After reading all of the instructions below, apply by e-mailing us at admin@zpoems.net. It’s best to send everything in the body of the e-mail - HTML mail is okay, but no attachments, please. Note there are 4 parts to a complete application: Writing (3 poems by you), Critique, Technical Proficiency, and a Bio.
Writing: Include three of your best poems to fulfill the writing portion
While the workshop itself has no length constraints, for admission purposes we ask that you submit relatively short work: i.e., 20 lines or under. (If you have no short work, you may submit something longer.)
Critique and Analysis: Submit a critique of one of these poems
We picked these from the Zeugma archives (with the authors’ permission, of course!) because we think they have both strong points and problems.
Be sure you submit a critique of the official poem — not a critique from another workshop or an essay from your lit crit class. (Especially not an essay from your lit crit class. If you make us look up words like “memesis,” we might get grumpy.) Address the critique as if to the author, with an eye towards improving the poem. Depending on how the stars align, you might actually be addressing the author, so don’t give in to the urge to slaughter the poem to impress us. Tell us what works, tell us what doesn’t, and why. “Constructive” is the word to keep in mind, here. Be honest, but with an eye towards being helpful.
Technical Proficiency: Write a poem according to these criteria
The ideal Zeugma member may or may not write in form — but she is equipped with the basic “traditional” tools for reading rhymed or metered verse. This assignment is not intended to absorb an inordinate amount of your time.
About You: Finally, tell us a little about yourself
We are specifically not seeking your publication history — there are good unpublished poets, and there are bad published ones. Tell us what you want from a workshop. Tell us when you write, and how. (We all know there’s no answer for “why.”) Tell us about your revision process. Tell us what you want to be when you grow up. If you’re especially at home in cyberspace and have a larger body of work on the Web, you may wish to include a URL. A URL is entirely optional. We may visit if time permits. Please ensure any URL is specific to your work and not a generic home page.
WHEN DONE WITH ALL THIS, apply by e-mailing us at admin@zpoems.net. It’s best to send everything in the body of the e-mail - HTML mail is okay, but no attachments, please.
A NOTE ON PRIVACY: Be assured that your work and comments are deleted as soon as we respond. They will never be shown to third parties, read at parties in floofie voices, or sold to prestigious literary journals under false names. We also do not maintain an e-mail list of applicants, much less sell said list to anyone else. We give you our word that we’re not organized enough to be evil.