The Thoughts of Chairman Anyhow : Poetry Competition

The Thoughts of Chairman Anyhow : Poetry Competition: The Red Shed Poetry Competition 2019   My pals at Currock Press are running their annual poetry competition. Details are below :-...

Poetry Competition

The Red Shed Poetry Competition 2019

 

My pals at Currock Press are running their annual poetry competition.

Details are below :-

The Red Shed Poetry Competition 2019

Red Shed Poetry Competition 2019
Generously sponsored by Mocca Moocho café, Cross Square, Wakefield 

Sole adjudicator: Tom Weir
Closing date: Saturday 30th March, 2019
Prizes: 1st— £100 2nd—£50
​Short listed poems - £10
Wakefield Postcode prize—£25 

RULES FOR ENTRY: 
·        The competition is open to anyone aged 16 or over.
·        Poems should be in English, they must not have been previously published, nor be currently submitted for publication elsewhere.
·        Poems must be the original work of the entrant, they must be typed on A4 paper and be no longer than 50 lines. Each poem must be on a          separate sheet of paper which must not bear names or any other form of identification.
·        Entries must be accompanied by a completed application form and a stamped addressed envelope. The results and the judge’s comments          are sent out via this sae.
·        Entries must be accompanied by an appropriate entry fee: £3 for first entry, £2 for each poem subsequently entered.
         Cheques (sterling only) must be made payable to Currock Press. It is also possible to pay via PayPal.
         (Small surcharge. Sorry.)
·        ​We cannot accept poems via email except in the case of entries from overseas. Such entries should be sent to:
          john.i.clarke@btinternet.com
·        Entries eligible for the Wakefield postcode prize should be marked with a W in the top right-hand corner.
·        We regret that we are unable to return poems or enter into any correspondence with entrants.
·        ​The adjudicator’s decision is final.
·        The closing date is Saturday 30th March, 2019.
·        An awards event will be held at Mocca Moocho Café, Cross Square, Wakefield on Sunday 26th May, 2019 at 2.00pm.
·        Copyright remains with the authors but Red Shed Readings reserves the right to print winning and highly commended poems.
 Entries should be sent to:
 The Competition Organiser,
 The Red Shed Open Poetry Competition,
 3 Sandal Cliff,
 Sandal,
 Wakefield.
​ WF2 6AU

 

Tom Weir, 2019 Competition Adjudicator, "What Am I Looking For?"

​

I’m looking for poems that exist in their own right, poems that own the space they occupy and know what they’re doing there — even if the poet doesn’t! I’m looking for poems that catch me off-guard, poems urgent enough to take off in stormy weather but controlled enough to land safely at the end of their flight. I’m looking for poems with something at stake, poems not just written for writing’s sake.

You can enter via this link :-

https://www.currockpress.com/what-am-i-looking-for.html

Have a go !!!! 

International Woman's Day

International Woman's Day
Woman
Quite Interesting
That's Amaaaaaaaazing
Random Joke

International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8 every year. It is a focal point in the movement for women's rights.

While the first observance of a Women's Day was held on February 28, 1909 in New York, March 8 was suggested by the 1910 International Socialist Woman's Conference to become an "International Woman's Day." After women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917, March 8 became a national holiday there, but has lost all political context through the time, becoming simply a day to honour the women and feminine beauty. The day was then predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations.

Woman

I’m not a size ten

Never been petite

Suffered throes of passion

Or lived with conceit

In height I’m bereft

No leggy lofty form

Not even 5 foot

The UK norm

My face is not symmetrical

No make-up would repair

No artists canvass

A painter would despair

But inside this frame

An esoteric fact

No yesterday woman

No submissive artefact

There beats a heart of a lion

Someone once said

But this strength lays within

My chest, my breast, my head

Society sees me simply

A frail and withered maid

But this country was built

On my slave trade.

So when you see me

Look beyond the shell

A soldier, a builder, a mother

The stories I could tell

The UN Women Report from 2015 showed that, despite women working longer hours than men when both paid and unpaid work is taken into consideration, women still earn an average of 24 percent less than men do worldwide. This wage gap is by far the worst in South Asia, where women earn 33 percent less than men.

This probably comes as no surprise, but women still spend more time on housework and childcare than men do. The UN reports that women spend one to three hours more on housework than men, two to 10 times the amount of time caring for children and the elderly, and one to four hours less per day on economic market activities. In fact, in the European Union, 25 percent of women say this is why they're not active in the labour force, whereas only three percent of men can say the same.

Only 22 of Earth's 197 countries can say they have women serving as heads of state.

As of 2014, there were 16 million women living with HIV, meaning 50 percent of all adults with HIV are women. It's not uncommon for women living with HIV to experience violence simply because of their HIV status. The UN reports that at least 14 countries force HIV positive women into involuntary abortions and sterilizations.

According to a 2010 longitudinal study performed in South Africa, intimate partner violence increases women and girls' chances of contracting HIV by 13.9 percent, and power inequity in relationships increases the risk by 11.9 percent.

Child marriage is more likely to kill girls in the developing world than war, AIDS, tuberculosis, or any other cause of death. In fact, complications from pregnancy and childbirth is the number one killer among girls ages 15 to 19 in the developing world.e the UN's Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women back in 1993, currently, 1 in 3 women worldwide are victims of physical or sexual violence — and it's usually at the hands of an intimate partner.

While the percentage of women married before the age of 18 has dropped in North Africa and the Middle East by about 50 percent in the last 30 years, globally speaking, one in four women alive today were child brides.

That's Amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing

China's Yao Defen, the world's tallest woman as verified by Guinness World Records, has died at the age of 40. Yao, who measured 233.3 cm (7 ft 7 in) when last documented, is reported to have passed away in the house she shared with her mother in a small village in China's central Anhui Province

Random Joke of the Day

My wife says she's going to leave me because of my poker addiction.

  I think she's bluffing.

Happy Birthday !!

In Today's Birthday Issue

Happy Birthday
Thank You
Word to your Mother
That's Amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing
Random Joke

Happy Birthday

Well this Blog has been going for just over two years now so thought it's about time I said thank you, to you, the reader. So far this year the readership has gone up from a modest 100 a day to nearly 1k.
This year over 70,000 have clicked on this little blog and read my ramblings. Hopefully, I've entertained you, made you think, made you smile.

I have plans this year to improve this site and offer rewards for readers. If you have any ideas how I could improve, wish to contribute or comment please click on the link on the left or e-mail me at :-

Creativewriter2018@outlook.com

Love you all !

Thank you for reading

You are oh so clever

For my mission to you

My only endeavour

Is to make you smile

And also think

Even though

My rhymes might stink

But you know better

Coz you’re so bright

To read my page

Both day and night

My friend, my pal

My chum, my mate

I love you all

And think you’re great

So thanks again

You beautiful folk

Let's enjoy a laugh

And share a joke

Word of the day: SNERDLE - to wrap up cozily in bed


That's Amaaaaaaaaaaaaazing

Mary Wheaton and Pat Shardelow (both USA) have been exchanging the same birthday card since 1944.

Random Joke of the Day

I've been invited to my first Constipation Anonymous Meeting next Monday. Unfortunately, there is no way I can go