The Thinkier

The inaugural Poetry Madness! tournament is nearing its close — a merciful finish for some, and a rather merciless one for others.

Stephen and Debbie are now searching their inner Poes for one last pressure-written poem, while the rest of us wait and wonder what’s next.

And so, I thought I’d give you all something to talk about.

Many of you have shared with me (or have shared openly in the comments or on your own blogs) what this madness has meant to you: from interacting with family to sparking new student enthusiasm, from discovering unfamiliar authors to discovering your own talents, from remembering decades-old experiences to triggering forgotten poetic thoughts, from expanding personal networks to meeting potential long-term friends.

Honestly, I never expected anything so … permanent.

Fun? Yes.

Fast? Yes.

But then I thought the thing would just sorta end.

However, it’s pretty clear now that this event is here to stay. And that brings me to the point of this post: An annual event of this magnitude deserves a SYMBOL, something that truly captures the spirit of the event.

To this end, I am excited to introduce you to:

“The Thinkier”



^{Non-artist’s rendering}

Inspired by Allan Wolf’s uncannily creative use of his 15-seed word “kinkier” in the first round, this trophy will be engraved with the names of all Poetry Madness! champions over time. After each year’s tournament, “The Thinkier” will be sent to live with that year’s winner for the following year. They can show it off at home, in school(s), on tour(s), whatever they want — just try not to break him! But then, when the next year’s tournament starts, they send it back to me to add the name of new champion, and then “The Thinkier” goes off to live in a different home for that year, gets to meet a new set of people, and so on.

Despite its inanimateness, it will be an unmistakably living, moving, breathing embodiment of the event.

And that brings us back to our 2012 Finals …

Whose name will be forever engraved as the first Poetry Madness! champion?

We’ll find out Thursday night! And now we have something else to talk about while these two take forever to write their final poems. Geez, guys. Hurry up already.