Forums → Art, Music, and Writing → Periodic Poetry Contest - Theme: Touch of Truth (Page 390, due Jan. 28)
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First, I will post the overall rules, and then I will post the specifics about this week.
Original rules, as stated by Ubertuna:
It must fit the week's theme.
It must be submitted by the deadline.
It cannot have inappropriate language in it.
It cannot be stolen (if you plagiarize, we will find you).
Also:
The poem must be created for this contest
A user cannot win two weeks in a row (though everyone is welcome to submit every week!)
Only one submission per user will be accepted
As we all know, the winner will recieve a merit, and their poem will be featured on the _Poetry_ page.
OK, on to this week's topic...Again, we are having a style instead of a theme. Also, this week we are having TWO WEEKS to do it, instead of the usual one. Why? Because this will be an EPIC poem. Or, rather, a parody of an epic poem. Generally, epic poetry is very long, and tells the serious story of a heroic figure. Well, this week, the epic figure is YOU! Write a long poem (I'll leave the definition of 'long' up to you, but give it a good go) about the heroic story of you! It can be silly, serious, whatever... just have fun with it. You have two weeks, so have a great time!
- 3,868 Replies
Judging is whenever I can get to it.
Please don't forget that I have a life.
Okay. Make that no life D:
Hm. I thought about the judging for a while.
This is too hard.
I will have to think of some way to convincingly judge this shortly (do not push me). In the meantime, have another theme!
Theme: Moths
Deadline: Friday 28th November
Yeah, I have moths buzzing around my lamp right now.
Welcome to the Night
Out of their cocoons,
they morph from an earth-bound state.
They use their new wings
And are spirited away.
Fluttering towards the moon,
towards it's lively night.
They fly and they sing,
"Welcome to the night!"
Goodbye, Earth.
Thanks for the stay!
I will never forget you,
Though I fly, fly away.
You'll always be below me.
I'll always be above.
Way high, in the heavens
To dance with my love.
The stars are my Children,
The moon is my Bride.
I live happy forever more.
Welcome to the Night.
did anyone read my poem on page 37? it's not good but i thought it was funny.
Yes i did, it was very intresting...And as for Aaroniscool your poem was amazing, i find it hard to compet with that.
Dreaming on a Sunny Day
oh no.
from where do you come,
my little fuzzy friend?
you died.
on my windowsill you lay,
as if dreaming of the sun.
i mused:
when did you pass away?
how did you get here?
and thought:
were you that little guy
fluttering about my lamp?
i saw
your body on the windowsill,
as i was dreaming of the sun.
your body,
how do i notice only it now,
my little fuzzy friend?
Light
Every little light
Draws me closer in
My mother told me
Never to go near them
But now I sit
In front of it
Staring at the light
It shines like the sun
A bright, radiant glow
And the heat it puts off
Sends my senses a blow
I inch ever close
Even though I know
I am moving toward my death
Yet it pulls me closer
With that light that glows bright
The flicker of my life
Mixed with the blazing light
And for those few seconds
Everything felt right
But then it was gone,
Not the light but I
Dead forever
From the light that glowed so bright.
Sorry its so long, but i couldnt stop writing.
on day colder than Hoth(copyright George Lucas)
Here flies a moth.
He has no warmth...
no way to unfreeze.
but then, he sees a light, and hears a sneeze.
I MUST GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT!!!
no John, don't go towards it!!!
ZAP!!!!!
The moth survives the vicious attack of the bug zapper!!
He lives on to be a great rapper.
word, peace out....yo!
*sighs* when are the results going to be in?
*gasp* I have reached 100 posts! =)
Silent in the night
Sleep peacefully my moth friends
Light will come again
I tried a haiku again.
Retort of a Moth
My cousin is the butterfly
With vivid colors, gay.
Why then is my love denied
Because my wings are gray?
Why is it that I have no use
Unless my children die?
How is it that a coat produced
Outweighs my tearful cry?
Why must you mock about the light
Of which I hover under?
If you were small, and large was night,
It would not be a blunder.
Is it so strange that I must eat
Like any other being?
Then why must you deny my treat?
To rob my own wellbeing?
The trap is tempting, bright but deep,
My death has come, but none will weep.
I've worked on my meter in this poem. The meter is ballad meter, or common meter, with a four-line stanza alternating between iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter.
Moth Day in and Day out
Moth wakes up to spread his wings,
on this lovely summer day.
Avoid the stinging insect spray,
No one knows what each day brings.
Afternoon comes, time to eat!
Some flowers look quite appetizing.
One aspect of life to make Moth sing,
is the ruby-red nectar so sweet.
Evening arrives, the sun goes down,
ending this typical day.
Will I join my own in the fray?
Inside the skirts of a portch light's gown?
A fly to what my heart seeks most,
closer to the blinding light I go.
My body longs for this bright glow,
I arrive at my goal, let my life roast.
Starlight
Spread through time and space,
Little white dots-
On an MRI, wink at us-
Menancingly.
What does it mean,
Is as much as we ask, casting our eyes to the heavens,
For we can only know what they-
Might bring.
The rays of light pierce limbs,
Pinning them, setting them aflame,
Blinding eyes,
Piece by piece the world-
Falls to pieces.
I could write any number of poems on this topic, myself, because my current work/training affords me much thought...any number of things that may affect our brain will impinge upon our consciousness, even our awareness. It says a lot for what consciousness is, but it also leaves a lot unanswered.
The above poem is actually about one of the mystery pathologies: Multiple Sclerosis. Look it up sometime, and maybe the poem will make sense.
Anyway, here I am to do the judging. As you all well know, this is an extremely difficult topic to write upon, and the range of entries (and their diminished number) reflected this. There were a number of gutsy efforts, and I hope that I will acknowledge them accordingly. My issue here is, because I've asked for you to express the unexpressable, just how do I judge that which cannot be expressed?
I'll just give it a shot, darn it! I note Parsat was absent from this round, but seeing as Parsat won the last round his poem would have had to been featured separately.
Grand Prize: Zootsuit_riot
I Doubt
Five senses rule my being.
Am I to trust those, which guide me?
An adage tells me, "I am."
Am I to trust the words of another?
That which cannot be governed by human instinct
Falls into place
There were a few poems that valiantly attempted to explore the quandrary of defining consciousness. I believe this one was the most pithy, even if I'm not sure I agree with its assertions.
Congratulations, zootsuit, you've won yourself this week's merit!
Second Place: squidlidink
THROUGH THE WORLD
I sat.
The breeze of my outer world
surrounded me,
filled my lungs
I sat on the water's edge
on a rock
where fish
had died of
this world's air
I sat
not looking
not hearing
not feeling
tasting or smelling
or even thinking
But I sat
looking
hearing feeling
tasting smelling
and thinking
not through my own body
but
through the world
A rather unorthodox approach, I highly rated this because of its Zen perspective. In a way one might say this poem circumvents the problem of consciousness by examining our relation to our world in a different manner.
Third Place: gantic
Never a Perfect Thousand
One door opens
Echoes a nine hundred ninety-nine doors
The room without windows
One door closes
Echoes a thousand and one doors
The room without windows
One door opens
Echoes a thousand and one doors
The room without windows
One door closes
One sound
One window
Wow...this...nearly went over my head. At least I will never perfectly know what goes on in gantic's mind, not least by definition. But this one seems to me to appeal to neurological gated models of behavior, and encapsulates the recursive nature of the process and yet the emergent phenomenon that appears to result, but how we cannot know!
Thus it is a very elegant metaphor, though my sense of aesthetics are not quite as sure if the expression is as elegant to match. I guess that would be why I've judged these entries in the order I have.
So those are the placegetters, but there are more fine (and downright strange) efforts to be commended!
The Honorable Mentions and Hall of Oddities
Tilting At Windmills: Adrecka_33, you've put in a strong effort to define consciousness, but ask yourself...would it ever be enough?
The Singalong channel: Zophia's poem was similar but it had a very song-like character to its meter *plays a creepy version of Teddy Bear Picnic in the background* And it's alllll in your head!
The Matrix Has You: aaroniscool obviously understands the basis of the Matrix, enough said really =)
Surprisingly Good For a Drunkard: tempo013. When I read "gay", I must say I didn't have very high hopes, but I have to admit, the poem ended up being a rather poignant one. The simplicity works strongly in its favor.
The Things That Go Bump in the Night[i]: I would place two separate nominations here- Estel for writing something intense and desperate, Cenere for writing something introspective and despairing. Or should I say, eeeeeeeemo :P
[i]Haiku Corner: Let us compare lynoth's effort, a slightly overwritten (for a haiku) but neat 5-7-5, with, say, kingryan's effort, a rather funny joke that nonetheless commits syllabic travesty by chopping "conscious" into THREE syllables! My god man, what have you done!?
Poems that I'm not sure what to say about: Uhh, _kolak_ and jediboy277...that which is "oetry" is a wide umbrella indeed. But I must ask. Would you call those poems? They go quite far and beyond what I say "whut" to :P
Remember, relevance is of importance here! There is much to be explored, so think carefully!
Since I already nominated a topic, carry on guys!
Thread is locked!