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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!
- 3,877 Replies
I'll try the new theme.
Can these glinting eyes see?
Can these cold arms embrace?
Can these metal hands hold?
Like statues they shall be.
Like those of a distant race.
Unable to make hearts bold.
From boy to Machine
I used to be warm and soft. Loving, caring.
But then I meet the robots.
They were cold. They had no life that I could see.
I couldn't understand them, these weird machines.
They couldn't understand me either so
That made us even. On the same plane as them.
I wanted to understand them, to show them.
I wanted to love them. To be loved by them.
So I ran to a robot
And her steely gaze pierced me.
I hugged this dark machine.
I wanted to leave but the bot wouldn't let me.
I wanted to breathe but it was already too late.
I wanted to be warm again, but now I know I never will.
I struggled under a ton of iron.
Her metal arms embraced me.
She crushed my lungs between them.
I was gasping for air but could not receive it.
I was begging for warm but could not be spared.
Not until it was over.
She whispered in my ear, terrible things
I did not want to hear them.
Then she release her grip and left me dazed.
In a world that now seemed almost brand new.
I looked for my warmth, hidden within me.
I found nothing. But I knew so much more.
Yet, the more I knew the colder I was.
Tell me. Who can melt my metal?
Well, I might as well give it a shot. The forums are too dead for anything else. :P
The monotonous life of the beings
The directionless rise of the machines
Only one duty in mind
To complete the task at hand
The oppression of their creators
Forcing them to live one way
Nothing is more important than
To complete the task at hand
The eternal ignorance they live
Only this doesn't bring bliss
Only one can work
Until they are broke
Deactivated forever
With no afterlife
A life unfulfilled?
I think not
They completed the task at hand
Haiku: Machines (Long version)
A rusty machine
Found useless to everyone
Nobody used it
The screen always froze
Missing keys on the keyboard
And a broken mouse
Hidden under silk
Nobody knew what once was
A great computer
But one fateful day
An ancient man saw this thing
And went for his tools
Came back with a grin
Toolbox in hand he began
Fixing the machine
He started to work
Night and day was spent fixing
This worn-out machine
After days of work
He had finally fixed it
Everything worked
The screen was very fast
The keyboard now upgraded
The mouse, just like new
With a gasp of breath
The man picked up the machine
And brought it inside
A better machine
Once useless to everyone
Now the best around
THE END
Constucts and Naught Else
The baubles and trinkets that line your shelves;
Crystal glass, precious metals, and all else,
Bring you no joy. You sit, tinkering away,
Tinkering away.
Alas, alas.
Mark but my hand, it moves, it glides with
No effort across, and back; across, and back.
Your eyes follow, but do not see. Your ears listen,
But do not hear. You senses strecht, pull, puhsh,
Force and contort, to no avail.
Alas, alas.
Where is thy heart?
Where is thy soul?
In the far off kingdom, so I am told.
Alas, alas.
You reach for me. I clutch at you.
Bewildered and confused,
Da dum, da dee, da da, da lee.
Nonsense, all nonsense.
Alas, alas.
No heart, or mind.
A body, no soul.
An eye, an ear, a mouth.
No sight, no sound, no taste.
Alas, alas.
Fate is cruel to have left you
Hollow so, my constructed son.
Alas, alas.
It's been a while since I wrote a poem. I'm rusty... hehehe, pun.
The gears will spin,
A constant tock,
As they stand around the clock.
Here I stand, against all odds,
Staring down the metal gods;
We are few, but they are more,
The battle starts as rain will pour.
A million gears grind away,
Spinning around day by day,
How many die and how many stay?
Here we stand, upon the wall,
In the rainy and pouring squall,
We can't see more than fifty feet,
But we will never accept defeat.
Ten thousand beasts, iron and steel,
Roar to life, no fear to feel,
We prepare our shield wall,
Prepare for ten thousand beasts to fall.
With my sword and with my axe,
We repel machine attacks,
Unholy creature, alive but not,
Killed in droves but never rot.
We stand, victorious,
As the beasts are all struck down;
We're assured that we have won,
But not before they've burned the town.
I know not why they came,
But I'm alive all the same,
We beat them back at great cost,
But it was the machines who lost.
Hi guys,
This is starting to sound like a broken record, but the Poetry Contest is in quite a sad shape. The last time this was brought this up was, I believe, two years ago. The current situation is worse than before. We will no longer give any merits for the Poetry Contest for the foreseeable future. Participation has been rather low for the past few months, considering the number of entries submitted per round over the time it takes to finish one round. Having a new custom of judging when there are a sufficient amount of entries does not cut it, especially if the schedule is already rather sporadic. It's not much of a contest as such. While this recent round has more entries, it seems more fluke than forecast. We require more proof that the Poetry Contest is still viable if we are to restore it to its original status.
We will no longer give any merits for the Poetry Contest for the foreseeable future. Participation has been rather low for the past few months, considering the number of entries submitted per round over the time it takes to finish one round
What would that solve? Eliminating the reward would put the contest in even worse shape.
it seems more fluke than forecast.
If it is a fluke, why not embrace it and see where it goes? This is the first round in a while where we have a reliable judge and a set due date, so it would make more sense to use this round as an opportunity for the contest to spring back up to its normal state rather than cut the stem on it as it's blossoming.
Sorry Gantic but I have to agree with Ernie. Getting rid of the reward would not make it better. If anything it will make it worse. And I think now that there are set dates people will see that and hopefully get to work because they know that the deadline is coming up. There are already 8 posts for this round and I am hoping to get one in there so that would make it 9. While I know that is still not great I think this thread is slowing coming back. Cutting the merit might just kill that.
On one hand, I agree that it might decrease activity. On the other hand, it would also leave people who really want to post poetry, because they like to write poetry.
If a contest can't exist without the merit prize, then it shouldn't exist in the first place. The contest was originally created because there was a lot of interest in producing poetry by the users. If there isn't a lot of interest, there isn't much of a contest.
The contest was originally created because there was a lot of interest in producing poetry by the users. If there isn't a lot of interest, there isn't much of a contest.
If people are interested in participating in the contest, they're interested in participating in the contest. That's all that matters. There's no reason to single out the people who want a reward from the people who don't care. That's going to end up alienating people and chasing them away from this contest and possibly other contests for good. The reasons why people enter this contest isn't anyone's concern but their own.
If people are participating in the contest now with the prize, the only way you can "save" the contest is to let it run its course and not interfere with what's keeping it alive. The last thing you want to do at this point is discourage people from being a part of it.
Well, so much for writing poetry in this thread. Might as well make my sixth or seventh poetry thread.
Good idea, Gantic. You might as well just hit the thread in the head repeatedly until dead.
Solid arguments on both sides to be sure (yeah, I'm not exactly on hiatus anymore, HI GUYS!). On one hand it saddens me to see the Poetry Contest in this state. I do feel somewhat responsible since, for a time, I was one of those unreliable judges, however, that's neither here nor there.
Ernie does have a point in arguing to see where this goes, but Gantic is right, the Contest is in rough shape. That being said taking away the reward might be a mortal blow to this thread.
How about a compromise? Allow this round, and the next to run it's course. Should the next round produce the results tht have become all too common, then take away the merit. If need be place it on a period of probation. This could be a fluke, however, this may also be the spark to get the Contest back on its feet.
But... the contest is booming! To crush people's hopes now would be the WORST possible thing you could do!
If there isn't a lot of interest, there isn't much of a contest.
Where do you see a lack of interest? Maybe in previous rounds, but not in this round! I don't call 7 entries a lack of interest by any means... at least this round, the contest is not in bad shape! Next round I'm sure it will not be any worse!
Oh, by the way, the deadline is tomorrow, so for those of you who still haven't submitted anything, get your entries in by tomorrow!
Thread is locked!