CANYON, Texas — There once were some students from Canyon / 

Who wrote some bad poems with no scansion / 

They read them aloud / 

To a rowdy crowd / 

Who begged, “Your writing? Please abandon.” 

Writers of proudly putrescent poetry can share their work at the 2023 West Texas A&M University Bad Poetry Contest, presented by Brick & Elm magazine. 

The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. March 3 in the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex Recital Hall on WT’s Canyon campus. 

“Marianne Moore’s description of her art in ‘Poetry’ begins with the poet remarking, ‘I, too, dislike it,’” said organizer Matthew Harrison, the Wendy and Stanley Marsh 3 Professor of Shakespeare. “But, she suggests, that ‘with perfect contempt for it,’ one might nonetheless discover something ‘genuine.’ Whether you, too, dislike poetry or not, your scorn, contempt, bewilderment, and sarcasm are welcome.” 

Participants—either WT-affiliated or from the general public—should bring two or three original poems. Audience members also are welcome to simply enjoy, to use that word loosely, the readings. 

Submissions in the past have ranged from cowboy poetry to off-kilter rants, perfectly metrical gems to a barely rhyming list of diseases found in cattle. Poets are asked to keep their material in the PG-13 range. 

“We don’t care if it’s any good. In fact, we’d rather it be real bad,” Brick & Elm publisher Jason Boyett said. “What defines ‘bad’? It could be the mediocrity of the poetry itself. Or maybe the subject matter. Or your terrible delivery. Trust us: We know bad when we hear it, and we are ready to celebrate it.” 

Fostering an appreciation of the arts is a key mission of the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World. 

That plan is fueled by the historic, $125 million One West comprehensive fundraising campaign. To date, the five-year campaign — which publicly launched in September 2021 — has raised more than $120 million.