Anonymous poetry until after you've voted. Then it is based purely on the quality of the poem and not the reputation of the poet.

I actually really like this idea, except with 2 worries:

would everyone feel comfortable having their poems hidden behind anonymous via the random-voting? ((I could turn off google's spidering of that page))

most people I think vote directly from the poem details page, and so would know who/what they were voting on.

Hey! What a great idea!

Wait, no. It would be almost pointless.

For example:

The following anonymous tidbits were written by regular poemranker contributors. Let's see if you can guess who wrote them! Are you ready?!!!!

=================================================================

1) "Courteous the fox-cub
did not follow the wolf
west through the

blind-brushing reeds
where I made my path,"

=================================================================

2) "I touched her heart; it was cold
Colder than the night before
I say “Do you need me to warm it?”
She says nothing; she just shook her head"

=================================================================

3) "cool enlightenment (Free verse) by _________

Wintry wind
against my skin,
evergreens now white;
this contradiction reflects light-
squinting I understand,"

=================================================================

4) "I would send you frost from my window pane at first light
as we threw off the quilt and prickled at the crisp;
I think you must miss this. So I would seduce you anew, and
these would be my gifts:"

=================================================================

5) "She's young - younger than I am, which is young -
Too young for her profession. I’d like to see her with her tongue
Pierced in a black skirt dancing drunk in a bar with one
Man after another all night. I could sit by the stage
Drinking dos-equis from big bottles. And when she was done
I would take her home."

=================================================================

6) "Elegance was perhaps,
my first mistake
as a new born street poet--
The assumption that
my lines of verse had to appear
refined & exotic,
with aureate wording
carrying the touch of melodrama,"

=================================================================

7) "Breathing becomes just too hard,
Every organ, bruised and scarred,
I attempt to hide in the shade,
Regretting all those choices I made."

=================================================================

8) "and the act (ritual) breathes
the essence of coffee-to-be
into my mind,
a mystical hypodermic mainlined to my soul;"

=================================================================

9) "Fix me I'm loose
Screw me counter clockwise, in tight.
It's a failed rotisserie spin.
a misunderstood chicken fat bin.
In downtown with
the black people
in line, so fine."

=================================================================

10) "The bag was brought forward
The brown bag
It spoke of soilings passed

Towels at the ready,
the ritual was performed."

=================================================================

11) "But once again I left my heart open
Just like before you left my heart broken

<Chorus>
I need a sign to show that you are here
Just can’t stand when you aren’t near
In spite of everything I know this is true
That all I want is to be close to you"

=================================================================

12) "(secrets spring up like wildflower weeds,
coughing up accidental clandestine blooms)
soon everyone will know and someone will taste the whispering song
people will know I thinkthatPASSION ISas passion does"

=================================================================

13) "Jesus moved to town today.
He set up shop in an abandoned brothel.
Handing out flyers to passers-by,
while his brother doled out the rules."

=================================================================

14) "Impossibility is only a noun
But when the stars start going out
You wonder

I AM an anomaly of dignified sorts
So what?
Shut your goddamn face"

=================================================================

15) "Settle
Settle
Settle
The Devil
Settle
Settle
Settle
The Devil
Settle
Settle
Settle
Arpanet"

I like the idea too, btw. I just can't figure out how it would work.

I second that idea. It is smashing!!!