On Poetry Competitions and Unposted Poetry

        It presents such a dilemma when I am forced to choose between posting a poem for public viewing and submitting it (or saving it for submission) to a poetry competition. It seems as if the "system" wants to limit the public posting of such poems; of course, if the poet is significantly accomplished and eminent, such problems naturally dissipate. For example, the purpose itself of submitting to poetry competitions, as well as the complementary issue of being able to come up with good poetry consistently enough that posting some (and thus voiding their utility in competitions) cease to be a problem.

        And in creating something of a balance between posting and "saving," I have found a notable drawback: this creates the scenario that all poetry posted is poetry that was at some point deemed "inferior," thereby potentially decreasing the desire for people to read the poetry and also the desire of the poster to continue. This endless downward spiral is terrible and cannot be allowed.

        A potential solution? Make it so that poetry that is submitted can have been published beforehand, as long it has not won another competition and there is proof that the author wrote the original poem. Of course, this requires more work to prevent plagiarism, but it resolves the key issue that remained beforehand, namely, the existence of plagiarized submissions. I do not possess extensive (or even that much) knowledge of the anti-plagiarism (and as of now anti-published) "checks" the organizations that run competitions go through, but I believe the burden this solution creates can be mitigated greatly if the competitors are required to provide proof of originality and the like. As for what form this proof might take and how this can be verified, I am not entirely sure. But it's an idea.

        I suppose for now I will continue on my current system of posting most of my poetry, only withholding a small proportion in order to use as "competition material." Even that proportion I will endeavor to publish after the competition ceases to be, either having rejected the poetry or having lauded it. In either case, I will add an "originally written" date for informative purposes, and will try to fill the gap where poems were withheld with some shorter, less time-consuming (but hopefully just as interesting) poetry.

        Well, there you have it. A bit of a rant, but hopefully some food for thought. Who knows, maybe the system can be changed someday. But for now, on with the poetry!