Shall I compare thee to a Trump?

Well, perhaps not. But I would like to invite you to submit entries to a new poetry contest meant to capture the ethos of our times in verse. And if you can make us feel better, or laugh, or think more deeply, so much the better.

Why poetry? So many trees have died to fuel debates about our president — and after all this time, it’s not clear how much there is to say that is new. So let’s try to examine this historical moment through a new prism, and I hope to publish the winners in my column in the fall.

Over the years I’ve occasionally held poetry contests, inviting readers to submit their own poems about the Iraq war, about race and so on, and early this year I held a contest for Trump poems. The result was a torrent of submissions that led to publication of a book of such poems, “Resistance, Rebellion, Life: 50 Poems Now.” I can’t promise that a book will come out of this second contest, but I have found a classy partner: The Poetry Society of America, the oldest poetry organization in the country. The Poetry Society will review entries and select finalists; a huge thanks to the society and its executive director, Alice Quinn.

My column is only 800 words, and I plan to weave in bits of several different poems, so there’s an advantage to shorter entries. No entry can be more than 22 lines. They can rhyme or not and can be haiku or sonnets or limericks or any other form — just no epics.

One caution: The Times can’t publish vulgarities and profanities. The poems must be your work, and your submission means that you agree to let me publish them or excerpt them in The Times. We are looking for poems that have not been previously published. Also, I’d like to make clear that whatever my politics, I welcome poems that defend President Trump or target the press. If you think we in the media are being unfair to a great president, rise to his defense in verse.

I plan to keep the contest open until Oct. 8, but don’t procrastinate. Each person can enter up to three poems. To enter, email your poems to contest@poetrysociety.org.