This is the new and improved version of both the Periodic Poetry Contest and the Haiku Contest. From this point out, both contests will be combined into one massive contest for everyone to enjoy! And as such, each user is allowed to enter is both contests with separate entries if they so desire, effectively doubling the odds of winning. Each contest (One being general poetry and the other exclusively haiku) will have one winner every month. Every month, two winners (one from each contest shall be chosen and receive a merit for all their hard work. Show it off to your friends, gloat about it to your enemies! Tell your parents about it and confuse them! It's a win-win-win-win-win scenario, folks.
Rules
General Poetry Contest: - It must fit the theme if the month (same theme as the Haiku Contest). - 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). - The poem must be created for this contest - A user cannot win twice in a row (though everyone is welcome to submit every month!) - Only one submission per user will be accepted
Once a month a winner will be chosen from all the received entries. To begin, the Moderation/Administration Team will act as judges and choose winners. Subject to change depending on how well things go. The winner will then make a comment on the ContestWinners profile to receive a merit. (Original idea by ubertuna, itemized rules by DragonMistress, modified by Devoidless)
Haiku Contest "A Haiku is a Japanese lyric verse form having three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables, traditionally invoking an aspect of nature or the seasons." Well, that said, here are the rules: - It must fit the theme of the month (same as General Poetry Contest) -The haiku must be original (no plagiarizing)! - It must be submitted before the deadline - It must be created for the contest (no using works previously written) - One submission per user - The same user cannot win twice in a row (but they are welcome to submit!)
Once a month a winner will be chosen from all the received entries. To begin, the Moderation/Administration Team will act as judges and choose winners. Subject to change depending on how well things go. The winner will then make a post on the ContestWinners profile to receive a merit. (Original idea and itemized rules by Maverick4, modified by Devoidless) First Themes The first themes to kick off this contest shall be: - The theme for the General Poetry contest this run is "Touch of Truth".
- The theme for the Haiku contest is "Broken Bond". Submitting an entry Since there are two separate contests, users are required to mention in the post which contest they wish to use the entry for. Any entry without this is subject to not being entered into either contest. Examples of how to clarify which contest an entry is for: -
This poem is for the General Poetry contest
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-This is for the Haiku contest
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I'd like to enter this for the General Poetry/Haiku contest
Remember, each user is allowed to join both contests!
Alright! Looking forward to seeing what you all can create! Good luck, and have fun with it!
The pairings below are somewhat arbitrary the same things apply to both and that at least gives some comparison.
Theme:
The story behind the image carried much more impact than the submissions. I think I was expecting too much when I was looking at the entries. Each entry covers Veterans and Death, but not being the last of a group of people you've known for a very long time and that's where the impact lies.
Decoration of Decay
Here I, decaying, Sit decorated, waiting; Death shrouds the triumph.
Over
Decorated, done. Time, waiting to take control. And I'm here- Over.
I don't think the stop-and-go nature of the construction of these two haiku necessarily work to promote the image. The stuttering construction is distracting, and if it were not or the syllable count, might as well not have been a haiku. Why is it haiku and not some other freeverse? They seem to be a collection of ideas rather than a concise coherent poem of ideas and/or images in a meaningful juxtaposition.
Washed in Time
They fell from lead rounds, shedding their blood for country. Now they fall to time.
Theme: none
Either Way
Soldiers die in war. The war comes to an end. Soldier dies alone.
I'm not getting much more than what is presented. Soldiers die of being shot. Veterans die of old age. The contrast of falling to bullets and falling to time is there, but it just conveys everybody dies, so why the point of soldiers? What is this trying to say beyond what is already there?
I return _____________________________ I was gone for long. But alas I have returned. To stay till the end. _____________________________
The periods here are inappropriate because this is just one sentence that applies to one person.
Theme: Weary
I sit here alone exhausted from the iron, until tomorrow.
Meaningless effort? What do I look forward to When I'm scared restless?
Sleep is a wonderful thing and tomorrow a new day, even if every day from one day to the next is the same. These two do well in capturing an inescapable weariness, one from work and one from fear. However, for both haiku, I don't think the first lines add as much to the overall haiku. They do add some flavor, but the haikus still seem bottom heavy. In the first one, "alone" (and "here" could be removed and the essnece would still be the same. In the second, the first line seems out of place with a statement in the form of a question starting it.
What Stage Are We On?
What stage are we on? The progress we've made On this unforgiving, unrelenting, unsatisfying, Platform of life with which we present ourselves, When do we stop? When do we keep going?
When do we get off this stage? Fatigued and exhausted, yes, But at nevertheless, we move To move on to the next stage. To see to the end our last performance, Despite our tiresome, aching bodies, This is the stage where we put our hearts and our souls. And, at the end, When we are cold, hungry, and weary We smile at the thought that we've created something good, Something worthwhile on this stage
But tell me, after that, What stage are we on?
The idea is there, but something about this that doesn't work and I can't seem to pinpoint what exactly. Maybe, it seems too glib. The wording seems awkward in the second stanza, particularly lines three and four.
