by Gerald So
Each Monday from September 12, 2011 to Septenber 4, 2023, I posted the Five-Two Poem of the Week, an original poem in text and audio/video. I reprinted the first six years' poems in annual ebooks. I may reprint the later years' poems in future ebooks.
The Five-Two's purpose is to bring current and historical wrongdoing to light, whether law or lawbreaker does wrong, whether notorious or known only to the poet.
The site's original twelve-year run ended because submissions dried up, perhaps because I left Twitter soon after Elon Musk bought it. The amount of wrongdoing since Donald Trump retook the U.S. presidency has me beyond consolation and thinking of rebooting The Five-Two.
I want your honest, powerful reactions to what you see as crime, couched in poetic technique and figurative language to avoid receiving a content warning or being taken down by Google.
Original, unpublished work only. Nothing that has previously appeared anywhere in print or online including blogs, social media, etc. 60 lines max per poem. Any tone (light, dark, humorous...) or form (rhyming, free verse, blank verse, prose poem...).
Email to GERALDSO at GMAIL dot COM, begin subj line "Five-Two Poetry"
Paste poems into your message body or attach as an MS Word .doc.
I seek first worldwide electronic rights to publish accepted poem(s) on this blog and accompanying YouTube video and nonexclusive rights to reprint the poem(s) in possible future ebooks.
Submission deadline: Monday, March 24, 2025. If I accept enough poems, The Five-Two will relaunch Monday, April 7, 2025 as part of National Poetry Month.
By all means spread the word to anyone who may be interested.