What determines the poetry on the front page?

The poems that show up on the front page of the site - the page you come to when you type http://www.digitalverse.org/ into your browser - are a mix of what's current with what's popular. First and foremost, these poems need to have at least one Add Fave to be displayed there. After this the poetry is ordered with those poems that have the most faves first on a month by month basis (as in the month it was released to the public).

So....

If two poems both released in September garner 9 and 15 faves the one with 15 faves would come first and 9 would come second. Then if a poem were released in October but with only 3 faves, it would actually be placed above the two poems from September despite having fewer favorites simply because it is newer.

Why do this?

It's a prestige thing.

Why is my cover art no longer being displayed?

To keep the cover art from getting stale, no pieces are displayed for more than a year after they are posted.