Writers' Journal Reviews of WIN

Reviews of WIN! Poetry Contests

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We most certainly need to know our craft to WIN! Poetry Contests. So Esther M. Leiper's book by that title will help a fledgling poet (and those in the pullet stage of their growth as poets) win for sure. However, those who think they will find a magic wizardry for winning within these pages, might consider that the real magic is in reading poetry, knowing the poetic forms, and understanding the elements of poetry—nay, absorbing these elements into the brain cells, into the marrow, into the heart.

So, if a reader is looking for abacacdra! this is not the place to find it. Poet Ester Leiper would never take you down a path that lead nowhere. Of course, we all know that networking can help any career, and promotion can't hurt either. When you get right down to it, though, it's craft that counts. Leiper gives this to you in a fat book and she doesn't scrimp on examples. For how can a reader get the sense of the thing without seeing, feeling what it's all about.

Poets will also find this a fine reference for re-examining or learning a new form. It will be kept handy near a poet's favorite writing corner, leafed and tagged often.

So, after learning and mastering the sonnet and other forms. After immersion. After understanding. Will this book help you win? Absolutely. All those who practice poetry, laureates, winners, published or not—well, we all win. This book will help you do it the long, fun, rewarding way.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of This is the Place, Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered, Tracings, a chapbook of poetry, and The Frugal Book Promoter.

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Does this woman ever sleep? That question rang in my mind as I read Esther M. Leiper's Win! Poetry Contests, her latest publication. A large, well organized book, it offers a gold mine of information on how to compete more successfully in contests and how to get more of one's poems into print.

An early starter, Leiper has published a staggering amount of lyric and narrative verse in the course of five decades, besides entering innumerable competitions. Over the years her prizes have multiplied like the family of a sultan with a hundred concubines. The keynote of her life, as she confides at the beginning of her book, has been her "willingness to use a curious mind to explore a curious world." The fruit of that exploration is in her poems.

In language as clear as polished crystal, Leiper describes many poetic forms and techniques, both traditional and modern. She also defines a multitude of prosodic terms, some of which may be unfamiliar to the reader. She provides us with a treasure house of tools for the making of poems. Even the expert may discover something new in her condensed encyclopedia of prosody.

Leiper's chief purpose is to help you to become a more memorable poet and a more successful contestant. If you give her book the close attention it deserves, you may achieve both of these objectives.

Dr. Alfred Dorn, twice past Vice President of The Poetry Society of America, director of The World Order of Narrative and Formalist Poets, winner of more than 70 poetry awards, and appearing in publications including "The Formalist," "The Hudson Review," "Light Year," "The Lyric," "The New Criterion," and "Orbis."
Flushing, NY

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Dear Esther,

I found Win! Poetry Contests to be nonjudgmental, offering help to poets on all levels. Everyone interested n entering contests, whether they be local, national, or even international, will benefit from the advice in WIN!. Leiper, having experience in all aspects of the poetry world, gives insight that most books just don't have. While Leiper encourages the reader to enter contests, above all, WIN! encourages the reader to simply keep writing.

Hannah L. Thompson, student and poet
Lancaster, NH

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Leiper's practical advice to poets who are starting out is smart, clever and warm hearted, and all of it is derived from her years of first-hand experience entering and winning vast numbers of poetry contests nationwide.

Dr. Richard J. McCann, Poet/Professor at American University
Washington, DC

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Dear Esther,

    I have read WIN! word by word, sometimes far into the night.
    As a former technical writer and engineering analyst by profession, I have been a closet short story writer and poet for years. I took college and graduate courses in creative writing and poetry, as well as attending the Iowa Writer's Workshop for two weeks several years ago. Reading your book rekindled the flame that has been sputtering unattended for awhile.
    WIN! is well organized to both motivate and instill confidence in the writer who hasn't attempted publication because of rejection phobia. You have filled it with practical tips to aid the novice, from generating ideas to contest preparation and organizing systems.
    The section on form poems was clear and encouraging to one who isn't totally comfortable with free verse. The descriptions of traditional forms and your anecdotes and examples demystified at least part of the process. I especially enjoyed the personal connections of reading the author's own poetry for examples. The fact that we share a geographic environment and some common spiritual values made the imagery and metaphors compelling, evoked a haunted sense of "deja vu."
    I appreciate the opportunity to survey your book and wish you the very best success with it. During the last five days I have written twelve poems, set up two notebooks and bought a roll of stamps. Thank you Esther.

Judith D. Todd, Poet/Writer
Lancaster, NH

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Dear Esther,

    Thank you for the opportunity and honor of reading your manuscript. It has taken me some time to digest. I am overwhelmed by your talent and knowledge. I majored in Geography with an English minor in college and felt fairly well rounded in the study of various literature forms. I see now that I must have missed the semester on various poetic forms.
    The book ebbs and flows, to the poetic neophyte, from illuminating to intimidating. The first part discussing poetry contest and strategies coincides with the book title. I would say these discussions were illuminating. I started to feel intimidated when the discussions turned to scansion and the like. (You note on p. 87 don't be intimidated....)
    I was put at ease with the discussions on limericks. Ah, something familiar here, I can relate to these. Even the sonnets were vaguely familiar, Robert Frost, Robert Service elegant form. Then along come the French, can anybody please tell why or how they managed to corner the art, wine, and apparently poetic verse markets?
    The last chapter was a true delight, the first prize poems. I have to confess, during the first half of the book, I was looking at all the second place and runner up poems wondering why if this is about winning contests, are we using second place examples. I commented to Peter [your husband] that it might be advantageous to include some examples of other poems authored by other poets along side your examples to lend extra credibility to your propositions.
    The book is enticing to a beginning writer and probably like a secret handshake to the more seasoned writer. I imagine a serious poet would lap up all the intricacies of the complicated formats, taking them on like being challenged to a street fight.
    Again, thank you for including me in your poetic world.

John R. McKinnon, Esquire
Littleton, NH

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Mr. Ogroske,

Like eagles can fly
She can pin verse (Wow!)—
And, lucky for I
Tells in WIN! just how....

What? Sorry—Thanks, hon
Pen, That's—oh, and me—
Like cheetahs "get" run
She grasps poetry!

J.R. Rolly, Cartoonist & Poet
Moorpark, CA

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Ms. Leiper,

    I would very much like to thank you for the nice mentions throughout the packet you sent. I appreciate your kindness. I was pleased to read you served as "Poet in the Schools" with the NEA in 1983.
    WIN! Poetry Contests, with the Patterns and Forms to Get You There has many beneficial ideas for poets. It will serve as a motivational tool for novice poets, trying to acquire recognition, as well as present experts with new and creative ideas. Your forty years of success in poetry contests becomes very apparent in this book. It will be invaluable to both teachers and writers.
    While I would like to endorse your book, unfortunately, I cannot do so for ethical and legal reasons as the Chairman of a Federal Agency.

Dana Gioia, Poet & Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
Washington, DC

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Mr. Ogroske,

    I sent a letter the other day, after receiving an advance copy of Esther Leiper's book WIN! Poetry Contests and I am very happy to sing its praises (it is terrific and I commend you).
    I have a very high regard for Esther M. Leiper both professionally (we met through the Inkling and she was later poetry editor of a small press magazine I published and edited for several years) and personally (having become friends and remaining so). The following is in review mode.
    Esther says that she has "the willingness to use a curious mind to explore a curious world," and it is this quality that has lead to the life experiences (teacher, small business owner, columnist, editor, author, illustrator, lecturer, wife, and mother) that inform her work and has enabled her to win over a thousand poetry contests. How lucky that she is also generous in sharing what she has learned along the way.
    WIN! Poetry Contests is an invaluable, thorough how-to guide for poets. It is chockablock with useful information on contests (where, how, the etiquette, the judge's side, the cautions, and much more). Still, it is the poem itself, the submission, that is key, and here Esther offers a treasure chest. Starting with a primer on poetry, she follows with a set of exercises to spur creativity, then progresses to a careful detailing of the patterns and forms required by many contests (some you've tried, some you might have heard of, some of new acquaintance). And along the way Esther includes examples of her own winning poems (thoughtful, delightful, instructive). A great asset of this book, reinforcing the others, is Esther's voice. She is the friend who tells you the truth, the teacher who inspires and encourages, the accomplished poet sharing her insights. She is, in sum, a welcoming leader and a wise companion. This book is a keeper, to be read and referenced over and over. If anyone can help you to a winning ride on Pegasus, it's Esther. So, saddle up and start reading!

Charles Fabrizio, Playwright & Poet
New York, NY

[Charles Fabrizio (AKA Charles Zio) was formerly the publisher/editor of the small press magazine, Z Miscellaneous. He has had full-length and one-act plays produced off-off Broadway in addition to short plays that appeared on public access in Charlotte, NC. His work has been a finalist for the Robert J. Pickering Award and a semi-finalist for the Drury University One-Act Play Competition. Charlie has a BFA from New York University and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.]

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Dear Esther,

I write to commend, and recommend your new book, WIN! Poetry Contests. As a legal writer, although not necessarily a poet, I share your obvious love for the well-chosen word and the clearly expressed thought. WIN! Poetry Contests is an impressive accomplishment. It is a scholarly, yet familiarly written, treatise that explains how one goes about crafting words into poems, ostensibly to win contests, but really for the art of it. The depth of your knowledge and experience is evident from the many practical examples you give, and from the clarity of the instructions you give for writing prize-winning poems of all kinds. WIN! Poetry Contests should be read by any writer of the English language who wants to gain a better understanding of how and why words have the power they do.
Congratulations on a job well done!

Michael J. Walls, Esquire
Concord, NH

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Dear Mr. Ogroske,

Esther Leiper's WIN! Poetry Contests is a handy resource for both the veteran and the wannabe poet. Esther offers up a rich panoply of practical advice that is firmly anchored in the wealth of her own extensive experience as a poet/contestant/teacher. She encourages, gently cajoles, and deftly demonstrates the craft, avoiding the pedantry rampant in so many how-to-write texts.
What impressed me most of all in the book was the scope of versatility on display. Esther's grasp of the intricacies of poetic forms is astonishing. She quarries masterfully from her own quite significant work to reveal for us the power of innovation available to the assiduous poet. I highly recommend this book.

Mark Roberts, Teacher/Poet
Lisbon, NH

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