INTERVIEW | By The Chapter & Verse Team  » Penning a prize-winning poem takes a lot of time and effort, say two poets who should know.

Sheila B. Roark  and Gabriel Arntt took second and third places respectively  in the 2nd Annual Love Poetry Contest, organized by Canadian poet Oneal Walters. The contest was won by John B. Lee (read interview here).

"After deciding on the subject matter, it takes a lot of work, time and editing to produce a winning poem," said Roark, who has ben writing poetry for about 35 years. "It is easy to just write a poem, but it is very difficult to polish that poem into a piece that will win."

Arntt concurred. "It takes a lot of perseverance and an eye for detail to craft a poem and then to go over it again and again to edit it and read it out loud, to hear how it sounds. Once you do that, it just takes a talent for grouping words together and a little bit of luck."

Roark said there are a few things that separate a hobby poet from a serious writer. 

"The serious writer will compose every day without fail and the hobby poet only writes occasionally when something touches him in some way.

"The serious poet will study his craft and learn everything he can to help him become a better writer. He will read all types of poetry, take writing courses, and go to conferences to absorb all the knowledge he can. The hobby poet does none of these things because he thinks he writes well enough and doesn't need to learn anything new.

"A serious writer will have reference books in his office like The Poet's Market to research where to submit his writing. A hobby writer doesn't see the need to buy that book every year.

"Finally, the serious poet is never really satisfied with his poetry and sometimes works for days editing his poem to make it the best he can. The hobby poet is satisfied with the first draft and thinks he wrote a masterpiece," concluded Roark.

"I think all these points come down to one thing, attitude which affects how each type of poet goes about writing poetry. It just isn't that important to a hobby poet, but to the serious writer, writing is their life," she added 

Roark said her poem, titled I Have You, was written to illustrate the feelings of love she has for her husband. "He has always been there for me sharing his loving strength to help me survive life's ups and downs. I can face any trial as long as he is by my side and I Have You is my way of showing how I feel."

Roark says she is constantly submitting to poetry contests ("Entering contests is how I make most of my writing salary"), but has a word of caution for poets.

"There are good, legitimate contests and then there are a lot of contests that are nothing but scams set up solely to sell anthologies rather than promoting the art of poetry. It really irks me when I hear another new writer has been taken in by these money grabbing phonies."

Roark has a book of love lost poems coming out soon titled Shattered Hearts.

Meanwhile Arntt, who has been writing poetry since high school, described his contest entry Maelstrom of Love as one that came directly from his heart.

"It was inspired by my one and only love. It was also very meaningful to me because it speaks out to all lovers who first come together to experience the storm of emotions that accompanies that initial physical connection."

Arntt is currently working on building my collection of poetry for a possible future book of poetry, and has many other works under way, including a fiction novel and some short stories.

He said a professional writer needs to have a certain air of detachment to be able to look at his own work and sculpt it and edit it. 

"Like any great work of literature, you must take in to account the fact that you are writing not only for yourself but for an audience. So, although it may come from the heart, does it take that extra step to be something more than just a jumble of words? Does it follow a pattern or a storyline? Does it evoke emotions that others could sympathize with? Is it something you would want to absorb if you were reading it for the first time? This is the important distinction you need to take in crafting your work that will allow you to make the leap from hobby writer to winning poet."

• Read Sheila B. Roark's poem I Have You

• Read Gabriel Arntt's poem Maelstrom of Love