First of all, GAH! I copy/pasted all of the entries into word so that I could read them, and there were over 8 pages of poem. And that doesn't count multile submissions or stanza breaks. This is crazy, and awesome! I'm really excited to see such a high turnout for this contest. Now, I know I say this just about every time I judge, but it's true. Picking a winner this time was quite hard. There were many beautiful and funny entries, and after going through them numerous times, I think I have landed on one that is particularly pleasing. First prize goes to...
If there's one face I want to see,
so beautiful, so true,
one smile that makes a difference,
to everything I do.
If there's one touch I long to feel,
one voice I long to hear,
whenever I am happy,
or just needing someone near.
If there's one joy, one love,
from which I never want to part,
it's you, my very special love,
my world, my life, my heart.
-
If There's... Fritz_RublehemIt really seemed to m that a lot of the other participants tried to overcomplicate their entries in an attempt to get at some deeper meaning of love. That isn't really what I was looking for in this contest. Sometimes simple is better, and this submission was simple and wonderful. Congrats on your first win Fritz, post on my wall for your merit!
Now we can move on to the honorable mentions, where I will address the overcomplicated deep love pieces. I'm going to go through these in no particular order.
Why is it that I love you?
When you hate me.
Why do I find you beautiful?
When your tongue acts like a sword.
Why do I find you irresistible?
When you say I make you sick.
Why do you intrigue me?
When you just ignore me.
Why can't I not love you?
When you do not love me.
Why do you make my heart beat faster?
When you are insulting me.
Why do you brighten my days?
When you say I darken yours.
Why is it that I love you?
When you hate me.
Kingryan, it appears that you have finally packed up your stuff and moved out of the house of fail. Congrats. I have to say that I was really impressed with this piece, as well as your other entries. Definitely not a level of sincerity that I expected from you
Anyway, great job. Good 'ol depressing love.
*looks back at giant word document*
Ok. No big surprise here, both Gantic and Parsat have made the list.
What days have passed when summer's last
Has come and then gone by?
When its breath grew small and it came to fall
To hold man's thrall with leaves and bleary sky:
'Tis time to bid goodbye.
In autumn's wake came us to the lake,
The lake! Just her and I.
We sat under a willow on earth soft as a pillow
Gazing at the billow of waves and clouds on high
That waved to us to say goodbye.
'Twas her the seraphs did adore, her the cherubs named Lenore,
A maiden with my heart allied.
With countenance fair and flaxen hair,
Such beauty rare upon my eye,
Thus loath was I to say goodbye.
Amid the foam and grassy loam
I paused, about to cry.
"Lenore," said I with quavering voice, "I have no choice
But to leave your poise and quiet sighs,
The time has come to say goodbye."
Her gaze, it traveled to my soul, there upon that grassy knoll,
But from her mouth there came one word: "Why?"
Our fears welled up in burning tears
Sharper than spears that one could every buy:
"Because we have to say goodbye."
I held her close for how long God knows
But I was a fool, a wretched spy.
I never returned, so afraid to be spurned,
But within me burned the warmth of July
The one I spent, but bid goodbye.
Now her soul, so pure and whole,
Has left this Earth and I,
I have been, forevermore, deprived of the paramour
Who lives nevermore; as she lived and died
I cannot bring myself to say goodbye.
(with fixed apostrophes and 6th stanza)
You have exceeded by far the already high expectations I have for you Parsat. That poem was simply amazing. I loved the Poe reference, as well as the reoccurring nature theme. Excellent work.
Shall I not speak to you as lovers may?
Or not compare you to a summer's day?
Shall I not whisper love into your ear?
Say how my heart would flutter when you near?
Shall I not make you melt as choc'late may
On the hottest of the hottest summer day?
Shall you ever be my only waking thought?
Or only be to me as dreams have wrought?
Shall I know your eyes are nothing like the sun?
Or the moon that shines when day is done?
Shall I not speak to you as lovers may?
Ascribe my words to poetry cliche?
Or shall I tell you how I love you so
In the truest words that you alone would know?
How you would use your hair to hide your eyes
And turn your head away your smile disguise
How when you laugh you look about to cry?
How each tear falls as I would wipe your eye?
How I remember everyday with you
Spent on all things we never liked to do,
Yet I would still do again with you
If ever that experience was new.
Shall I not speak to you as lovers may?
And not just on Saint Valentine's today?
You have exceeded by far the already high expectations I have for you
Gantic.
That poem was simply amazing.
RANDOM LOVE CHEESE PRIZE OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGlove stinks
like moldy cheese.
which blows in the breeze...
and brings me to my knees...
did i say it smells like cheese?
love is much like stinky cheese....
please hand me the keys!
so i can lock up this stinky love cheese!!
And now the final HM goes to Zoph.
When the laughter hurts beneath the happy surface
When the comfort of knowing another so well
Becomes the pain of knowing things that were
Are over
Was the point of it all not to be that close?
Was this not the reason
For the pain that struck upon realizing
That not only could this end
It did?
I always enjoy reading your entries because they often give interesting and unique takes on the weekly topic. It took me a few reads to really understand your submission for this week, but it was by far one of the "Deepest" poems entered. Great work Zoph.
And now I bet that everybody thinks that I'm going to give the fail prize to Klaus and his sexy xbox. Well, you guys are wrong. In fact, I am not awarding any dishonorable mention this week. After reading the submissions, none of them failed hard enough to receive a fail prize of such high calibre. Except for Klaus's, but I'm not going to encourage is behavior by rewarding it.
That concludes the judging, now on to the new theme.
*thinks*
And the next theme is...
I'M OLD GREGG!
(flipski gave me the idea, so you can blame him for any mental scarring that occurs as a result of this round.)
Deadline is next friday. (that's a week and a half)