Weekly Winners - 8/22

Here are the winners & HM's for this week! Special thank you to the members who comment, read, nominate and vote on these poems, and the judges for tirelessly going through each and every poem nominated to choose their top 3. Congrats to all those posted in here today! :)

Tomato
by sibyllene

"I feel that what makes this writer one of the best poets on this site is that she almost possesses a type of synaesthesia. It is a rare talent to almost exactly capture the elusive taste of something with a solid description of an unrelated yet perfectly suitable visual observation, or match the colour of something with some unrelated yet perfectly suitable trace smell. This writer can plunge cleanly through to the essence and interrelatedness of things, whether it is about philosophies on life, or a literal tomato. This poem brings to distinction this writer's sensory recognition powers, as well as those of language, good pace and uniqueness- and all told with lovely simplicity. My only critique is that a poem of this calibre needed to have a more heightened ending. The last line felt a little flat in comparison, and I do love me a good ending after such sweet stimulation..." (10)

"You have nailed the concept of imagery with all five senses, I could taste the sweetness, see in my minds eye the redness, smell the vines and dirt, hear the bubbling of tomatoes simmering in a homecooked dish and feel the plumpness of the tomato right before launching my teeth into one of these delightful vegetable/fruits. This poem is a perfect description of what poetry should be with enough details to describe to someone whom may have never tasted of the tomato what it would be like to do so. Awesome on the creativity and awesome on conveying what poetry should taste like." (10)

"What an interesting idea here and also quite random, yet that is what makes this poem glow with originality. Obviously the title draws you in, and make you believe the poem isn't necessarily about what it suggests, yet you discover it truly is - about a tomato. The description is lovely. I especially loved the reference to the color of a tomato like the cheeks of a toddler, all nice and rosy-like. Very nicely penned write here. Love love love your imagination and inspiration for poems, it's unlike any other." (10)

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Relics
by Kiko

"A well expressed experience with a superb, precise rhythmic language choice. I also find the repetition here to be effective for it emphasized/increased the elusive effect of the title. This is an unambiguous synopsis about someone who is reminiscing about a good childhood and at the same time, emotionally honest and powerfully written. I didn't have to think what this was all about too hard, it just touched me deeply." (10)

"I thought the importance of this piece fell with the repetition of the lines "perfectly preserved encased in glass" It brought a certainty to the poem that tied in with the title. This poem could be interpreted in a few ways, with the author reminiscing a picture of himself playing in childhood and how much he has changed since the picture was taken, or of another child that he related to in a picture of an unknown homestead that was someone else's dream or vision. Overall this poem hit home with the memory lane effect. Wonderful job." (7)

"There were quite a few nominated poems this week that dealt with the theme of losing childhood. What stood out to me here was the unusual approach of this poem- that of one aged exhibit looking at another, in some sort of a live museum, watching. When we reminisce and relate, that is exactly what happens. The second stanza, in particular, was written with class. It takes some maturity and skill to write a poem that can cycle so naturally." (4)

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Swimming Lessons
by Dixiedaisy

"I enjoyed the symbolic images used throughout this piece, they represented childhood in a clever way, a way that allowed the audience to relate to your poem. This was a bittersweet one to say the least, the emotion was strong and I too found myself reminscing on my own childhood, one filled with plastic pools that created imagery of those summer days. I adored how you painted little snippets of your own childhood, it was quite a personal piece, I felt innocence amongst the memories and a little knot in my stomach when the writer ended it with such an emotional statement. The title was well fitting, I can't help but smile each time I read this piece even though it's filled with touches of saddness. A lovely write, one I have enjoyed reading numerous times." (10)

"This poem made me ponder the end of my innocence in terms of my perception about life. This is a grand paradigm of a lengthy but well-thought out piece. I also find this style and word choice to be more gratifying than those fancy words/phrases as they convey simplicity, charm and serenity. There is really nothing more one could add about this piece, than what the reviewers and commenters opined." (7)

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HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Liquefied Sadness
by Ms Sunshine

"It's hard to pin-point one thing that attracted me to this poem, I became enchanted within the first stanza by the image of a moon filling up the glass, what beautiful imagery. The poet speaks with such an emotional tone, but it's more than that, I felt that rare emotion you find when reading a piece, you needed full concerntration to take in the readers thoughts. In some places my mind became filled with so many different images and feelings, bitterness, coldness, lonelyness, saddness... I felt the writer was confused, as though the mind had too many things flickering throughout the mind. The imagination is endless here, and the expression beautiful. This was one of those writes filled with strength amongst the bitterness." (7)

Polyrhythms
by Monster

"I found this to be quite an interesting write and indeed extremely thought provoking. Word choice was also quite intriguing with the usage of tantric, splayed, and polyrhythmic. I feel all of them added to this piece in such a great way as they aren't the most common words in our language. This poem may seem simple and straight forward, but at the same time one could easily interpret it several different ways. The ending was quite powerful and spoke volumes. It pretty much summed up the meaning of your words. Great work!" (7)

I am Weird
by The Poetess

"I liked the creativity behind this piece, the comparisons between the normal and the unique were nicely written. It takes a good imagination to come up with different things that are not seen in this world, 'purple popcorn' was simple and yet a nice way to portray such thing. Some words were interesting, such as 'stuff' and 'totally' at first I wasn't fond of them being used simply because they seemed too much like everyday language but later I realized the writer intended this, she was speaking to herself rather than an audience, it was like a poetic journal entry and it allowed for the audience to relate to the poem. I liked the strength behind the words it takes courage to say I am weird but I don't care!. Well written." (4)

Empty-Nest Syndrome
by Thomas

"I always love the similes this writer uses in his poetry - they are always so thought provoking. 'Like tin cans tied to a wedding limousine' was especially powerful and deep with meaning. I loved the idea for this poem quite a bit, and it was interesting to see how you executed it as well as the emotion. I'm sure many parents who have watched their son or daughter move away have been through this stage and would appreciate this poem much. I also admired how you could read this as a poem or a story, it seemed to work both ways. Lots to praise - a job well done." (4)

Siriusly, I'm Gonna Miss You, Potter
by Narphangu

"Another breathless, gushing poem from this writer who never ceases to please. I'm fond of her tremendously over-indulgent wordplay in this piece that is mercilessly packed with personal Potter references and clever imagery." (7)

Genius
by The Prince

"The title looks naff in comparison to its contents and probably the only criticism I can confer aside from this typo (elses-else's). This is a very moving piece and probably one fine example of a "show don't tell" poem with a minimal dialogue yet conveys precise meaning and emotion." (4)

Maple leaves of tomorrow
by Larry Chamberlain

"There is a lot of wisdom in this piece. Some of it will be beyond a few of the readers who may not have experienced having to go without for complacency later in life. Temptation is the greater evil and the sweeter the honey the bigger the bee. Lovely title, lovely poem." (4)

Congrats winners and HM's!

Well done judges and JOE for posting this a little early today :D

Congratssssssssssssssssssssssss
everyoneeeeee, amazing pieces this week!!! :D

CONGRATSSSSSS :D

Wow... lots of HMs

Congrats all :)

I did expect MANY H'ms the poems that were nominated this week were just spectacular and I kind of KNEw who was to win, SO i am not surprised to know that the Tomato poem is on the front page a ALL, and Daisy already know my impression about her Swimming Lesson!!!!!!

So congrats for the 3rd winner, thank you so much for the comment, whoever you are, you're a very sensitive judge, and I appreciated that!

ALL the H'ms are amazing, really, all worth a front page ..well done everyone, keeep the good poetry coming

Congrats all:)

Good job winners and to all involved!

Congrats all!!

Congratulations everyone!

I'm also aware that 'Genius' could be taken differently then what I was originally intending it to mean.

I won't explain but I've adhered to the two criticisms of whichever judge voted me 4.

Thank you

Congratulations to the winners & other HMs. Thanks for the nod.

Thanks judges for your dedication.

Congrats to everyone who showed up here. Winners and fellow HMs. And thanks for putting me up here, too. It means a lot. :)

Congrats to everyone

Congrats winners/HM's!