Round 2 (~Dixiedaisy's~) Most Fun you ever had in a contest-Cont

*** You still have a chance to enter round 1 if you have not done so, poems are due Wednesday by 6:00 EST. You must enter round 1 before deadline to be eligible to enter any round thereafter. Write a funny poem and give it a go.

Second Round Rules

1. You will be judged on spelling and grammar. If your back bone poem calls for intentionally misspelled words (slang or southern grammar) then state so at end of poem so that no points are deducted.
2.No-one will be eliminated in the first three rounds. There will be an accumulation of points and based on the points you receive in the first three rounds, this will decide if you will move on to the last round.
3. Poems for the second round must be received by March 30th at 6:00 p.m. EST (Eastern Standard Time)
Judging will take place from March 30th 6:01 p.m. (EST) to April 2nd 6:00 p.m. ( EST). Please PM your poems to me via the sites PM system including your title for poem.
4. Poems must be new and written for this contest.
5. Poems must not be posted to your account until the end of the entire contest. To do so results in disqualification. We want to keep your identity hidden so no one gets their panties in a wad.
6. There are four judges for this contest that will not be revealed unless they themselves decide to do so upon ending of the last round.
7. Poems will be strictly judged on spelling, grammar, content, originality/creativity, and laugh-o-meter. Deductions will be -5points for each misspelled word, please spell check your poem. (Unless otherwise stated that it is slang )

Second Round:

Backbone round

Listed below are 10 poetry prompts, choose one and write a poem about it. There are a couple that give you an opening if you choose not to be funny.
There will be secret bonuses on four of the prompts, each of the four judges will issue up to five bonus points per prompt, it is possible to earn 20 bonus points depending the amount of bonus given on the prompt from judges.

1.Write a funny poem about a very unusual pet. (Could be made up, platy-saurus, canine-equine, rabbi-dog, ferretoad etc)

2. After many years with your company, the day has finally arrived: your last day of work. Your coworkers throw you a lunch retirement party. After cake, one coworker asks you to reflect on your years with the company. So you do...and you hold nothing back.

3.You often hear people say, "You'll never understand another person until you've walked a day in his or her shoes." Choose a fictional character and walk a day in his or her shoes. Now write a poem about it.

4.Rewrite a nursery rhyme (Three Blind Mice, Jack and Jill, etc.) from a character's point of view.

5.You're walking through a cemetery and you pass the grave of a World War II veteran. Write a scene from his life story.

6.After years of unhappiness, you've finally had enough and have decided to quitbut we're not talking about your job. Write a poem letter of resignation to someone other than your employer. Your school, your family, your favorite sports team, whatever. Must rhyme

7.Look around the room and pick an object. Write a poem describing the object in full detail and explaining where it came from.

8.One day, you are out in your yard when the next-door neighbor's garden gnome suddenly walks over and starts telling you about "what is really going on." Write a poem about this.

9.You drank a little too much green beer on St. Patrick's Day and can't remember the night. A friend calls to check up on you and fills you in on what happened, and why she has your pants. Write a poem about this story unfolding. Keep it PG-13

10. Write any genre of poem
Must use a color, an emotion, and an object.

Contestants-

You do not have to PM me with your prompt choice ahead of time. Just include the prompt # when you send your poem to me via PM. Thank you and have fun!

Kay this is very interestin... well thought of :D

Thank You dear.

Well it depends if all four judges have chosen one of the funny prompts as their top bonus point pick with 5 bonus points each, or they all might choose one of the more serious prompts as their 5 bonus points. It's all up to the judges in what they want to see.

More than likely it will be spread out between the judges.

Sorry I should have edited my above post to include this. I had posted thank you dear to Nana before I seen your post Britt.

I likee...i like..

#5 looks like a very powerful prompt.

If you send in round 2 poems, you will get a pm with round 3 which won't be posted until the deadline for round 2 has ended.

A lot of the prompts look powerful, I'm interested to see what participants pick.

Did judging start yet?

Here are the entries, the judges already have them, the results will be up on Sunday.
These are some really great poems. The contestants are doing wonderful.

Hornblower on Deck (Sonnet) Prompt #3

Horatio, why stalk this quarterdeck
locked in unseen fetters, pacing like caged?
The sea's open, but mind's bound, unassuaged
by sails unfurled for freedom's wind to beck
adventure beyond pale of home, to trek;
your crew braved mizzenmast though gales raged;
against strong squadrons your battles were waged,
beat to quarters, rammed enemies to wreck.
The world has known only your flag's ascent
Ne'er seen your imprisoning discontent,
unsettled in your freedom. Oh, relent!
God help that any human frailty show
(in whichever deck it's hidden below).
Fill sails, Heroic Master, let winds blow!

Background and terms explanation:

3. Walk in his shoes.
The argument of this sonnet deals with the character, Horatio Hornblower, focus of numerous stories by C. S. Forester and made the subject of nine movies. Throughout all the books, Hornblower daily paces the quarterdeck for hours at a time. During these treks the reader is fully engaged in Hornblower's torturous self-doubts and plan formation; you walk in his shoes, not for a day, but for months on end.

The leading octave is in a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a scheme, and sets forth the proposition that Horatio Hornblower is trapped in his own mental prison due to his intense inferiority complex, yet he is a great leader of his men and accomplishes seemingly impossible deeds.
The following sestet takes the unusual but heroic form of two poetic triplets, c-c-c-d-d-d, in order to emphasize the adulation accorded this warrior. The solution presented in the sestet urges Hornblower to learn that others appreciate him truer than he does himself, and that he need only accept himself to find freedom.

- 'unassuaged' shows up as misspelled in most spell checkers, but is an acceptable negative form of the word assuaged; in its negative form it means not satisfied.

- 'pale' as used here denotes the safety boundary expected in home water as used in colonial Britain; it is most familiarly applied to the fenced area surrounding Elizabethan era Dublin, but gained more general usage.

- 'mizzenmast' was the third mast in 18th century war ships, and the furthest aft. Although it was the shortest mast, were a sailor to fall off the mizzenmast, he'd likely drop behind the ship with no one to know he was gone until it was too late to rescue him.

- 'Beat to quarters' refers to deploying sailors to the canons in preparation for battle. The beat was provided by a marine drummer. The term is also the title of the first Hornblower novel.

- 'Ne'er' is a contraction for never, which mimics sailors' penchant for shortening every word possible, e.g. t'ps'l for topsail.

Humpty Dumpty Fell
Prompt #4

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
but not from a tree, yea so tall
nor from a horse mired in its stall
neither was it from a mythical wall

However Humpty did indeed fall, he fell in love
fell hard, like hail from the clouds above
yes love, you see
though quite different than you and me

and of course Humpty isn't his name
just a disguise to enhance his game

so now to unveil the Humpty Dumpty Romance
why it's none other than Janis and Dainz
smiling and walking hand in hand round the fountain
waiting for darkness to play "brokeback mountain".

Fortuity
prompt #10

I feast on poisonous snakes
and sip from vases,
revoking venom with my patterned tail
of a hundred eyes;

for all I can do is dance
from beneath slums of sorrow,
inviting love closer
as an amethyst necklace
of mango leaves
rings my neck;

yet if I were to ever lose you,
I'd lose all of me -
all of us.

Unknown Soldier
Prompt #5

I know they told us this was world war two.
There would be no more wars when we were through.
I guess we may have often thought they lied.
As each day would pass and some more had died.
In this land we had no choice but to roam,
With nothing but dog tags to get us home.
I saw many dog tags swapped now and then,
Wondering what was in the minds of men.
Who would desert hope of their next of kin.
To bury their sad past, yet not their sin.
So who knows who is in this unmarked grave,
Who fought ever so valiantly and brave?
Is it not enough to know he's a shell?
Spent and free of his purpose in this hell?

Solitude
Prompt #10

A cactus bathing amidst the pale drought that's
featuring its arid surrounding, except that the
thorns guarding my skin hurts no stranger as
wholly as they harm me.

A fortune hunter that spends her time looking
for mislaid treasures resting down at the navy
bed of the deep bottom, although I too am lost,
-but- there are no hunters looking for me.

A broken lock that lays speckled at the entry
of a certain abandoned house, I represent
it's story, and visibly in return the main scene
of the house represents me...

And sometime, just sometimes,
I become nothing further than "a me".

For the Life of Another
Prompt #5

Deafening sound of explosions,
chaos all around.
Brothers fall by my sides,
sacrificing all,
so others could live.

Taking cover behind ruins
of a once beautiful city.
Surrounded by death,
enveloped in destruction,
So others could live.

Blood coating the ground,
while dirt filled every crevice
and fold in your skin.
Enduring unimaginable struggles,
so others could live.

I prayed to myself
before every battle I faced.
May the good lord grant me strength,
If I must die, may I die,
so others could live.

Adeiu! Farewell!
Prompt #2

Now my time is over here
and it's time to say goodbye
don't think I'm gonna leave here
with a tear in these old eyes!

THE BOSS

Mr. Jones, My 'beloved' boss
you wear the most gaudy ties
I know they're from an op.shop
still you refused me a pay rise.
(The Tight Arse)

THE SECRETARY

Miss Dalgleish, so prim and proper
with your twin-set by Calvin Klein
but, it's as fake as you are
your weekend, a haze of wine.
(The Closet Drinker)

THE TELEPHONIST

Mary Jane, about your voice
well it's screechy and high pitched
your tops are low, your skirt too short
still, you haven't managed to get hitched.
(The Cougar)

THE OFFICE BOY

Sam, you tried hard to charm me
all day long your jokes would flow
but, I'm old, I've heard them all before
and, please do something about that B.O.
(The Try Hard)

THE STOREMAN

Now Fred, you have a fetish
yet, you still think that no one knows
you use the office paper clips
to pick your dirty nose.
(The Gross One)

ME

So, take your cake and shove it
it's mouldy and stale anyway
I know none of really give a damn
that this is my last day!
(The Grateful Retiree)

King's Crown of Pain (Acrostic)
Prompt #10

Killing the familiarity of family, you
isolate yourself into a darkened solitude,
no one can understand how you once held
grasping shades of red in your hands,
such power over us all, but fate has been stripped.

Cautiously we tiptoe around our words,
readily available to jump to defense
over fables never softly nor sharply spoken,
with nerves dancing on our tongues
no thought, happy or otherwise, is safe.

Oh, how the hurt is stained and poked
from the harsh glares you've learned to cast.

Purple bruises now make up your ego now
as we watch from the sidelines your destruction,
invincible as you once seemed, we now know -
nothing is safe within the King's crown.

All With Time
Prompt # 3

My mother once said
if I chase curiosity
my dress would be torn,
that pale blue was
unforgiving
with grass stains
grazing at its cheeks.

Though I found myself
more alive when
soil nibbled at my feet,
and life was too peculiar
to ignore all that
delighted a little girl.

Yearning,
I begged hope to believe
in a rabbit that was pale,
to squeeze my dreams
through a rabbit hole
too thick with dust.

Oh how mother would be mad
'bout dirt 'neath my nails,
yet I shrunk those thoughts
in my mind with 'cherry tart,
pineapple and roast turkey.'

Did you ever have a tea party
that was filled with
so much madness,
that you suddenly decided
you'd prefer chocolate milk?

and I met the Queen of hearts
who had protected mine
for far too long -
from a Cheshire cat
and the reality that came
with my age.

I walked a mile that day
through overgrown forest,
yet with age
not much has changed
as I walk two miles
through city streets.