One more tip? Um... don't eat the yellow snow. ;)

Seriously, though, I'm not sure what more I could tell you... except to advise you to be prepared to let go if it becomes necessary. He may not be the kind of guy you think he is. Some people turn out to be real jerks. Even if he's the sweetie of your dreams, he may wind up liking the other girl better.

Just pay attention to what's going on, and don't let anyone snow-job you. Once you've clued him in on your feelings, you've done what is reasonable. He'll have a choice to make.

It's a nice sentiment, footballgirl, and it conveys your feelings fairly well. He may not realize how you feel about him. Sometimes what girls assume that a guy thinks or feels or knows is so far from what is actually going on in his mind.

Communication in a relationship is very important. I don't know the situation, and it's ultimately up to you, but he needs to know how you feel if he doesn't already.

My advice: If the guy is mature enough that you can trust him with your feelings, then give the poem to him. If you have reason to think he may just turn around and use this to hurt those feelings, then you might not want to share it.

I was thinking of William Shakespeares "Julius Ceasar", remembering an impressive and poetic speech from that play. Brutus just delivered a speech justifying his actions, saying, "If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Ceasar, this is my answer. Not that I loved Ceasar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Ceasar were living and die all slaves, than that Ceasar were dead, to live all freemen?"

Mark Anthony had a different opinion of the matter:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interrèd with their bones.
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious.
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest --
For Brutus is an honorable man,
So are they all, all honorable men --
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me.
But Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honorable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept.
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honorable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And sure he is an honorable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause.
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O Judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason!
Bear with me.

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

A canner, exceedingly canny
was heard to remark to his granny,
"A canner can can anything that he can,
but a canner can't can a can, can he?"

;)

Yes, if they state they are awarding prize money, they have to do so, or else it is fraud. However, that doesn't stop some people from committing fraud. The posted winners *could* be part of an elaborate deception, perhaps even with "winners" paid to testify that they won prizes.

However, as long as these people have been around, I doubt they take it to that extent. I would hope not, anyway. I personally don't like the greasy way they do business... I'm not even sure I trust them to honor copyright law, but I wasn't about to lay to $50.00 for one of their books just to make sure they omitted the poem I asked them not to print.

That said, by all means--take a shot at the prize money. I'd love to hear a positive story about these guys that wasn't solicited by Poetry.Com. If you win, be sure and tell us all about it!

:)

Good luck, musiclover--and to whoever else wishes to enter as well.

I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but those guys are a sham. They basically publish whatever gets sent to them in "special edition" hardcopy volumes, and offer to sell them to the poets who enter their contests.

They flatter the entrants and then offer to have their poems included in a cassette with special readings, mounted on a special plaque, etc... all for hefty fees.

Last time I checked up on these guys, someone was purposely trying to send in bad poetry to see if it would get rejected, but they weren't rejecting any.

Also, as of last time I checked, they still have one of my poems on their website somewhere, though I asked for it to be removed several years ago.

Just a heads-up. Take the National Library of Poetry with about a metric ton's worth of salt.

you swooned when I sang to you,
but I was just a toy.
you begged when I touched you,
but I was just a toy.
within My bonds, you knew release,
the spark to set two souls aflame--

quenched anew each time I see
that I was just your toy.