The poems you see on this page are ranked according to the number of votes they've received in an ongoing poll of poems (both classics in the public domain and poems that have been submitted to the Author Showdown poetry contest). The more votes a poem receives, the higher its place on this page.
Once new poems are added to Poetry Author Showdown, a fresh poll is created and all
poems, old and new, start on an even playing field. Any ties are resolved
by ranking poems in alphabetical order, first by poet's surname and then by
poem title.
Do you think your poem has what it takes to stand against other works of contemporary poetry, not to mention the classics? Feel free to submit the text of your poem (no attachments, pornography, libel, offensive material, or copyright violations, please), and we'll post a link to it from this page and include it in the next Poetry Author Showdown poem poll.
It goes without saying that some very discerning readers, including editors and literary agents, visit this site frequently (see Bill's List of Literary Agents and Their Authors’ Books), so this is a great way of strutting your stuff in front of those who count most. Feel free to cite the e-mail address that you would like embedded in your byline, so that readers can contact you if they wish to do so.
And remember, agents, editors, and poets, the guy who put you
together!