thought we should have a post formally inviting people to submit their work for issue eleven of nibble.

seems unnecessary since we are always open to submissions and have yet to have a theme issue (really), but our fearless leader hates to see us sitting around the office looking like we have nothing to do AND he gets kinda grumpy when we haven’t had a post on the website in a while.

he likes to stress that the friday posts be somewhat significant since it will likely sit at the top of the site all weekend, so this post won’t thrill him…

oh wait!

hey!  have you entered the competition yet?  you really should.  it’s gonna be great…

yes, it’s true.  the first copies of nibble number ten are out in the world.

if you have a poem in issue ten, a copy will be coming your way soon.  if you paid for it, then the same is true. 

if, however (and we shudder to even think it), neither one of these is true, then you won’t be getting one.  wow, we just scared ourselves. 

please order a copy.  this is a great issue.  really great poetry, really great poets.  four tiny little dollars.  (that’s a discount of $1 off the cover price just cuz we really like you and want you to be happy and the poetry in nibble will make you happy). 

it’s a sure thing.  seriously.  we mean it.

and it is so easy to make this happen.  mail us a money order, send us four ones or just use paypal (click the ’subscription’ link to the right of this post).

you have been invited.

Dear Editor Fleming,

What’s this about three novels sitting in a box in your garage?  I’m impressed (or is that aghast?)

The other thing I just have to mention is that poignant $2 bill someone sent you while on the verge of being evicted.  Serious?  That nearly made me cry.

My brief bio is below, and the vagrant poems showing up at your door.

Editors are the lifeblood of the poetry world, and you seem full of vigor, panache and wit, a great presence!  Thank you truly for considering my work. I bow down to you.

Most Sincerely,

Chris Crittenden

aw shucks, chris…

(click here to read the post about the $2 bill.)

one of our nibblers posted the question below and we thought it deserved a good, full answer.

Hey, I want to enter the contest. In fact, I just sent some work for general publication. Seriously, on my copy of Poe’s Complete Works, I have a disability and am surviving by the graces of my family. Can I enter the contest without fee. I already have an iPod and I’d drink the money away, so if I don’t take a prize purse, can I still put a piece into the mix? When Uncle Sam finally gives me my check, I’ll support this publication then. Or I could put some change in an envelope.

well, this is a tricky one.  the point of an entry fee is that the money covers the cost of producing this special issue and allows us to reward the best poem by giving the poet a small sum of money.  if we allow poets to enter without paying any kind of fee then we end up with an issue that loses money and a contest that has absolutely no teeth.  we have a winner who doesn’t get a prize and we are left with little desire to ever repeat such a contest.

however, when crafting the rules of this contest, we wanted to do something a little different and in doing so we invited folks to determine their own entry fee.

we’ve painted ourselves into a corner.

we would ask that every entry have some sort of fee.  you can be creative (as was the poet who sent a worthless bit of foreign currency from Zimbabwe) and maybe the “fee” doesn’t have to be cash, but there needs to be something.  so be creative, surprise us.  make this poetry competition unique if not well funded.

if you can afford to send actual u.s. currency, we would ask that you please do so.

we’re sure that you are already a facebook friend of our fearless leader, but have you become a facebook fan of nibble?

you can do that by clicking the link to the right that says nibble on my face(book).

facebook fans get special insider info, previews of upcoming cover images and sometimes we offer super secret deals and bargains on issues of nibble and other interesting stuff only to our fans!

so do it.  it’s good for you AND it’s delicious.

not sure how this happened.  last time we looked, the issue was half full…we checked just now and it’s full.

weird.

but in that really good way that weird surprises put a smile on your face.

ok.

done celebrating.  now we’re going to ask you to send poems for issue eleven.  oh…and don’t forget about the competition.  you can read more by clicking the link to the right that reads 1st ever competition —————->

today we received a $2 bill as the entry fee into the competition along with a letter that reads:

enclosed is a $2 bill. Logic: 1. Our lease is expiring next week and we don’t yet have a place to go, so my wife and three sons and I may be homeless for a while.  I would have loved sending more money, not only because it’ll help nibble more, but because it would mean I have more money than I do now.  2. I still want the contest to be a success.  So I’m sending something that’s a bit more than just two dollars–it’s a $2 BILL. I’ve had it since I was five years old.  3. I suspect you would hesitate to put this in the bank…the winner will be pleasantly surprised that it’s a $2 BILL.  4. In the remote event that I actually win the contest, I’ll reclaim my $2 bill instead of the iPod, not least because I am deaf…

alright, that makes sense.  so now the winner of the competition will receive, at the very least, a $2 bill and a $100,000,000,000,000 bill if they chose the cash option.

so that ain’t too bad.

the crack minds in our accounting department have come up with an estimate of what they believe the cash prize will be based on some complicated math involving projected number of entrants, average entry fee and cost of producing the competition issue.  here is their estimate:

$7.4 million

they admit, however, that this figure might just be in Zimbabwe dollars.

the 1st ever nibble poetry competition is here.

irene koronas has a new book out from cervena barva press.  it’s called Pentakomo Cyprus and you can order it by clicking here.

the blank nibbles (or pttp’s) are currently in paragould, ar and shepherdsville, ky.

volume two has only four poets left to go!  that one could be out before the end of the year.  wow. 

that’s cool.

volume one has six more american based poets on the list before it heads overseas for six more stops.  get that passport ready, we’re going to australia (2), germany, scotland and england (2).