We are terribly excited to kick 2022 off with our Invitation to Love shortlist!
We received so many pieces worthy of commendation – we wish we could send high fives and cherry pie to everyone who entered – but these poets in particular have created little jewels within the zine that we see as the eye of the duck.
"I sort of go by a duck when I work on a film because if you study a duck, you'll see certain things. You'll see a bill, and the bill is a certain texture and a certain length. Then you'll see a head, and the features on the head are a certain texture and it's a certain shape and it goes into the neck. The texture of the bill for instance is very smooth and it has quite precise detail in it and it reminds you somewhat of the legs. The legs are a little bit bigger and a little more rubbery but it's enough so that your eye goes back and forth. Now, the body being so big, it can be softer and the texture is not so detailed, it's just kind of a cloud. And the key to the whole duck is the eye and where the eye is placed. And it has to be placed in the head and it's the most detailed, and it's like a little jewel. And if it was fixed, sitting on the bill, it would be two things that were too busy, battling, they would not do so well. And if it was sitting in the middle of the body, it would get lost. But it's so perfectly placed to show off a jewel right in the middle of the head like that, next to this S-curve with the bill sitting out in front, but with enough distance so that the eye is very… very… very well-secluded and set out. So when you're working on a film, a lot of times you can get the bill and the legs and the body and everything, but this eye of the duck is a certain scene, this jewel, that if it's there, it's absolutely beautiful. It's just fantastic."
Congratulations to:
Simon Bowie
Rachel Burns
RJ Danvers
Becca Fang
Luke Z. Fisher
Rachel Hepburn
James McDermott
Maggie McLamb
Victoria Punch
Anna Saunders
We'll announce our winner and three runner-up poets on David Lynch's Birthday, 20 January 2022. Each will receive a cash prize, certificate, and an invitation to read at our publication day launch event on 14 February 2022.
Orders will open officially then, but you can place a pre-order if you wish by visiting our Etsy shop here: the6ress.com/invitation