You may win fame and fortune.

It has been persuasively argued by many that poetry is the most

democratically-spirited, emotion-filled and personally expressive of

all literary forms. Poetry is written in every culture, in all

socio-economic classes and by all ages. It is also constantly being

reinvented and reinvigorated -- from readings in dim urban

coffeehouses to spacious new bookstores; from a PBS special on the

explosion of teen slam poetry to an e-poetry festival in Buffalo --

poetry is a powerful and vital medium to represent people’s

diversity, feelings and creative spirit.

To promote National Poetry Month each April, your library sponsors

a community-wide poetry contest in which hundreds of worthy entries

are received. So now we’re calling all you Tennysons, Dickinsons and

Frosts to sharpen your pencils and minds and wow your friends and

families with original masterpieces submitted in our contest.

The competition is open to all ages and runs from April 1 to 30.

Winners receive gift certificates of $10 to $50 as prizes from

Laguna’s Latitude 33 Bookstore. Winning poems will be published in a

booklet printed by the library and first place poems will be included

in an issue of “The Coastline Pilot.” Entry forms, including contest

guidelines are available at the library.

No doubt about it. Now is the time to be recognized for your

poetic talent. So, come on down!

* MARIANNA HOF writes a bi-monthly column for the Coastline

Pilot. She is the Laguna Beach branch librarian.