Click here for authlete instructions.
Voter Instructions:
- The countdown at the bottom of each pairing indicates how much time is left to vote.
- When voting closes, timer will disappear.
- Read both poems as many times as you like.
- Mark the poem you like best by clicking the circle next to its name.
- Press the “Vote” button to record your vote.
- Votes are counted in real time and cannot be changed once entered.
- You can only vote once from a given IP address.
- Classrooms should submit one vote as a class.
- Students can then vote again individually from home.
Things to Consider in Making a Choice:
- How well the poem incorporates the authlete’s assigned word.
- Technical elements: meter, rhyme, form, shape, and other poetic standards.
- Creativity: wordplay, imagery, unusual approach, etc.
- Subtle elements that make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
- Your overall response: emotional reaction such as admiration, tears, laughter, terror, or some indefinable feeling.
Here are the poems:
8-drudgery
Accountant Turned Chocolatier
by Joe Mohr
To avoid a dull life of mindboggling drudgery
Sometimes requires a brain-shaking nudgery
At this point you need to be open to budgery
(Not-wanting-to-budgery leads to begrudgery)
When given my nudgery I opened “The Fudgery”
I’m happier now (though quite a bit pudgery)
vs.
9-salvo
Call to Arms
by Bekah Hoeft
Oh, heed my call, you summer boys!
Put down your games, put down your toys!
Come with your captain to the fray.
Out in the sun we’ll splash and spray.
Brightly-colored balloon barrage
We’ll drive them back towards their garage.
A swift salvo will make them dash
Ready? Kerplunk. Oh, rats! KERSPLASH!
