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Mid-September 2010
We Have Winners
We’ll blame the summer Dog Days for not sending an electronic update out in mid-August. Hopefully, you’re not setting your watch by our publication schedule. We spent our summer, in part, going through a number of delightful essays. And the poetry. It was nice to see a number of Sport Literate veterans in the contest mix. Still, a number of others looked like they’ve never stuck their nose inside an issue of our print journal. We do, however, thank everyone who entered work in the essay and poetry contests. There were nearly 60 of you. Everyone gets an anniversary issue, so if you don’t think we have your address, we probably don’t, so please feel free to query or pass it along.
From our anonymous handful sent to the judges, Philip Gerard for the essays and Frank Van Zant for poetry, the winners are:
- Waiting on Deck, an essay by Jay Lesandrini
- Racing Ghosts, a poem by Scott Parker
In addition to our two winners, we have a great lineup of poetry, essays, and an interview. To order an advanced copy, hook up a literate friend, or become a subscriber, drop on by our PayPal link. |
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About the Backlog
Whenever our leisurely publication starts to resemble the lumbering bureaucracy that I call my real job, depression sets in. Like a fat man on tiny moped (that’s not me), I just feel all too dug into a slow-moving machine. So apologies to all about our lethargic press. Since early 2009, we’ve wrestled with an online submission tool, which we’re finally throwing the towel in on. About 99 percent of our submissions still come in online, so please feel free to simply email me (bill@sportliterate.org) with a Word attachment of your poem or essay.
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But scribes should know this: We prefer original, unpublished nonfiction and poetry. There’s not a slew of grad students reading through slush piles here — just two of us. We appreciate your patience, but you can query with questions if you feel like you’ve been waiting too long. And finally, we notice when you spring for a current or back issue to see if you want to even be in our pages. Poets shot-gunning rhymes to multiple publications should swim on the web elsewhere. Our guidelines. |
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250 Takeaway
Poets, take heart. I actually like rhyme. Sometimes I’ll find myself busting them on a rainy afternoon. Fer snizzle in the drizzle. But anything like my following 250 take-away is likely to be swatted away by poetry editor Frank Van Zant. Our Pint-Size (Publications) version of Dikembe Mutombo, Frank wags away the offensive poet with his index finger. I don’t think it’s a poem, though. An early morning reflection, circa 1992, perhaps reflective of my beloved Dr. Seuss, our childhood pediatrician, it’s just my autumnal take On October. |
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SL Elsewhere: Read One on the Gipper
We’re unapologetic about our Notre Dame bias. In fact, our anniversary issue has a great alternative history piece on the “what-could-have-been” possibilities of Jack Keroauc following Frank Leahy to Notre Dame. Another book that came our way recently that piqued our ND interests is the recently released The Gipper: George Gipp, Knute Rockne, and the Dramatic Rise of Notre Dame Football. Veteran New York Times writer Jack Cavanaugh separates Irish legend from historical fact in this book. From Gipp’s reported 69-yard, dropped-kicked field goal in a freshman game to the gambling haunts of South Bend in the Prohibition days to the untimely death of one of the game’s great rushers, The Gipper certainly sounds like a must-read for Reagan Republicans (you know Ronald played Gipp in the movie), Domer diehards, and the sport literati among us. You can find the giant legend on Amazon. |
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