Write an 85-words (or less) tribute to your father, grandfather, uncle, or the person you regard as a parental guide in your childhood. It can be prose or poetry.
First place prize $50, Runner-ups will receive Barnes & Nobles Gift card.
You MUST be a member of South Bay Writers (or dual member) to be eligible to submit to the contest. If you’re not already, now’s a good time to join!
Contest deadline: May 15, 2022
Email entry to: pres@southbaywriters.com
Below are three examples, including a humorous one:
1. My father did not fight in a war, he never met the president, he never won a state championship. But what he did do is keep his promises to me and to my brother Greg. My dad was not fond of excuses. If he said it was going to be done, it was.
2. To pull the metal splinter from my palm
my father recited a story in a low voice.
I watched his lovely face and not the blade.
Before the story ended, he’d removed
the iron sliver I thought I’d die from.
I can’t remember the tale,
but hear his voice still, a well
of dark water, a prayer.
And I recall his hands,
two measures of tenderness
he laid against my face
3. My Dad was the most ordinary men turned by love into a hero, adventurer, story-teller, and singer of songs—sometimes off key.