The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Bad Poetry Contest has been hosted annually by Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

's Philolexian Society

Philolexian Society

The Philolexian Society of Columbia University is one of the oldest college literary societies in the United States, and the oldest student group at Columbia...

, a literary society, since 1986, drawing crowds of 200-300 students and participants vying for the title of best of the worst. Columbia faculty members serve as judges. The event is usually held in November and is heralded by the appearance of "Bad Poetry in Motion" flyers around campus (satirizing the New York City Subway

New York City Subway

The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...

's "Poetry in Motion" series) featuring some of the best (or worst?) verses of the last 20 years.

It is named for "bad" poet (and Columbia alumnus) Joyce Kilmer

Joyce Kilmer

Alfred Joyce Kilmer was an American journalist, poet, literary critic, lecturer, and editor. Though a prolific poet whose works celebrated the common beauty of the natural world as well as his religious faith, Kilmer is remembered most for a short poem entitled "Trees" , which was published in...

. His work "Trees" is read aloud by audience members at the contest's end.

External links

• WikiCU Joyce Kilmer Memorial Bad Poetry Contest