Are you worried about the election? Do you write haiku? People for the American Way invites politicized poets to enter its online political haiku contest, focusing on John McCain and Sarah Palin. Winning entries in the McPalin Haiku Hysteria competition will be published in an upcoming edition of The Nation.

“We were looking for a way for people to be creative, have fun, and express concerns over the election,” said Drew Courtney, PFAW’s press secretary. “There is a certain elegance to the haiku that allows for clarity and humor.”

Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry with three lines of five, seven and five syllables respectively. Traditionally, nature is the genre’s principal theme. But not only the environment is at stake in this election. Entries will be judged according to how well they connect Palin and/or McCain to the far right–or to any other issue that shows how right-wing ideology poses a threat to our democracy. The haiku may also illustrate the connection between the 2008 election and the future of the Supreme Court.

Here are two samples of what they’re looking for:

McCain gets angry There goes our democracy While Palin drops Gs

Driving our nation Over a bridge to nowhere That’s McCain-Palin

Anyone who can string seventeen syllables together over three lines is eligible to enter the competition, via the form on PFAW’s website. Deadline is midnight Wednesday, October 15. Only three haikus per person, please.