CRWROPPS Post: Poetry of the Sacred Contest

The 2021 Poetry of the Sacred Contest opens Monday, July 19. Submissions will be accepted through Monday, August 30. How to Enter a Big City by Thomas Merton I. Swing by starwhite bones and Lights tick in the middle. Blue and white steel Black and white People hurrying along the wall.    "Here you are, bury my dead bones." Curve behind the sun again   Towers full of ice. Rich   Glass houses, "Here, Have a little of my blood,"   Rich people!" Wheat in towers. Meat on ice. Cattlecars. Miles of wide-open walls.    Baseball between these sudden tracks.    Yell past the red street— Have you any water to drink, City?    Rich glass buildings, give us milk!    Give us coffee! Give us rum! There are huge clouds all over the sky. River smells of gasoline. Cars after cars after cars, and then A little yellow street goes by without a murmur. There came a man ("Those are radios, that were his eyes")    Who offered to sell us his bones. Swing by starwhite buildings and    Lights come to life with a sound    Of bugs under the dead rib. Miles of it. Still the same city. Courtesy of The Poetry Foundation Introducing Guest Judge Ricardo Nazario-Colon The Center for Interfaith Relations is pleased to announce this year's guest judge of the Thomas Merton Poetry of the Sacred contest, Ricardo Nazario-Colon. Nazario-Colon is a member of the Affrilachian poets, with deep ties to the Appalachian landscape that Thomas Merton shared. Both poets dwell in personal identity, human experiences through sensation, and deeper questioning of language and relationships. The Thomas Merton Prize in Poetry of the Sacred is awarded to the poet who best embodies this tradition of writing as an act of sacred contemplation.  Contest Details: Poetry of the Sacred will be open for submissions July 19 through August 30, 2021. This year's final judge, Ricardo Nazario-Colon, will select three honorable mentions to receive $100, and one winning poem to be awarded the $500 Thomas Merton Prize in Poetry of the Sacred. The winning poem will be published in an upcoming issue of Parabola Magazine, an internationally recognized magazine devoted to the sacred.     Submission Details:   Entry fee of $15 per one poem, non-refundable. (Some entry fee scholarships are available on a limited first come, first serve basis. Please e-mail will@interfaithrelations.org for details.)  Online submissions only. (If you are unable to submit online, please e-mail will@interfaithrelations.org or call 502.583.3100 Monday-Thursday 9am-5pm EST.)  Submissions should be one single piece of work. Please do not include multiple poems in one entry.  Submissions should be less than 1,000 words.  Submitted work should be unpublished. Simultaneous submissions are expected and welcome.  Poem must be anonymous—the author's name or address must not appear anywhere on the attached document containing the poem.  Final poems will be selected mid-September and all applicants will be notified of the winning poem and three honorable mentions via email. Announcements will also be made online and through the general Center for Interfaith Relations and Festival of Faiths email communications.        The Center for Interfaith Relations' mission is to celebrate the diversity of faith traditions, express gratitude for our unity and strengthen the role of faith in society through common action. Click Here For More Info! Follow us on Social Media! Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for #MertonMondays featuring posts such as this... "Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time." Thomas Merton

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