The Crowder Quill hosted its annual awards ceremony and poetry reading last week. I was thrilled to be included again this year. It’s always an honor to place in a Quill contest and receive publication in that great literary magazine. I felt especially victorious this year as I stepped up to the stage to accept my Honorable Mention.
My very first publication was poem, published during my college years in the early 1990s. The Winged Lion, which was Missouri Southern State College’s literary magazine, published “Quiet Night” and gave me my first taste of seeing my name in print. The college has long ago become a university, and The Winged Lion has been replaced by Bordertown as the campus literary magazine.
Up until last week, my college creation was the only poem of mine published. For this reason, my Honorable Mention from The Crowder Quill meant more to me than most of my First Place victories. This publication marks the end of a nearly 30-year poetry dry spell.
Poetry was a popular category this year. There were 250 entries to the contest, which only makes my award sweeter. The poem they selected is a Haiku, a Japanese form of short poetry. Haikus only have three lines with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second line, and 5 syllables in the third line. They are usually untitled, so the first line is used as a title. Therefore, my poem is listed as “If I do not try.”
Please enjoy my Haiku, first published by The Crowder Quill 2019.
If I do not try, I fail by foolish default. Victors never quit.
By Margarite R. Stever
The Crowder Quill is available for free download here: https://crowderquill.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/quill-all-2019.pdf. This magazine contains wonderful prose, poetry, and art. I highly recommend you check it out. I always enjoy reading it. There are several issues available for free download on their site.
Until next time, follow your passion and do not quit!
Thank you for reading Ozarks Maven! If you’ve enjoyed my little seeds of wisdom and joy, please subscribe to Ozarks Maven, Like Ozarks Maven on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter @OzarksMaven.
I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Comments