Garrison Keillor and his bookstore, Common Good Books, St. Paul, Minn., have created the Common Good Amateur Love Poem Contest and are inviting poets who have not yet published a book of poetry to submit "poems of love or praise." The winner will be announced at the store's "afternoon of poetry" Sunday, April 21, in the Weyerhaeuser Chapel at Macalester College. (The store described that event this way: "We'll recite some old favorites and discover some new ones. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll rhyme.") Copies of the winning poem will be published in Common Good's newsletter, and will be printed and made available at the store.
Entries may be up to 14 lines or 200 words long and are due by March 18, with a limit of one entry per person. Poems should be mailed to info@commongoodbooks.com. Finalists will be announced April 1, the start of National Poetry Month, at which point the store will display copies of the poems, and customers can vote for their favorites during the following two weeks.