A few months back I entered a haiku contest with the weekly local magazine called the Isthmus. I won first place out of about 240 entries. There were six categories and I entered one for the Local Celebrities category. I wrote about Thong Cape Scooter Man. Although I have never seen him myself I have heard of him. He is a character that rides around a scooter in a thong and a cape. His name pretty much says it all.

Below is the image from the print publication:

My winning haiku about local celebrity Thong Cape Scooter Man from the Isthmus

My poem has a couple of things going for it that I think helped win. The subject is something that is unique to Madison, the words are similar to a quote from Batman, and it is kind of self deprecating. You should take a look at the rest of the poems from the article Isthmus Haiku Contest 2015 – there are some really great ones. I also noticed all of the advertising for the rules and event the title itself was haiku – it is a nice touch.

First prize was 2 tickets to the Isthmus Beer and Cheese Fest in January so I am looking forward to attending that. I guess now I can say I am a published poet. I was thinking about framing the print article although it would look pretty silly on my wall. Also I would like it on the record that I did not draw or pick the illustration.

Winning this has been pretty cool and helps to feed the creative fire and lets me feel like a contributor rather than just a consumer of other peoples work. It feels good. Have you ever won a contest or had some of your writing published?