NEW YORK — There was expectation in the room that someone would deliver a poem as lovely as a tree. Or not. The expectation was about choosing the worst of the worst — the worst bad poem of the year.

The contest was named for the poet known for “Trees,” a 12-line verse published in 1913 (“I think that I shall never see/ A poem lovely as a tree,” it begins). The Alfred Joyce Kilmer Memorial Bad ...