The 2021 Jack Grapes Poetry Prize

Jack Grapes is one of the very best poets working in this country. Even if Grapes had not written a single poem after the work that appears in the first 100 pages of THE NAKED EYE, he would deserve a place in the canon of poets who were active between 1950 and 2020. At this point, though, he remains an anomalous outsider, which perhaps was foretold years ago when he had a portfolio of 15 untitled poems published in double issue #4/5 of THE OUTSIDER magazine in New Orleans, which featured poets such as Russell Edson, Marvin Bell, Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Ed Dorn, Anselm Hollo, Gene Frumkin, Diane Wakowski, Clarence Major, Edward Field, Barbara Moraff, Kenneth Patchen, Robert Creeley, Diane di Prima, Harold Norse, Charles Olson, and Larry Eigner. Grapes was the youngest poet in this ensemble, which accounts for him being one of the few surviving poets who appeared in THE OUTSIDER. Although Grapes remains a quintessential outsider, he has hardly gone completely unrecognized. In the mid-1980s, for instance, he was awarded a creative writing grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

(The best book, by the way, THE OUTSIDER is BOHEMIAN New Orleans: The Story of the OUTSIDER and Loujon Press by Ed Weddle (University Press of Mississippi, 2007).

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THE JACK GRAPES POETRY PRIZE (2021)

The CULTURAL DAILY has offered an annual poetry prize in honor of Jack Grapes, and the competition this year will probably be very intense, if only because most contests require an entry fee, and this contest is free. Given the number of entrants who can’t resist the literary equivalent of a free lottery ticket, the rules have had to be changed, so pay attention!

https://www.culturaldaily.com/jack-grapes-poetry-prize-2021/

PLEASE NOTE SOME DISTINCT RULES FOR THIS YEAR’S CONTEST.

Yes, it’s free to enter, BUT:

You can enter only ONE poem and it must not be under submission anywhere else. You have until August 31st to submit this single poem.

You might think this rule is clearly stated in the guidelines, but according to Alexis Rhone Fancher, it’s amazing how many people are writing the Cultural Daily and asking about how many poems they can submit.

So here are the rules for THE 2021 JACK GRAPES POETRY PRIZE

$2,400 IN PRIZES! Submit Your Best Poem
AND ONLY YOUR SINGLE BEST POEM
AND DON’T SEND IT ANYWHERE ELSE
UNTIL YOU HEAR FROM THE JUDGES OF THIS CONTEST!

Cultural Daily’s 9th Annual “Jack Grapes Poetry Prize” is open for submissions. This contest is FREE to enter.

3 WINNERS will receive $500 each, plus publication. 9 FINALISTS will receive $100 each, plus publication. Winners and finalists will be announced in mid-October.

The Rules: Please Read The Rules as the Rules Have Changed!

You may submit ONE, previously unpublished poem. If the poem has appeared in any book, magazine or edited website, including Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, then it is published.
NO SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS.
All submissions must be made through our submission portal. The link is below.
You will copy and paste your poem into the submission form.
Enter the name of your poem, and your name, in the labeled fields on the submission form.
No poems will be accepted after August 31st, 2021, Midnight, Pacific Time. No entries will be considered after that date.
By entering this contest you guarantee that the work you are submitting is your own original poetry, that it has never been published electronically or in print, and that it has not been submitted nor accepted for publication elsewhere.
Once you’ve completed your submission, you’ll receive an email acknowledgment that your submission has been accepted. If you don’t receive an email, you haven’t entered the contest.
The decision of the judges is final.

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