Mission
The Poetry Ark, LLC is based on the simple belief that an engaged public can recognize poems worth saving and remembering. That's why we have launched a one-year, online competition to select 100 outstanding English-language poems by living authors. After an initial screening by our editors, all other decisions will be based on the votes of you, our site visitors. Poems that make it to the final selection of 100 will be included in an anthology of winners and will automatically qualify for an additional round of voting to determine the recipients of prizes totaling over $2,000.
Submitting and Nominating Poems
The Poetry Ark welcomes the online-only submission of poems by their authors or publishers holding the copyright to them. Poems may also be nominated for inclusion by other than the copyright holders; our editors will make every effort to review them and obtain permission to use them if appropriate.
The Voting Process
Voting will occur in three stages: in a series of Current Rounds, in a Qualifying Round, and in a Prize Round. Current Rounds present collections of 20 poems each. Your votes will advance the four top-scoring poems from each Current Round to a Qualifying Round. There the selected during the Current Rounds will again be voted on, yielding the 100 poems that will be published in the Anthology and compete in the Prize Round.
For more information on the Poetry Ark Anthology, please click here.
For additional competition information and submission rules and regulations, please visit the Poetry Ark Prizes page.
Editors William Keens
William Keens, Editor-in-Chief, conceived of the Poetry Ark, LLC as a one-year experiment in generating public interest and participation in the submission, selection and recognition of outstanding poems by living poets writing in English. Those poems may have been published, unpublished or self-published—a trajectory with which Keens is familiar. He has benefited from the counsel of friends and mentors at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the Iowa Writers Workshop, and from the conviction of editors at Penumbra Press, New American Review, Poetry and other literary oases. But that was years ago, before the freeze and then the thaw. He is completing the publication of a fine press edition of one hundred copies of a new collection, Twenty-Six Poems. Inquiries are welcome. None of Bill's work is eligible for the Poetry Ark competition.
Brian Lemond
Brian has worked closely with Bill to develop the structure of the Poetry Ark. As the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Dirt Press, LLC, Brian developed, curated, and edited a journal of contemporary literature and visual arts. Over the four years of Dirt’s existence, Brian published the work of over 220 authors and artists from over 40 countries. Brian is a Partner and Creative Director of the Brooklyn Digital Foundry, an award-winning digital media and brand development agency, as well as a practicing artist. His sculpture and photographic work can be seen at brianlemond.com.