GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE CONTEST! Round 1 entries

Thanks to everyone who entered. You proved that PnQers love a challenge.

Here they are, all 25 of them, along with a token of appreciation for the entrants, which I pass on from Karla:

1,A lost soul (Nonet- Acrostic)

A road compose of one path from which
Lanes diverge into excess limbs
Out of which chaos thrives to
Suppress their selections
Toss their foggy minds
Sabotage their
Own logic
Until
Lost
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2,Puppet String (Nonet)

The mirror hangs, and the many flaws
behind the cracks are hidden but
I still see the plain weakness
sewn upon the skin that
rips at the bare truth
'til the puppet
cuts her own
lifeless
string.
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3,Untitled 1 (Etheree)

That
moment
when you took
your final breath
it was then I chose
to die right there with you
for I could not bring myself
to live this life of mine without
spending one more day looking into
the eyes that I had fallen in love with
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4,La Vie En Rose (Acrostic)

Lull me until I fall into the
Arms of your world.

Veil my eyes with rose petals,
Incite my senses to a road of
Endless possibilities. But ..

Excuse my innocence before
Narcotizing my thoughts.

Revive my grey reality with
Orbits of merry pink ribbons
Sweep me off my feet until I'm
Enchanted in a la vie en rose.
------------------------------------------------

5,Hope's Destination (Etheree)

She
holds a
worn compass
over her heart
awaiting to run,
dancing with fantasy
to at last caress a hand
that doesn't tremble under dismay
rather smiles with hope to build a home
curled among lingering fragments of love
------------------------------------------------

6,Ocean (Tanka)

Just one frosty spark -
pure preciousness of the moon
tumbles down swiftly;
it is crinkled bottle-green,
that drifts it towards skyline.
------------------------------------------------

7,Love and Pain (Acrostic)

Lingering emotions
of past turmoil and
vicious endings,
erupting with hate.
Altered thoughts, becoming
negative to the other;
diverging from romance.
Problems, become wedged
as if to drive us apart;
irrevocable words said,
never to speak again.
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8,Only In Time (Acrostic)

Oh, how your whispers
never disappoint,
like the laughter in
your eyes.

it's the small things
no one seems to care about -

Though the stillness
in your company
makes me realize
even the little things matter.
------------------------------------------------

9,Maliciousness (Tanka)

Philosophical
Alcoholic sapience
Oh! maliciousness
Melodious threnody
Satisfies all my senses
------------------------------------------------

10,Droplets (Nonet)

Like glass beads cascading from the sky
they shatter against my skin
and whisper across the world
the tales of places been.

Unfearful divers
they are reborn
by morning's
haze white
mist
------------------------------------------------

11,Peace in white (Reversed Etheree)

Compassionate winds nuzzle silent pines
graced by a veil of lacy white flakes
descending daintily earthward
imitating diamond dust.
In the afternoon sun
cardinals of red
softly chirping.
Peaceful day.
Winters
awe.
------------------------------------------------

12,Dark Rising (Acrostic)

Dusk sometimes settles in my mind
altering my visions of you and
rearranging my thoughts while
karma tumbles like petals upon a dying rose

Realizing time brings nothing more than-
insecurities lurking in shadows and a
sweetness that only exists within
incomplete sentences and mixed metaphors.
Never will I settle for a mediocre happiness
gnawing at the sunlight.
------------------------------------------------

13,You are Everything I Write (Acrostic)

You once told me, through the quiver
of a lazy street light that I was a twin to the
universe we saw at that very moment.

And, my skin mimicked the city,
roadmaps appearing like confused creases against
each written prose of my forehead.

Even when the freckles on my cheeks aligned
Venus for you; you'd see stop signs on my breath,
every time the sun set in the West I argued North with a
reason for you not to kiss me.
Yet with the pavement cracked beneath us and
time lingering above our heads, garbage littered our
hopes like the streets of Sydney but
In the A.M of a month I don't remember, you still
noticed how my eyes would dance with the
ghost of too many hours before them -

In place I never knew existed.

With time your words began to mime the
rust of an abandoned junk yard; sharp in all
its splendour to antique collector like myself.
Today we sat like pen and poetry; knowing
eventually the sun would set in our direction too.
------------------------------------------------

14,Untitled 2 (Tanka)

You chew up my words,
swallow them aggressively,
unable to taste them,
my thoughts are left meaningless,
and there's nothing left to say.
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15,Scavenger Hunt (Nonet)

Thoughts explore menacing memories
buried deep beneath the surface
scroonched amid hellish chaos,
withered away by time.
Echos of the past
whisper, begone
skedaddle.
Triumph.
Thrive.

Note: scroonched one syllable variant of scrunched, meaning squeezed
Syllable Count Verified With Dictionary
Syllable Count Verified With Dictionary
9 Thoughts ex-plore men-ac-ing mem-o-ries
8 bur-ied deep be-neath the sur-face
7 scroonched a-mid hell-ish cha-os
6 with-ered a-way by time.
5 ech-oes of the past
4 whis-per, be-gone
3 ske-dad-dle.
2 Tri-umph.
1 Thrive.
------------------------------------------------

16,Peppermints and Dandelions (Tanka)

Old palms reminisce
summers of plastic wrappers
hiding sweet secrets
Special times where magic lied
within dandelion seeds
------------------------------------------------

17,Alcohol (Acrostic)

Another exit plan, my only escape.
Leaning towards the door, trying to breathe;
Calmness sinks in as I realize I'm gone.
Oh God, Please teach me restraint!
How do I give this up, how can these nights end,
Others worry and hope and all I can do is cry
Let me have the strength to break these chains, Please.
------------------------------------------------

18,Suddenly I've Won (Myself) (Nonet)

Years of rotten wounds, small, battered words,
eggs crushed before they had a chance
to live - all hushed in a swift
click of liberation.
I'm done wallowing.
My life is my
revenge, and
it is
sweet
------------------------------------------------

19,Shackles (Tanka)

Where white ribbons show
break her chains and make her bold,
let her own mind find,
like the rabbit from the snare
freedom without consent now
------------------------------------------------

20,The Long Drought ( Acrostic)

This is the final season of misery I spend being
heaved toward the filthy roads of affection,
even if pavements grew gold infront of me.

Love will pass on, with the start of a dry yet faultless spring,
or- with the last heavy rainfall of the blue winters I've been
nurturing like my own lion moans, but I swear shall be
groaned off with my last dying tears; contentedly.

Dance randomly, tap madly if you wish, but I shall
rise and fall rhythmically; aware of your awkward
offering, that would stop with the music. However,
urge me not-to believe in the eternal melody that
grows loud inside your heart; as it can neither
heal a soul that turned deaf, nor compete with
the leaps I've made to reach this long drought.
------------------------------------------------

21,Waltz Interrupted (Nonet)

This is just to say, I have broken
the rhythm of hearts still beating.
I have stolen sound-chords out
of the sky. I have pulled
melodies from winds;
broken your beat.
Dissonance.
Never
dance.
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22,Liar (Nonet)

False information given by you,
has left me to look like a fool.
An illusion your mind made
with no reason at all,
has broken us down.
You are full of
everything
but the
truth.
------------------------------------------------

23,Wishing Hours (Tanka)

Ocher sunsets stretch
to exercise April nights
against an ocean,
Taupe sunrises struggle to
variegate November's cliffs.
------------------------------------------------

24,Will Anything Count? (Acrostic)

Why should I write formed poetry when
I have demonstrated my
lack of interest and
lack of talent more than ten times over?

All I care about is the production of a
new thought full of
yesterday's thoughts, but
that isn't enough for you, is it?
How could it be?
I suppose it's not about
new thoughts after all. It's about
God awful form, and hoping you, the reader, are too dumb to notice.

Consider this:
On any given day, are you wholly
unchallenged by free verse, enough to
name it dirt beneath a rigid form? No, I didn't
think so.
------------------------------------------------

25,Born with Pride (Acrostic)

Born and raised in the warm heart
of Africa, filled with
rare
natural beauty

Whilst small and poor
i am proud
to be an African son.
Hatchet in hands, i

prowl my jungles proudly and
restlessly with
intentions to make my
daily bread in the new
emancipated Malawi.
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EDIT: One poet had sent me a correction which I had overlooked until it was pointed out to me after posting.

"You Are Everything I Write" absolutely blew me away. Waaaaw.

#3 (untitled 1) brought tears to my eyes... what an emotional piece.

AH I love so many of these poems! For a site that generally states they don't like formed poetry, y'all are sure good at it!

Edit - Larry (or Hellon), how many will be eliminated?

Gosh, am I too late?

13,You are Everything I Write (Acrostic)

^^^^^^^^^
OOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

AMAZING

Nano it closed last night :/

I'm amazed by the amount of entries for this being a form contest. :)

"You are Everything I write" is my absolute favorite too!

You are everything I write..

oh come on..

my heart, my heart, my heart..

some poems should come with a warning label.

#3

And "liar"

I like those and a few others too...

I wish I could have participated. :/

And oh, I agree. That poem is fdjkfhjksfhsjk.

So many triangles....... : )

^

hahahah sibsib! lol...

By the way, I like that rose.

I don't think I've ever been more in love with formed poetry then now.

Seriously, everyone did so amazing!!!

Wow....this is the first time I've read your poems guys and..I'm just amazed at the quality we have here. I know, for most of you, this was your first attempt at doing formed peotry but, from the standard of entries you would never guess it. Take a bow people you should all be proud of yourselves...well done indeed!

* Britt...I'll have to let Larry answer your question. I'm not handling that side of things. We though it best to let Larry deal with these decisions just to keep things consistant and...because I'm going on vacation.

Larry, I really like the rose.Is it a new format?

I loved all these poems and I am glad to see so many participate! :] Best of luck to the judges and you participants. :]

Karla, since the above rose is your creation (as I stated up at the top), I think you should have the honor of developing a new format of that name.

It could be a shape poem, or a theme poem, perhaps using some attributes of the rose (sensuous, fragile, strikingly attractive, comforting) or take something from the lore of the rose. Meme (gIrL) can give in-depth background on the latter.

NEW TOPIC: Seven (7) poets will be eliminated from this round, leaving a field of 18 for Round II.

ALL NEW FORMS will be announced after the judges have finished their comments & voting.

Due to the volume of entries, the judges' responses will likely be posted by Monday.

Sorry Larry but i can't do that.

I thought Karla's flower was a thistle?????

Can be whatever you want.

Two flowers will sting you:
thorn-roses and thistles;
beauty and aroma
but watch for the bristles.

I have yet to read them all but there is amazing talent among this group. It would be hard to pick just one.
good job all. Be back later to read some more

Oh I did not know it was KARLa's..think I missed that note Lol..I LOVE it, I love flowers/roses so much! :D I want one; will steal this! Thanks for your creativity Karlaz :)

Great poems indeed, wishing you all luck.

Wow! Impressed with form talent. A pleasure to read many. The rose is really creative.

Great poems guys, best of luck to all of you

Looking forward to the reviews and results! :)

Me too!!!

The poems were amazing!

Slowly sinking into the depths of pity, as I keep on feeling an obnoxious amount of sorry for the judges.

mwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Unbeknownst to me, the judges have something called "a life!"

Seriously, they are nearly done & I should have the results shortly. Thanks to all for your patience.

I was just complimenting the quality of the poetry though.

Good luck all :-) the judges have a tough job

A pretty tough one, really tough.

How about....while we're all err...waiting...we find some songs with err..WAITING in the title haha!!!

Waiting....Green Day
Waiting on a Word...Jack Bruce
Don't Keep me Waiting...Sharleen Spiteri

I'm sure the judges are finding this very difficult to judge with so many good entries and....this is just for fun while we're err....waiting LOL!

How about I'll be right here waiting for you!

x good song

I'll be waiting - Adele <3 lmaoo

Waiting on the Robert E Lee

I find that I'm losing sleep waiting on this contest...sucks having internet on your phone, so easy to get online and check every 5 minutes lol

Lol i know, same here.

I agree anticipation :-) gets to ya every time

Oh that's a song Anticipation :-)?Carli Simon