This week week on Next Line, Please, Mr. Lehman offers us a brand new prompt, and as usual, it's a best of the best!
Write a poem about “the best” example you know of:
the best practitioner of any field, art, craft, profession
the greatest string quintet or chess match
the best third baseman ever to don a Yankee uniform
the best first line of a novel
the most beautiful Vermeer painting
the most interesting museum
the best statue in Central Park.
You get the idea. Take liberties: What was the best century in which to be alive? What is the greatest line Shakespeare ever wrote? What's the best topping for pizza or ice cream?
And for those of you who think that the superlative "best" is actually the worst, write a poem as to why “the best” is a contested term.
Entries should be 14 lines or less, due this Saturday at midnight any time zone.
And a special addition: To the authors of (1) the best poem and (2) the briefest, we’ll send a complimentary copy of The Best American Poetry 2018.
Visit the American Scholar's page to enter your candidate!