I came across a poetry contest the other day and thought to myself that sounded fun. I haven’t entered a poetry contest since I was a teenager. Back then I entered quite a few contests as grand dreams of becoming a world famous poet swam in my head.

I scanned through the rules and found nothing that said I couldn’t use a poem I already self-published  in my book and nothing about an age limit so I picked one of my favorites and entered it. This is below:

The Mind

Happiness eludes
Others exclude
No one notices

Thoughts confuse
Paranoia ensues
Everyone excuses

Love enthralls
Above all
Only I care

Honesty’s evasive
Openness pervasive
Yet it’s needed

Intimacy’s jaded
Veneers faded
Nothing helps

Innocence gone
Pessimism won
Rejections eminent

Now in regards to my collection of poetry it fits right in and I felt good entering it. I received the thank you for entering email and immediately thought oops! as it said “thank you for entering our poetry card contest”.

Now I am feeling very embarrassed that I just scanned through the information page. That was a very big piece of information to miss. I can’t think of any of my poems that might even come close to being right for a greeting card.

My bad and now I am very red faced but next time I will remember the importance of reading thoroughly all the information before doing stuff like that.