At the beginning of March, the beautiful Laura Boggess made an offer. Post a Mug Shot for Tweetspeak, and she’d give the top entrant a custom mug (custom poem to be written by yours truly, L.L.).
The competition became… fierce. Okay, fiercely amusing—with one mug actually going on a road trip, where it modeled with a bear, a bird, and a beer man. (See the dedicated montage below, honoring Sandra Heska King’s road-trippin’ mug.)
As it turned out, the judging process also became fierce. I thought it sounded simple enough. I wanted the process to be fair (which meant I couldn’t be a judge, since I know the participants), so I gave my girls the parameters:
1. each girl: pick your top 3 choices, with attention to creativity, beauty, and presence (the original charge was to capture one’s reflection in the mug, or to overshadow it somehow)
2. put the six finalists into a hat (well, not the finalists, but their representative slips of paper)
3. pull out the winner
Glitch number one: “I can’t choose three!”
Mom fix: “Well, all right, choose your top four.”
Glitch number two: “Not fair! One of hers is more likely to win because she put in more choices!” [darn, why did I teach them about probability?]
Mom fix: “Put yours in the hat and choose. Then she can put hers in the hat and choose. Then we’ll put the final two in the hat and choose.” [Phew! Negotiating this process requires a degree in diplomacy.]
Glitch number three: “I feel sad. I want them all to win.”
Mom semi-fix: “There can only be one Top Entrant. That’s the rules. Okay, but we can have six Runners Up.”
And so it is.
Reno K. Lawrence was chosen as the Top Entrant, for which he will receive this custom poem on a Tweetspeak mug…
Word Man
He collects the eclectic—
lavender hey-dilly,
scent of dew kisses,
a soft lowing, a ringing,
from morning’s blue, blue bells.
(Bluebonnets photo by Reno)
The six Runners Up will receive their choice of a new Every Day Poems subscription for themselves or a friend, or a 1/2 price coupon of their choice, for themselves or a friend.
Thanks to everyone who participated in our project!
All Project Participants
Reno K Lawrence, Top Entrant
Darlene, runner up
Genevieve Thul
Karin Fendick
Kimberlee Conway Ireton, runner up
Jennifer Lee
Sandra Heska King, runner up
Monica Sharman
Susan Etole
Tania Runyan, runner up
Matthew Kreider, runner up
Emily Wierenga, runner up
Sandra’s Road Trippin’ Mug
Visit our store now and find a great gift for Mother’s Day (or any old day), under $15.
Post by L.L. Barkat, author of Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing
- A Surprise Poetry Stories Collection—Plus, the Giveaway Winner! - May 10, 2021
- How to Write a Form Poem: Hear the Poets Read! - April 30, 2021
- A Blessing for Writers - April 19, 2021
Kimberlee Conway Ireton says
Woohoo! I’m a runner up! Thank your girls for me, will you, Laura?
Sandra Heska King says
A runner up? And a dedicated montage, too? Cool beans! What fun!
L. L. Barkat says
Sure thing, Kimberlee 🙂
Sandra, my Little One did the montages. She is *so employed* here now 😉
Sandra Heska King says
And congratulations, Reno!
laura says
As I said, I do not envy the judges. Your girls did a wonderful job…but they couldn’t do anything else with a crowd like this! Love the poem and the photo…Reno, your mug will be in the mail soon!
Diana Trautwein says
Gorgeous photo – but I’m confused. There’s no mug in that photo, is there?
L.L. Barkat says
Diana, you make me smile. Nope, no mug in that photo. That’s just the photo that got put on the mug to go with the poem (after the photo-set it was part of inspired my poem).
Reno’s is the center cup in the montage, the green one. Or you can click his name (and everyone else’s names) to see the entries.
Smiling, smiling. 🙂
Simply Darlene says
Congrats mister Reno! What an amazing dog image. My hounds are too hick to pose in the posies. They just eat ’em.
And thanks for the hat draw, ladies. 😉
I think miss Sandra’s got a new twist on Flat Stanley.
Blessings.
L. L. Barkat says
To all the Runner Ups (Runners Up?)…
email me to let me know what you’d like… free EDP or coupon
at editor [at ] tspoetry [dot ] com