ForumsArt, Music, and Writing50 Theme Challenge

202 56012
jezz
offline
jezz
3,337 posts
Farmer

Well! What was originally going to be my own little poetry challenge has turned into a major competition! Please read every word in this opening post very carefully as everything I say must be adhered to. I don't know if you know this, but I am very strict with my rules and regulations...

The general point of this competition

A few of us users have come up with a list of 50 themes which can be found below. The aim of this competition is to write a poem or a piece of short prose for each theme, just for fun! There are no deadlines (as of yet) for the submissions because I don't want the pieces to be hurriedly written, so don't let that put you off participating. Everyone is welcome to participate. There's no pressure to submit all 50 pieces, take your time, have fun!

Please remember to follow the basic rules of the AMW. All work must be your own. No flaming, trolling, spamming, etc. Only provide critique on a user's piece if they have asked for it specifically. Keep general discussion on this thread to a minimum so as to remain at least a little bit on topic.

Submissions

A list of rules that (hopefully) cover everything you need to know about submissions. Read carefully. If you have any questions, contact me on my profile.

*You do not need to submit the pieces in order. You may start with whichever theme you like.

* Once you have written and revised a piece, submit it!

*You may submit more than one piece at a time, although submitting too many at once will seem as though you've rushed them.

*I will keep track of how many submissions each participant has entered on my profile, so take a look once in a while.

*Only short prose pieces are accepted. Nothing too longwinded please. I am going to include a word limit of 1,500 words.

*There is a certain structure to submitting a piece in order to keep the thread nice and tidy:
- Your piece must have the theme name and number as the title in bold. You may also include your own title in brackets next to it.
- You must state which form you have written your piece in, for example, haiku, short prose, sonnet, standard verse, etc.

Here is an example post;

51. Insanity (Two Minds) - Haiku

Come here; don't be scared
I am confined in both minds
Stay away from me


List Of Themes
1. Innocence
2. Entombment
3. A Forgotten Name
4. Rising Tide
5. A Broken Picture
6. Leaves Falling In Autumn
7. Birth
8. Falling Into The Abyss
9. Near-death Experience
10. Beautiful Sunset
11. New School
12. Describing Colour To A Blind Person
13. Home Alone
14. Nightmare
15. Dreams
16. Inner strength
17. Self-Hatred
18. Martyrdom
19. Political Corruption
20. Self-Completion
21. Genius
22. Thanksgiving
23. Halloween
24. Christmas
25. Guilt
26. Daydreams
27. Orange Leaves In Autumn
28. A Shy Person In The Middle Of A Crowd
29. Unrequited love
30. Kraken
31. Memories
32. Revolution
33. The Shining Auroras
34. Poverty
35. A Hero Among Evil
36. An Entity Who Shows Itself
37. The 5th Dimension
38. Berserk Wildlife
39. A Light In The Black
40. Trial And Error
41. A Creation
42. Two-Faced
43. Disillusionment
44. Regular/Ordinary
45. The Mind Of A Villain
46. Someone Who Lives To Watch The World Burn.
47. Old Age
48. Something For The Girls
49. Something For The Boys
50. Go Crazy

And now for the fun part...

I am going to include a few features similar to Strop's 'erks and penalties' idea in the WoM. Some of them are preeeetty difficult, so good luck with that. Once you've completed one, I'll stick your name on my profile.

Here they are:

1) Theme-a-Rama!: Mention 15 separate themes in one piece.

2) Sonnet 130: Write a mock sonnet which relates to love and one other theme.

3) Total Overkill: Use the theme title 6 times in one piece.

4) Like a Freight Train: Be the first to complete the first 10 themes.

5) In The Dank And Dark Recesses Of The Mind...: Be the first to complete themes 8, 14, 17 and 46.

And there'll be more coming your way!

Lets get started!

  • 202 Replies
Freakenstein
offline
Freakenstein
9,508 posts
Jester

1) Theme-a-Rama!: Mention 15 separate themes in one piece.


See this is sorta what I totally thought we were supposed to do... write 50 themes in one poem? I guess my greatest fears of poetry have come to pass...unless it's also an achievement! Noooooooo!

I'm gonna do #5! When my internet comes back on. Nice thread Jess! You lucky girl, getting a thread stickied...
SirNoobalot
offline
SirNoobalot
22,207 posts
Nomad

Uno question... is the 1,500 word limit the MAX or the minimum, because i don't think anyone would ever want to write 1,500 words in one poem *.*

and is there a 'free verse?' o am not familiar with the poetical terminology....

34. Poverty

Poverty,
its like a weight,
a life for most,
a minor concern to some,
The rich man sits,
on his comfy chair,
one of the lucky
while the poor beggar waits,
for their day to come,
the day they get to shine,
have a house
some food
fresh water,
but to the rich man, it is all for granted,
it's always been there,
never amended,
but then who's fault is it?
that one man wonders,
whether he'll eat today,
knowing full well,
that he has nothing to gain.

classification please???
and critique also =D

SirNoobalot
offline
SirNoobalot
22,207 posts
Nomad

46. The Mind of a Villain.

I am warrior,
the fighter of the night,
my rights are just,
who cares, right?
i fight for the weak,
by destroying the strong
a rat in the system,
Destroyer of The Machine,
that guy who's always plotting,
whether i like you or not,
the one who lives,
to see you burn,
and not just YOU either,
i want the whole world ablaze,
wouldn't it be pretty?
every street, every fern
every house, every child
No one spared, what have you done for ME?
NOTHING!
you watched me fall,
into the abyss,
and all you did was LAUGH!
entombed forever in yourself!
Whenever i wanted something from you, world,
all you did was PUSH me farther down,
Till i stopped getting up,
claiming my rightful crown,
as the lord of the darkness,
Master of nightmares,
new glory found.

Cenere
offline
Cenere
13,658 posts
Jester

is the 1,500 word limit the MAX or the minimum, because i don't think anyone would ever want to write 1,500 words in one poem *.*

Considering the &quotlease don't write too long stories" and such, I am going to conclude it is a max.

This is obviously going to be abused by me to write crappy little short stories about my characters > >... Because I don't do poetry.

--

(Warning, slight graphic violence, possible odd sentences or mistakes as well as grammatical errors and other stupidity)
#14 Nightmare - Short prose

Another of those nights, filled with flighty images and broken thoughts. Chasing a dream in a shadowscape.
The branches caught the one whole antler time after time, head being pulled back sharply each time but yet he did not slow down the wild chase. Tonight had to be the night where he caught her, and held her in his arms and kissed her, oh God, he longed for that.
The stag bounces through the undergrowth, the doe just out of reach, always around the next corner of the wooden maze. Only she knew where they were going and perhaps she was the only one who truly did know the reason for the hunts night after night. The reason why he felt so tired in the morning that he could pass out, even after 8 hours of sleep. Why he stubbornly sought her out during the nights in his dreams, even though the chance of sweet embrace was much lower than he wanted to think of.
One, two jumps, and into a clearing sheltered by a wall of rock to one side, the forest even more dense on the other. She disappeared through the leaves on the other side, flashing the white of her tail just before the forest once again engulfed her, and of course he followed her, not missing a step.
A lone howl broke the relative silence, intimidating and nothing like anything he could remember from his dreams. He stopped short in his track, loosing her entirely from sight. This was nothing like those dreams of his. Something was different, not only the howl, but the entire feel was different, strange and twisted, as stepping into someone else's dream. The big soft ears did not catch any more disturbance in the peace, but somehow he still felt the danger come closer. Like he had become the prey of a hunt. He grunted, took a step forward before starting to run again. The moment he moved, the howl was heard once again, much closer, and yet there was nothing to see, nothing to hear than the echo of the call of the predator. He turned on his thin legs, and jumped, a spur of instinct saving him from the jaws of the wolven critter that emerged with an eerie speed from the tangled undergrowth.
He ran.
This was not real, he knew that, lucid dreaming having become a speciality of his, but yet he feared for his life, running head over heels to a place where he could be safe from the teeth and claws of the silent hunter.
He couldn't hear it, yet it was right there, snapping at his legs, seemingly only a jump away from a meal of deer.
A jump and there was the clearing. Walls on all sides, one being a solid mass of rock, the rest being a potential danger to his life, but also a place to search for salvage. He jumped towards the other side of the clearing, only to be violently stopped by another wolf, its stubby claws digging into flesh.
Tooth and claw.
Teeth digging into vulnerable muscle, jaws threatening to crush bone, leaves, branches, pain, blinding pain, clawed paws loosing their footing, maws being cheated of their victory, freedom.
And the feeling when the windpipe was ripped out of the throat, silencing a scream of despair.

Cen sat up, gasping for air that seemed so unwilling to enter his lunges.
His throat hurt.
Parsat
offline
Parsat
2,180 posts
Blacksmith

Just a poem that mentions all of the themes and goes for all the challenges.

Guilt, or the Love of an Evil Genius

Born innocence shall fall as abyssal Fall leaves,
And shy men lost to guilty Krakens in high tides
Will turn to heroes, escape as poor resolv-ed grave thieves
To sunsets and aurorae unknown to blind guides.
They hate themselves as beasts of dreams past time, two-faced:
One plain, corrupt, alone as freshmen, trying still,
One dying for beliefs in daydreams, mem'ries waste
As we burn that picture and the world, light fills
The Hallowed dark, created from a thankful Jinn
Who passes makeup and toy guns on Christmas Eve.
The nightmare of the rising masses now moves in
As their own insanity comes self-achieved.
My disillusionment loves another guilt:
Of power's guilty guilt now gilt with guilty guilt.

Hypermnestra
offline
Hypermnestra
26,390 posts
Nomad

8. Falling Into The Abyss

I feel myself slipping away
Into the darkest abyss
I feel my soul is giving way
To sweet insanity's bliss

I feel the dark transformations
Growing deep within me
Twisted to an aberration
I feel the evil set me free

I fall into the fiery pit
Hidden within my mind
I still refuse to repent
But what growing inside?


I fall into the fire within
I feel my self-inflicted pain
And hear the burn and sizzle of skin
I cannot decide, so conflicted, my brain

I lose my grip and fall right through
I feel the wind rush by
I feel within what's true
And know that my life is a lie

and is there a 'free verse?' o am not familiar with the poetical terminology....

I believe that is non-metrical prose...it's just really random.
BlackSkullDragon
offline
BlackSkullDragon
161 posts
Peasant

25.Guilt -Free verse

We are all part of this story,
Story of the ones who have fallen,
Fallen to the abyss of not thinking,
Not thinking of why we are here today.

Here we lie all together,
Surrounded by our pairs,
They are all dead bodies
Of the ones we did not protect.

Now we try to fix it
Thinking it can all be undone
But time has passed right by us
And death will soon come to us.

Our fate was decided
A long time ago
Decided by the ones who still live
But soon shall succumb.

I'm a part of that group
Of the ones who ruined it all
I know I can't make it right
But I can avoid it becoming much worst.

I must kill me and all the survivors
Before we destroy everything
Mankind shall be erased
For Earth to heal herself.

Gantic
offline
Gantic
11,892 posts
King

No one can say that they didn't expect to see this coming from me, because you can't.

A shy person in the middle of a crowd turns,
Someone who lives to watch the world burn
In orange leaves in autumn, watching leaves falling in autumn,
Something for the guilt, something for the innocence,
The shining auroras of red and gold fade to snow
Through Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
Daydreams, nightmares, dreams, and memories
Home alone brings guilt, self-hatred and poverty
Steadily falling into the abyss, leaves falling in autumn.
An entity who shows itself describing color to a blind person
A broken picture, a forgotten name, the wrong version
In a light in the black a hero among evil and perversion:
Political corruption, martyrdom and birth, leaves falling in autumn.
Two-faced, old age, the mind of a villain: Go crazy.
New school, regular/ordinary berserk wildlife all hazy,
A kraken from the 5th dimension, leaves falling in autumn.
Genius brings disillusionment, revolution gives entombment,
Self-completion, inner strength, a rising tide, a new movement,
A near-death experience, a creation, all trial and error,
Something for the boys, something for the girls -- we scare her--
Unrequited love, beautiful sunsets, leaves falling in autumn.
We all see leaves falling in autumn, watching as the world burns.

EnterOrion
offline
EnterOrion
4,223 posts
Nomad

#18 - Martyrdom -- Lyrical Poetry

Graceful winds sweep at me,
Crushing grace and swimming free,
Explosive power fills with glee,
Making all the children flee.

Counting bombs and shooting bullets,
Make my presence known,
Watch you die in blood soaked amulets,
Now my power is shown.

Crushed in a vice of hate and fear,
Into the abyss I shall peer,
Lost in brainwashed death-like agony,
Fire my soul straight into eternity.

Epidemic corrosive power,
Blooms its bloody flower,
Soon to turn my life sour,
Now is my payback, my dying hour.

Trigger myself, straight into death,
Prove what I believe,
I'll kill you all with my last breath,
I'll make sure you all grieve.

Crushed in a vice of hate and fear,
Into the abyss I shall peer,
Lost in brainwashed death-like agony,
I'll blow myself into vanity.

Criticism always welcome.

kingryan
offline
kingryan
4,196 posts
Farmer

7 - Birth

A new thread was born,
From within the turmoil.
It held such hope and light,
That the dark could not spoil.

Born from a firebird,
Fueled by the community.
Fanned by the mods,
Granted stickyness immunity.

From here we now start,
The birth of a new life.
The creativity has been released,
Hope we don't get into strife!

jezz
offline
jezz
3,337 posts
Farmer

You lucky girl, getting a thread stickied...

One word: Cen :3

34. Poverty
Poverty,
its like a weight,
a life for most,
a minor concern to some,
The rich man sits,
on his comfy chair,
one of the lucky
while the poor beggar waits,
for their day to come,
the day they get to shine,
have a house
some food
fresh water,
but to the rich man, it is all for granted,
it's always been there,
never amended,
but then who's fault is it?
that one man wonders,
whether he'll eat today,
knowing full well,
that he has nothing to gain.

A typical take on poverty but still an effective poem. ''knowing full well that he has nothing to gain'' is a pretty effective last line. It's interesting how you went with the idea of being stuck in poverty rather than striving to get out of it.

I liked your story Cen. I think you should try one for Unrequited Love.

Ahh Ryan your poem is my favourite! Reminds me of your Aftermath thing that you recorded :P

I think I'mma write a story after work and post it tomorrow. I half updated my profile by the way~
Hypermnestra
offline
Hypermnestra
26,390 posts
Nomad

I'm gonna try for one of the harder themes. This will be fun!

36. An Entity Who Shows Itself

When God shows himself
It is a rare event indeed
Sometimes we crucify his son
Other times we let him lead

Jacob saw God face-to-face
And yet his life was spared

Although he got only a taste
That God's face he saw bare

No man shall see him and live
(Though the seventy elders of Israel did)
And were so presumptuous that they ate and drank
Though they should be dead, and overstaying their welcome per se

Abram had God appear to him
And Moses spoke to his face as a friend
However, no man has ever seen God
Which is non-contradictory and can't be wrong!

No man has ever seen God, for he cannot
Except for everyone that did, of course
Wait...to know the face of God is to know madness?
Ooohh...that explains all of this!

Haha, that was fun. Credit goes to Quiz Show Bibs Contradictions for helping me find some of those spots.

ulimitedpower
offline
ulimitedpower
1,739 posts
Nomad

30. Kraken


LOL. Some has to try that one out. I might make one and send it with the others...

This is fun!
BlackSkullDragon
offline
BlackSkullDragon
161 posts
Peasant

21.Genius -Haiku

It works way too fast,
People can not understand,
The moves of my mind.

slayguy8
offline
slayguy8
718 posts
Peasant

1. Innocence

Innocence
In everybody
you need it
to plead your case
you innocence til proven guilty
Its in your eyes
i can tell
your belevible
innocence



2. Entombment

To worship what you want
is your choosing
no one can change it
in the temple
you are wanted
for who you are
not what you should be


3. A Forgotten Name
Is it my name
thats forever lost
now meaningless
once charrished?
tell me
is it yours
instead of mine?
forgotten name
lost in the test of time


4. Rising Tide
A rising tide
in
then to leave me again
out
the moon controls it
until it stops
for once
no not now
i will miss you
til you decide to come back

5. A Broken Picture
A broken picture
shards of glass
a broken picture
never replaced
a broken picture
a lost memory
a broken picture
brings be to tears
a broken picture

OVERKILL MUCH


6. Leaves Falling In Autumn
Leaves falling in autumn
swerling here swerling there
the crunch of them
the color bight
the time of change
with your eyes delight
then they fall with a brown crunch
and its over the color gone


7. Birth
Birth
a wonderful thing
repoputlation
needed for life
new as can be
could be anything
or nothing
you never know


8. Falling Into The Abyss
falling into the abyss
dark
never ending
never slowing
ending it all
it sinks in
that it is final
its the end of you
for once and for all


9. Near-death Experience
near-death experience
at deaths door
life flashing before you
realizing what you could have done
you let everything go
then you get it back
you lived


10. Beautiful Sunset
Beautiful sunset
the colors are so pretty
then it quickly ends

there 10 of them thats frieght train

Showing 1-15 of 202