The 7 Day Contest: Day 1

Welcome to the beginning of the challenge everybody, and thanks to those who are entering. Relatively easy first round, despite the relatively high number of poems required. Best of luck to all involved!

Day 1 challenge: I want a poem written to represent each category on PnQ, excluding explicit. That means I am looking for 10 poems from each club/team by this time tomorrow. Decide amongst yourselves who will write poems for each genre. Here are the genres:

- Love/romance
- Friendship/family
- Fun/Humour
- Sadness/depression
- Life/Society
- Nature/environment
- Dark/fantasy
- Special Events
- Internet Slang
- Miscellaneous

The rules/guidelines are thus:

- Even amount of poems must be written by each member. This means that member X can't write 5 poems and 4 other members write only a poem each. If there are 5 participants for this round, each member will have to write two. If there are 4, each member will have to write either 2 or 3. Any questions or confusion about this, let me know.

- Poems cannot have been submitted to another contest or posted on one's account. they have to be original pieces.

- Poems must be no longer than 20 lines.

- Entries to be posted to me via pm from any club member within 24 hours. Include the genre each poem represents and the author of each poem.

- Minimum of 3 participants from each club in this round.

- Each poem will be ranked out of 10. Therefore there will be 100 points total on offer this round.

- If you chose to use your Simplify lifeline, only 7 poems will be required (you chose which three to be omitted). Your average score for the round calculated from the 7 poems submitted will be awarded to the three remaining poems to make it out of a total 100pts. You can of course also use your abstention lifeline, just know that you will have to complete each other challenge if you chose to do so.

Tips/guidelines.

- Probably the best advice I can give is that judges will be looking for poems that clearly belong in the genre, but are not necessarily typical of that genre, cliche, etc. There will be 70-80 poems so writing a solid but unoriginal love poem might receive average points but won't go that extra mile to stand out from the crowd.

- If you are struggling to complete this challenge, or lacking inspiration, it is best to submit a rushed/seemingly poor piece than fail to submit the total 10 poems. I encourage everybody to try for the highest standards possible in what is one of the most open rounds, but a 3/10 for a last minute poem is better than a 0/10 for no poem submitted.

- Apart from the 20-line limit and not using the explicit genre, there are no other restrictions.

As usual, any questions or comments, let me know. Each club has 24hours to have their poems submitted to me (16.00 on Tuesday PnQ time). Have fun.

Edit: Another guideline. It doesn't have to be the same people participating each round. If somebody takes part in this round and doesn't take part in any other, that's ok so long as there are enough poets to complete each challenge. 10 people can write a poem each if you have the numbers of active members in your club: Its up to each club to decide who will write what for each round.

Let the battle commence

we have 'Karla'

good luck everyone ; )

Free Spirits are on this <3

24 hours?!

What Jane said.

Should we tell who wrote what poem or keep them anonymous?

I think you should tell the names to Colm when sending him the pm, if that's what you meant to ask. :)

"- Entries to be posted to me via pm from any club member within 24 hours. Include the genre each poem represents and the author of each poem."

Less than 14 hours to go ... How nerve-wracking lol.

About 6 hours remaining.

Good thing we got done yesterday mwahaha!

Over Achievers :) go free spirits!

When you get to my age it's better to over easy like an egg.

When I get to be your age, I'll be over qualified for everything because I'm just that beasty ;)

Giggles @ beasty giggles!!!

Beasty is already over qualified for most things.
Don't encourage her.

Phew....that was hard work, but thanks to a bit of team work, we have our entries in.

good luck everyone.

It is? Well then I'm just too damn good to participate in this :) mwahaha!

30 mins left to the deadline!

Points will be deducted from teams who don't submit by the deadline, initial penalty of 10pts and additional 5pt deduction every half hour after. Try to get the poems in, remember you may use your lifelines if you want in this round.

LTFR was on time!

Deadline has passed! Well done everybody. Gathering poems and will post them here when they are all sorted and organised.

Important for clubs who may not have submitted yet: You have two options: You can use your abstention lifeline, or you can submit late and take a points deduction. 10pts deduction if pm'd to me by 16.30, extra 5pts deduction per half hour until maximum deduction of 30pts. If not using your abstention lifeline, poems must be entered for round 1 before poems for day 2 can be submitted

Edit: I will try to acknowledge via pm when poems have been submitted, but I may not get a chance to or get around to it, so don't fret, it will have been recieved. Thanks to everybody for organising the poems and sending them in clearly and neatly, it helps :)

Welp, that was interesting. I was in the library, sleeping, and in class for most of the round. Gonna be tough to find time...

Here are the first round poems, quite a turnover of pieces in 24hours :) As you will see each poem in the contest will have a number, it just makes it easier for organising, judging etc.

CLUB 1

#1
Misc:
Chocolate (Acrostic)

Chocolate kisses rest in antique dishes on dusty end tables,
housing the energy her grandkids never needed, but got.
Only two pieces allowed after lunch, which spoiled dinner.
Candy, that's all they remembered of their Grandmothers
old rickety home. That and the smell of closet mothballs.
Little trails of silver paper found across her shaggy carpet.
Arising a smile from her face, she knew that no matter what
their parents said, she'd always spoil them with anything and
everything. Chocolate kisses and cuddles being first priority.
----------------

#2
Nature/Environment
Title: Listen

It laughed today...the air,
I felt it rub my cheeks with a smile
and it whispered to me...

"Shh, don't let anyone catch me"

It rustled the leaves that have
left themselves on the pavements
even though Winter has erased Autumn
from our memories...

and it brushed past my spine...
tapping my shoulders and giving me chills
like I never experienced.

I am certain I heard the air laugh...
it did...

I know it did.

Listen...

------------------

#3
Sadness
Title: Pandora

If I could give you a key to my secrets,
I'd happily trade you a smile, you'd need it...
but no key fits in the lock that has been fitted in my mind,
and only the smartest and bravest could unpick it.

There's a deep nagging voice, trying to bury the sins,
and the words between my palms fall on the deaf,
and the blind can only feel my anger, my worry
but they don't understand what has to be said.

There's too much to hold in just one palm,
and the tears in your eyes are not adequate
to portray my emotion,
I am a box of the unknown,
uncalled, unwanted, lost in action,
bottled and stored...

Open me at your peril.

I am Pandora.
-------------------------

#4
Dark/ fantasy
Title: Passing Before the Sun

Skeletal dancers,
prancing in catacombs
of a sadistic psycho's
mind, seduces the
prism's of my eyes.

Allow me to gaze in
the depths of sanity,
insane nail biting
overcomes the fever
that chokes the devil
in me.

Knocking, I hear them,
see them, morphine
drowns the wicked,

passing in a dream,
lids of the sleepy one
shall remain closed
for eternity....
-------------------

#5
Fun / Humor
Title: Fly in the Coffee

Coffee shops are perfect,
for unexpected events.

Uncovering the eyes of
a stranger in khaki's
watching him looking
smug, while his fly is
wide open.

Silly man-
Giggling to myself,
I walk passed,
wondering if he knows,
that I know,
his zipper is down.

Cocky expressions
are priceless,
he hasn't a clue-

"I hear its quite breezy today Sir"
breezy indeed....

---------------------

#6
Internet Slang
Title: Tomato

I whispered to the girls,
'Idk where the tomatoes iz"

shootin the breeze
in the kitchen, tossin
salad for supper.

We can't have a salad
without that juicy vege-

lmao- says my bff-
let's eat popcorn
instead,

ttfn- LOL
----------------

#7
Life/ Society
Title: I ponder

Many moons ago I pondered...
And I'm still pondering on the things that don't matter...
It's habit...and habits are hard to break.

I threw caution but it landed me somewhere darker...
I whispered to the walls around me
but they never answer...
And I still ponder...

I close my eyes to be reminded of sleep
because I haven't slept for days...
It seems my nights are too dark to dream...
and its the nightmares that recur over and over.

I ponder on randomness...
but I just want to understand the crazy.

------------------------

#8
Special Events Poem
Greatest Blessing (Etheree)
(Mothers Day)

she is the most amazing woman I
know, loving unconditionally
a nurturer and protector
encouraging words she'll give
wipes tears, runny noses
kisses hurts away
shes my greatest
blessing, I
call her
mom

-----------------

#9
Friendship/ family
Mixed Nuts (senryu)

a big bunch of nuts
but we mix together well
we're called family
---------------------

#10
Love/ Romance
Title: Universal Love

The depths of my heart conceals the most intriguing secret-
I own the universe.

Your smile ejects rays that burn the sun. The strength of her
radiance is dulled when your lips raise and those pearls glow.
Your eyes prevent the rain. Droplets peer over clouds and see
enough blue in your iris, they cancel their descent to the ocean.

Your laugh generates the breeze. Wind agitates the leaves;
they'd rather be blessed by the cooling of your breath, daily.
Your presence brings peace unto society. All is hushed when
you walk through town, your aura so enchanting, mystifying.

I spend my days wrapped around your grace and owe all that
I am to you. For you have saved me from natural disasters
who wanted to victimize me. Grateful I am, forever, to be in love
with a man who customizes my world into a sunny place.

The depths of my heart conceals the most intriguing secret-
I own the universe.

******************************************
CLUB 2

#11
- Love/romance

A moment of lifetime...

A moment I always admire,
a moment I hold close to my heart,
a moment I want to live till I respire,
is the moment when you are with me.

A moment where happiness never seems to end,
a moment when my smile never seems to fade,
a moment which the diaries of my heart and soul have append,
is the moment when you are with me.

A moment whose fragrance stays forever,
a moment filled with flavours of excitement and dilemmas,
a moment... I wish would never end,
is the moment when you are with me.

A moment just a glance away,
a moment I don't want to lose,
a moment for eternity; to stay,
is the moment when you are with me.

-----------------

#12
Friendship/family
Friend or Foe?

Friendship: life-long commitment spiced with trust;
a vow to stick by your friends through thick and thin;
a testament to your undying loyalty to your comrades.

Yet, is friendship a friend or a foe?

Companionship is valued from your early years as a child.
These fellow supporters shape the world around you,
your personality and perceptions on everyday life.
But, is this helpful, or, is this hampering?
These so-called "friends" become distractions
to your learning of the real world, own development.

Yet, is the reliance on another human more important?
To know you have another person to dry your eyes,
calm your fears, tell you it's all going to be ok.

Can't we do this for ourselves?

We become too weak to stand on our own,
fight battles on our own, progress on our own.
We now conform to the people we look up to
Instead of having others look up to us as uniques.

Friendship:
A true "friend" or a foe?

--------------

#13
Fun/Humour
Contemporary Shakespeare

"HARK! hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings, "
[Oh, dear ears, I grow deaf on the scene]

"And Phoebus 'gins arise,"
[this medieval clothing is rather obscene]

"His steeds to water at those springs"
[ my p*nis is showing in these stupid leggings!]

"On chaliced flowers that lies; "
[my scalp itches, the chaperon is wiggling!]

"And winking Mary-buds begin"
[My hay fever got in the way]

"To open their golden eyes: "
[so forgive these leafless stems, I pray!]

"With everything that pretty bin, "
[what a man has to do to get layed]

"My lady sweet, arise! "
[ come down, I look a fool down here]

"Arise, arise! "
[I want to rock you world, lady Guinevere]

The lines in between quotations are from the poem "Aubade by William Shakespeare

------------------

#14
- Sadness/depression
Spinning the wedding band.

Band on table, glistening offering hope,
my eyes cannot register any promise,
spinning with index finger, losing scope,
those vows I offered, I now dismiss.

I promised you a husband full of life,
making a bed for both of us, carrying your fears,
why aren't you ashamed to be called my wife?
my confidence is washed away with tears.

Spinning in finger, annoying noise on table,
losing myself in the moment, slinking away,
there was a time I was strong, I was able,
now I am a useless carcass, regurgitating dismay.

As the spinning increases, my finger becomes raw,
my mind turning and burrowing deep within,
to wake from a slumber daily, is now a chore,
I would much rather fester, then sit and weep.

------------------

#15
Life/Society
Her Life- An inspiration[ Poems on Life ]

The soft rays of sun fall upon her naive eyes,
And she began a mirthful life.

The ambiance of blissfulness turned into an aura of sadness,
when they encountered her illness.

They persevered to make her life simple and fair,
but destiny caught her wings into the cage of despair.

A life of depression and isolation was what she thought,
but she had visions and dreams for what she fought.

She strived her best to exude the beauty of her abilities,
it eventually washed away the blemish of her in capabilities.

Her battle for a life of normalcy did succeed,
And today she lives a life of pride and deeds.

---------------
#16
Nature/environment
The Hindering of True Beauty

I tread amongst the dampened darkness, searching to find
the light from a withdrawn field; in its magnificence I'll go blind.
The trees sway in the tender breeze, lavender rich in the air.
My fingertips brush the grain tops, mind at ease, without a care.

Yesterday, it was peaceful; today, it's a dying war.
The charming dirt ground is now caked in blood and gore.
The trees bow down in the ache and agony they feel,
Knowing the world's splendor is too good to be real.
Their tears fall from above, dark, grey, covering the ground.
Their limbs too weak and burnt to stand tall, to not bow down.
Now the thick, dense, familiar green foliage we all once knew
is now buried under aging ash, hindering the birth of anything new.

----------------

#17
- Dark/fantasy

A black Rose whispering death.

And so darkness came and smothered my emotions,
a young harpy tickled my eyes with tail feathers,
yet I could feel hatred pounding from her chest.

Never will a sleep deliver a dream in her company,
a dirty fingernail protruding from her wretched wrist,
scraping my skin away from my cheeks, digging for excuses.

Was I slumbering with raging thoughts?
Or drowning in her bellowing taunts?

I could see the black rose being plucked from my mind,
it whispered angrily that my time was soon done,
she used the stem to dig out my iris as the petals showered,
each landing purposefully in my mouth, wrenched open aghast.

As I choked my final fantasy, she laughed so loud and fast,
my ears shattered into shards of glass cutting me away from reality.

The harpy wins, again.

----------------

#18
Special Events
Father's Day

The seat this year will remain empty

where once you sat so proud

yesteryear the words were plenty

now silence rings so loud.

**********************

#19
Internet Slang
BTW

Why? I asked when questioned,
Is it true that you are never satisfied.
Every time I feel you have all the answers,
You hit me with it;
BTW
Then it starts, your moaning begins.
I feel you cutting my confidence with your slight.
BTW
It makes my heart pang, my conscience is startled,
BTW
It is always the add-on to a finished conversation,
the moment you tell me what you are truly feeling,
BTW
You have saved this angst until the final second,
before we part.
I see you eyes narrow, the snarl beginning to curl,
BTW
Guess what?
Oh, By the way.
I don't really care.

----------------------

#20
Miscellaneous
Poetry as an art

Poetry is like a painting
stroked with creativity
using colors of vivid imagery.

Stroke by stroke, magnificent
each figure a memory,
revealing a story.

Serene melody of thoughts
add the hues of emotions
to the picturesque.

A masterpiece of beauty
is hence born to carve a memory
in our minds.

******************************************

CLUB 3

#21
[Love]
Transcending Death

I never imagined my first kiss to resemble
an eagle's beak darting through my lips.

Did my throat just grow worms?

We are tongue-tied in dirt, corners
of our mouths curling upwards like
the last feet of a sadistic mouse
slipping past its predator's
oral interior - walls
dense with downtrodden flowers
and animal skin - I can taste
all of death within you, our worlds
morphing into afterworlds
when leftover flesh melts
into bones, and bones become one
with the soil beneath our thighs.

Deprived of your pressure, my skin
starts to crumble, so allow me to sweep
your desert with starving hands before the wind
kicks sand into our sights - allow me
to transcend death with open eyes.

---------------

#22
[Friendship]
Picture-perfect omens

We had a tradition
of locking ourselves in photo booths,
smiles permanently marked, throwing
arms around necks, a little too fiercely
as if deep inside, we're part
of a cockfight, not ruffling
but plucking feathers, Freudian slips
masked in "I hate you's".

Somehow I ended up paying
for those black-and-white photographs;
black-and-blue coins burning
all over my body, but never beating
an apology out of you.

Neither of us could stand seperating
our faces off paper, not even you
who inflicted wounds with your whip
of a tongue, you, who became my bully.

I guess both of us felt comfortable in pretending
that the past was prettier than the present.

-------------------

#23
[Humour]
Title:Adolescence and gender: snapshot of a pre-midlife midlife crisis

Today, I brushed my teeth without toothpaste
yet wondered when peppermint waves would wallow
right above my upperlip - nearby like a moustache
not thick enough to tickle my nose, as if I
lacked certain hormones - only to scratch that
itchy spot on my chest and realise hairy pigskin
has heaped up there, unnoticed, like a lazy bum's
dirty socks, unwillingly reminding me of my burpy brother

and our alikeness.

Oh dear.

Only then, did the morning breeze slap my face
like an ex-wife, hung over my shoulder and convinced me
my mind must have cross-dressed, must have
left her narrow nightgown beside the bed, left
her body filled by air, like a push-up bra.

Nothing in the mirror accused me of being
a mutant, but these well-shaped eyes widened
in shock, as if discovering white hair at an age
unknown - and I cursed like a woman.

--------------------

#24
[Special Event]
Title: Graduation Reflections: Things They Never Taught Us

We are eighteen and we don't talk about our dreams.

All we wanted was to be explosive, but we're not yet love poems. Our brief meeting with learning shakes no particular spark in the universe. We have woken no suns, collided no galaxies. We didn't learn how to capture a rainbow. We learnt algebra; history; atoms;

but we weren't warned that the distance between two points increases over time; weren't taugh how to fill distance with love.

"What did you learn today?" [Did you learn quantum physics; did you find solace? What does love sound like?] "Differentiation from first principals; the love of Romeo and Juliet was the greatest." [But the Macbeths' love was always stronger; Lear only fell because he didn't know what love was.]

"Alexander the Great cut the Gordian Knot and ruled the lands of Persia. Every man feared him." [But my Alex died of a broken heart because nobody taught him how to survive disease; and I couldn't cry because nobody taught us words like grief and pain.]

It is five years on: you know how to differentiate; sign your name in yearbooks; forget the way your year twelve lab partner made you laugh; that the only way to make that huge place look small is time.

[It's time now to end and wake the sun. Learn to dream.]

---------------------------

#25
[Slang]
Nobody Warns Little Girls

Picture the first boy your mother forces you to date.
You hammer a smile on your face and pick a dress you hate.

He's polite and he's kind but he's starin' at your breasts
as he asks questions about music; books & sex.
You nod courteously and close your eyes, feelin' weight in your chest.

---

You're sixteen and nobody warned the little girls about loving little girls,
so you're climbing the soft balconies of her hips, finding her eyes
and meeting them in a land you are forbidden to enter. You are Eve
losing sight of Adam. It comes under debate whether you have opened

or closed the paradise gate. No, you're a weed
and the only way to disentangle the dank foliage of you and she
is to rip it apart and make the poison bleed. But it can't be done;
the rot's not drainin' out; his fingers bruise into your back like he's
pressin' dead flowers. It's no use, sick blossoms still bloom in you and you can't shake the memory of her and her answers.

---

You tell your mother the date went well, she puts your sinful flowers
in a vase, wonders if you'll marry him and dance with him with grace.
But it's your girl who pulls out the nails; puts the real smile on your face.

Forbidden fruit is sweet, so you continue with the apple that's been bitten.
Just because you weren't warned didn't mean it wasn't going to happen.

-----------------------------

#26
[Misc]
I never asked to waltz

One, two, three - I'm thirteen turns in before
I fall out, but I still don't consider myself a ballerina.

I am not made of hollow bones.

Yet my whole life is a waltz to the beat of one-two-three
and the rhythm of piano strings to anchor me
in time. I keep my back straight
and my feet turned out
but I can't

stop counting -

the sixteen rolls of ribbon to tie my feet,
the fifty six times I fell,
the eighty three just-one-more-times.
But I don't want one more time,
I want my heart to stop beating to

one/two/three,
I want the piano strings to
snap; stop me spinning. I want to
stop.

I never asked to waltz. I never
wanted to count to three.

---------------------------

#27
[Sadness/Depression]
Invisible Tears

I wake up every morning asking,
"Is today the day?"
"Is today the day I give up?"
"Is today the day I stop caring?"

My window lets me see the sunrise.
And I wake up to the sun shining through it.
It reminds me of what I want.

I want my father to see I am not anyone else other than myself.
I want my mother to see I am not perfect, that I am not special.
I want my sister to see I am not her underling, her "little" sister.
I want the guy I love to see that he is everything to me.
I want my friends to see I am not happy, that I am not glad.
I want all of this to stop, for something I should come up with.
I want something else, other than pain, hate and fear in my life.

I want to die in these mornings.

------------------------------

#28
[Nature]
Bird's-eye view: Noise From The Eve

A hallway full of people.
The chattering, the cries, speaker's howling.
Two little boys are chasing over a little girl at the garden.
Men and women all over the place, literally talking nonstop.

But wait, a lady sitting in a corner caught my eyes.
I am pretty sure she is just about my age.
With a pen in her left hand, a book on her lap,
she must be writing something. A diary, maybe?
She ignores all these people, all these noises.
I wonder what she's doing, what makes her busy?

Half an hour has passed, she is still there.
Still writing in her book, in her own world.
Nobody notices her or what is she doing.
It's like she's invisible to the world.

I have this urge to know, I want to know her.
What is she writing, what is she expressing in her book.
How does she create her own zone at this moment.
I want to flap my wings to greet her, perhaps chirp.

But wait, the lady is gone. But her book is still there.
"I see your eyes on me. Thanks for noticing."

---------------------------------

#29
[Life]
Algor Mortis [Death Chill]

[Twenty twelve at two o'clock in the morning]

December has come, yet again,
[with a bit of luck]
another bucket list to own,
though, my last batch of faith
still remains.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Tar-filled lungs;
ticking time bombs.

Beep. Beep.

It's cold out here and
my feet are heavy.

Beep.

The sun comes tumbling down.
Still hot on my trail, but I'm colder,
colder than ever.

. . .

I think I've grown wings,
but, there's no use of it now;
such as air is scarce,
six feet underground.

--------------------------

#30
[Darkness]
Outskirts Of The Mind

He is the epitome
of rich tradition,
of lordly manners,
and medieval romance.

though in darkness, he is but
a musical mourner whose ritual laments;
mellifluous, as that of a siren.

A night songstress.

He seeks solace in the hairiest of woods,
while I, a fragment of a revolutionary thought,
seek for words that have backbone or spine
only to withstand a world I could not own.

We would often meet atop the dreamy,
scaling sycamore limbs at every breaking dawn;
hung-over from the bucket list that revolves
around wines and prescriptive dreams.

But as dusk arrives, so shall dawn -
soon, everyone will know us,
as I lay still, covered in fractured shards

of reality that exists within a broken mind.

******************************************

CLUB 4

#31
Society
Bent Rudders

The leaders we have will never be
the leaders we deserve or want;
yet we insist on picking them
by choosing the least evil.

Where would Plato find
his philosopher king today,
or Marcus Aurelius
his benevolent dictator?

Anyone with half a brain
would refuse to put his family
through such an ordeal:
the vetting of the candidate.

so it is we often find
the men who run
have less wit than humor:
as much fits in half a head.

------------------------------------
#32
Family
The Nest is Emptying

Comes a time when children leave;
they take their youth with them.
No more the projects scattered on the floor,
nor presentations that need endless revisions.

Never again the urging up for breakfast,
or her trying on five outfits
for just another day at school,
while the first bell has rung before you leave.

The end of picking up the first four
where she discarded them on the floor;
and unable to make her bed
because her cat is in the warmth she shared.

Slow down child, stay awhile,
you are the last to linger here;
when you have left we will not see the mess,
nor mind the delays or sleepy denials,
all we 'll know is that the magic 's gone.

------------------------------
#33
Special Event
Valentine Day

My love has been massacred
for you have assaulted my heart
with your maybes and your laters
that keep me hanging on
until I find myself in a strange
garage being shot down
for the lack of your consummation.

-----------------------
#34
Funny
Collectives

Oh Israel had its tribes
the Scottish had clans
and the English tried
to put an end to their plans
The antelope had herds
a Lion had a pride
the crusaders had the words
of a Pope on their side

The British taxed the tea,
the colonist rebelled,
the Americans were free,
the natives were expelled.

One nation is under God,
have the collectives heard,
or was it all just a facade.
Is the constitution now absurd?

-------------------------
#35
Sadness,depression
Take It Easy

She said I cannot take my life
because my life is taking me,
to places that end in strife,
where I do not want to be.
I told her to take it easy
not like some kind of dope
that is harmful and sleazy.
Take the love that offers hope

------------------------------
#36
Internet Slang
Online Chat

I must be a Positively Outstanding Servant
Because they say I am a POS!
Some think I am a Little Old Lady
Like My Aunt Ophelia, I can tell
Cuz they're forever texting lol.
Winning The Future is pure
BS I am almost quite sure
Some of strangers want to Shake My Hand
But some of the slang is hard to understand.

------------------------------
#37
Nature
Seasoned Sonnet

January, after it came and went
Gently made way for an early spring
In February the birds began to sing
As if these small creatures were heaven sent
March came like a lion left like a lamb
April showed up softly like no other
May made think of my dear sainted mother
June reminds me of you, and who I am
July is the month where my passion rises
August brings more heat in the long dog days
September ends summer with clouded sun
October is night, full of surprises
November arrives, the years about done
December prepares souls for a new phase

---------------------
#38
Love
Addiction

The aroma of his love
wafts into me like poison.
Inhaling his amber scent,
I never felt so invigorated.

He whispers my name.
The sound of his voice
sends electric fireflies
through my body.

His eyes mesmerize me
and I smile back at him.
I can read his mind
from his facial expression.

And I knew right then and there,
I am utterly addicted to him.

---------------------------
#39
Miscellaneous
A Piece of Peace

Broken pieces of mirrored glass
that used to be a symbol of love.
What once was - is all gone.

Fragments of a puzzle,
yet the pieces do not match.
The captured moment
can never be replicated.

I reached out for peace,
which cut me instead.
This mathematical equation
has an unknown solution.

My reflection in the mirrored pieces
is disproportional, like a Picasso painting.
However, these pieces are not a masterpiece,
and never will be.

------------------
#40
Dark Poem
Control

He knew exactly which vein of hers
to touch, and made it burst.
She trusted him, even when
he smiled at the sight of her blood.

His fingertips controlled her body,
and her bleeding heart was stuffed
in his dark jeans pocket.
Somehow, she's still in one piece.

She licked his promises
that remain empty words.
Void of love and emotion,
he possessed her like a demon.

She lost whoever she used to be,
and doesn't know... who or what she is
... anymore

*****************************************

CLUB 5

#41
Love/romance

I never imagined one could love through
shivering winter months where words
flurry softly 'neath a sleepless
moon blending in darkness, yet love
has never seemed more alive since I met
you within the silence of a kiss.

---------------------------
#42
Dark/fantasy

There was a divinity about you I only
read about in short passages of musk-scented
antiques... werewolves, leaves clutching
the warm rivers you sunk into, dawn
resembling everything you once were.

There are no metaphors now, all my blood
saved for you has been spilled, capsized
onto the thought of if I ever truly knew
the humanistic exposure your love left me in.

I am without immortality. You are gone,
not even fluttering in my softest dreams.

Delusions soon capture me like an empire
finally girding its loins and conquering
the fear of only leaving behind dust.

I, will only last, so long...

---------------------------
#43
Friendship/family

When I grow
I will bring Spinola bay to her garden, Saqqajja fountain
to her bedroom and a bouquet of Merill to tombstone.

I took my Mother's hand last night, her fingers swollen
like her mothers, her mother's mother and a
generation of women who became slaves to their children.

I fall asleep dreaming of the day I will fish her wishes
from the pond, a reminder that my love for her
isn't measured by need and duty but want and trust.

She prays to Saint Gerard and hums herself to sleep
with songs about home and absence.

The day he left, I watched her wounds
breathe a sigh of relief and birth water willows
on the deserted banks of her skin

because at 14 I begged him to leave,
he was the same fumes that gassed his father.

Her body reminds me of a shipwreck and still
mirrors the moment she ever gave herself to love.

My Mother is bruised and beautiful
and never alone.

---------------------------
#44
Sadness/depression

Time passes too slowly for me
to meet you in time;
to let our love blossom;
and let our hearts die.

I caught you in the wrong
moment to bare my tender soul
-the only journey I dared
to risk all I ever knew.

Like how strings always find
themselves tangled and tied,
why do our dulled shadows
still fight through the night?

Hence-
I can only wait for you to die
and catch you in another life.

---------------------------
#45
Life/society

Breathe in, breathe out
exhale.

Take a step back, allow yourself to see
enjoy the finer, simpler things
that life has to offer.

Cease scurrying about with impatience
allow yourself the little luxuries
joys that are there for the taking;

if only you would take the time
to search for them.

Didn't anyone ever tell you
that life is no fairytale
don't expect everything to
be handed over
but instead fight...to live

Allow yourself the chance
to recognise the difference
between living... and existing.

Stop simply enduring, stop surviving.
Start living.

----------------------------
#46
Internet/ slang

all you were given was a witherin' photograph,
there ain't no explanation why she stares like you used to....
when the enemy was gone, a half-lullabied mother, tryin' to make up for it with smiles she would smother.

Now the cries gotta be answered and I must go to bed,
empty of tears for fear someone will use them so well.
I turn away, far away, but not without one more gaze,
and it shows me the mystery & bloodshed of
her ways.

It's a mystery woman, she too pretty to know pain
but maybe she's onto somethin' like ghosts that'll remain.

she got the blindness from your soul, I think,
& nothin' can compare, no one's gonna see that her eyes
are inked with metal from a pistol her daddy stole.
why are those eyes stained? they pierce me crimson
and I fight to hide but this be all in vain.

------------------------------
#47
Nature

Delicate flowers
blooming, peeking through white snow
supreme perfection

small birds twittering
animals awakening
from their deep slumber

fluuffy clouds appear
alluring pale horizon
amiable breeze blows

sand softens once more
dew glistening on treetops
waves ripple calmly

Gentle showers fall
removing lingering ice
purifying earth

winter wonderland
curling beneath crisp dark soil
Spring's turn to flourish

------------------------------
#48
Lover's reunion (Special event poem)

Sullen skies asleep -it waits-
for subtle whispers to extol it thus.
Two breaths of life slowly exchanged,
a lover's epistle unmasked.

Winter shall contrive an intricate orb
from a sentient being, replete with drive.
Two steps reclaimed in a mortal dance
one for my spirit, two for your soul.

November calls in an amorous tone,
imparting our union with an ethereal sigh.

---------------------------------------
#49
Miscellaneous

twenty-four hours and all I have left is two,
I have a comatose mind and I don't know
what to do, but I refuse to lose now so I've
rummaged up this poem even though
I have no clue.

-------------------------------------
#50
Humor/ fun

There once was sycophant who sold many cans of peaches.
He was always on the run, hands full of flowery speeches,
trying to sell the fifty cans he had to the most beautiful girls.
Approaching a small town and a maiden with golden curls,
he told her she was as round and bright as the brightest sun-
with a fierce look of absolute disgust, the girl hastily spun
until she was face-to-face with this obnoxious seller.

The cans of peaches resting on his arms began to melt,
for he believed a tough, rich share of love he had been dealt,
until the cans fell from his grasp, landing on his little toes,
at just the same time he was going to coyly propose.

****************************************

CLUB 6

#51
Sadness
Untitled

You used to roam the hospital wards in search of a
sight - something that pulls on heartstrings, a sight of
suffering and misery, something gloomy for you to bask in.

You drank from the fountains of sympathy, perhaps a tad bit too
much (even for your own liking) - so it never struck me odd. Perhaps, I
should've voiced concern, when I caught you mumbling your "healthy body
that was incapable of falling victim to some serious ailment or sickness".

There's an unmatched drive in you - any hurdle, obstacle in your path you'd
overcome, no matter how long it takes. I've always admired that in you, encouraged
you to arm that and tackle the world but you had other plans it seems. It started with
the odd cigarette, slowly it became three packs a day.

When that showed no promise, you switched to marijuana, amphetamine
you'd frequent shady nightclubs, raves, in an attempt of meeting your 'Romeo'
but you always woke sober, and disappointed. It was when I found you collecting
blood samples of HIV-positive patients that you broke down crying finally realizing
what it was that you were doing, and vowed to leave this all behind.
---
The doctor's prognosis echoed throughout my mind; our jaws
agape in shock. I saw the bittersweet smile on your face, as
the doctor left us alone with the pamphlets

Authors Note: Inspired by 'Munchausen syndrome'

----------------------
#52
Miscellaneous
Slumberless Nights

The bed creaks a couple of hours past midnight, as I
crawled in with heavy eyes, a racing heart and a restless
mind. A sleepy "goodnight" escapes my mouth, as I roll-over
to kiss you. You weren't there - I forgot, I haven't grown accustom
to solitude nor to the absence of love in an always busy home. I
sigh and spend the next hour in nostalgia, wondering if you
thought of me.

My mistress of tonight called out to me - I
saw her peering at me from a distance, but even
she can't liberate me from this seclusion.

--

I didn't wait a fortnight to enter an
epoch of misery. I need you, but it was me
who buried you in your grave, so why can't
I move on?

-----------------------------
#53
Category: Special Events
Arrival

The love in you nourishs,
strengthen and enhances me.
Each heartbeat accompanies
the thought of me being a part
of you.

Although birth will feel like
the worst seperation I experience,
your embrace and happiness
will reflect in my eyes.

Forevermore am I grateful

for
your love was my creation.

----------------------------
#54
Category: Internet Slang
Title: Log in to my Life

Hey, Ballsy,
it's been days.
the street is dark,
there is no AITR.
so open a window,
and let's chat.

you know, YOLO!
come ASAP

let's VC like P2P,
2b in Sync.
Eye to u via a webcam.

you hijacked my heart.
plz, don't troll with my mind,
come online.

I can't c u IRL.

Check your settings,
your location,
and send me a PM.

plz, log in.
Connect to my life.

---
** NOTE:

AIRT= adult in the room,
YOLO = you only live once,
ASAP= as soon as possible
VC= Voice chat or video chat,
P2P= person to person,
2b= to be
u= you,
IRL= in real life.

------------------
#55
Category: Humour poem
The Animal Wrestler

The phone in the kitchen did ring, ring!
It was the chicken according to the caller ID,
but my uncle picked up, he said it was the king
The wrestler who is moving to live overhere, oh my eyelid!"

I rush through my purse to find a concealer
look in this mess, I found my lipstick,
the peppermint spray used for a peeler.
and the mascara that looked like a dipstick.

I run to the bathroom wearing my heels,
I cover my face from my acne, I hear the bell
my uncle had left, the king must be here!!
Oh nibbles! I can foretell, greetings to a sinful hell!

The wrestler, the wrestler will finally be revealed
big arms, tight muscles, and with fabulous skills
accompanying my chicken husband on his time of needs.
Oh I can't wait! the king is here, but all I hear is kikiriki?

Oh a shocker! The wrestler, the wrestler on my husband's cage?
oh no! he better don't wake me at 6 am!!!

--------------------------
#56
Category: Friendship/Family
Title - What Do I Do?

I look at you and smile
In all the while
Trying to hide the truth
That I'm in love with you.
You're my best friend
And we promised to be till the end
So what do I do
When I can't be with you?
I don't want to lose you
And our friendship too
So what do I do?
Do I tell you,
Or do I hold it all in?
Just sit and pretend
That I don't really love you
Or at least not the way you do.

----------------------
#57
Genre: Nature/Environment
Title: Beauty is a Beast

Your wall of magnificence
and life rushes towards shore.
You're the speeding bullet that
shall leave eternal scars on everybody struck.
Catastrophe is cutting this short
and the innocent always fall victim.
You're energetic and unforgiving;
drowning everything in your path,
creating destruction that makes war zones
seem like playgrounds. Leaving inhabitants
a different image of their homeland eternally.
Loved ones missing, floating amongst the deluge
of death presented upon your exit.
Emptiness and hopelessness are two emotions
everyone now shares as you leave without care;
returning to an effortless life
of beauty and elegance.

----------------------------
#58
Genre: Dark/Fantasy
Title: When Darkness Falls

I watch from the outside, no one wants me near.
Appearing from the shadows in your darkest hour
never to become your savior;
I'm simply a collector.
The stench of rotting flesh coats my apparel
while my bleak eyes glare into blemished souls
reminding of malevolent actions
and the agony they've inflicted.
A gloomy background shadows me,
depicting hopelessness to my company
throughout their moment of demise.
Happiness diminishes and tear ducts overflow
as my function comes to a close.
Whether you fear me or greet me,
whenever you meet me..
Remember, I've come for your soul.

-----------------------------
#59
Genre: Life/Society
Title: Pale Faces

Dim lights shed upon the rainy street,
Nicotine fills the air and coffee numbs my senses
I have never been the sad, melancholy type, until today.

Today I stand alone against this brick wall, watching people stroll by,
Clad in warm clothing, umbrellas above their heads and lovers hand in hand.
As they pass, they don't even notice me, nobody does.
Who I am doesn't matter to them,
Does it even matter to me?

This is my imperfection-
Not knowing who I am or where I'm going,
So I will wander aimlessly, to find who I am or who I should be.

Standing in a build, rains still falling outside
I listen to the message, but feel empty inside.
All these familiar faces, sitting around the room,
I wonder if any of them feel this emptiness too.

Walking past the shore of a misty, gray beach
Watching waves crash below my feet
Wishing they would take me out into the sea
Leaving this dried out life behind me

Because maybe then, I will find out, who I am

------------------------
#60
Genre: Love/Romance
Title: Have I Lost You?

Gentle moonlight cast down, illuminating this empty lake.
Shedding a haze of nostalgia upon me; my heart began to ache.
For I've found there is nothing more in this life that I desire,
Than to fall into your arms.

Darling, I've grown fond.

Those long walks we would take along the old dirt road.
The sound of leaves beneath our feet as the autumn breeze nips soft skin.
Or the long winter evenings; we'd make angels in the fresh snow and lie for hours under the covered oak.

I miss those silent conversations through your all telling eyes;
Something about them smiled, revealing the peace that lies within the depths of your soul.

I fell in love that year, beside this moonlit lake.
I remember silver linings in this starry sky that's now empty.
(Those were better times)

I know that I left without saying goodbye,
I thought it would be easier for you to forget me that way.
But I can't seem to shake these memories.

...

Have you forgotten?

*****************************************

CLUB 7 (Simplify lifeline used)

#61
Friendship/family
Mum and dad

My taxi
My mobile ATM
They fed me, clothed me
Asking for respect in return

I wonder, did i ever pay my debt
So often taken for granted
Yet always there

I hear their voices inside my head
At times when i lie awake in bed
They look out at me
From my video box
Sitting upon my desk
Like two peas in a pod

My reason for being
I drink their love like wine
Distil it for my children

Mum and dad
Within those two words
You held my world

-----------------------------
#62
Life and society
Street walk

An innocent smile
churns her stomach
as if she's been raped.
Knowing that harm is
far from near
sidewalks in bigger cities,

her gut would feel better
in alleyways with drunks
and a gun lodged in her back pocket.

It's true;
pristine light of dawn,
birds singing gaily,
she threw up thinking about

---------------------------------
#63
Love and romance
Phantom Waters

You're not my ghost to hide from,
but you haunt still in these causeways
of rowdy halls and quiet messes,
and in quickened paces of my thoughts.

Smoke from your lungs leaps into mine
as darkness shares between our eyes
and secrets hidden, all that you find,
are stolen without asking.

I'm terrified to look through you -
felt the night's cool hand on my throat
as you, bereft with no place to go,
had no choice but stand in the doorway.

I've seeped in silence; known your cause
and your reasons before you made them.
Now what am I but a shipwreck sinking
while your rope is cast for smoother shores?

I've fallen beneath the cold, blue crown
and known your white sails fade.
You're here now, this is true,
but I'm grasping at the sands you walk on
with fingers made like fins.

-------------------------
#64
Sadness
Everyday

There will be no time
for packing luggage, weeping,
blowing out dreams, moving furniture,
attending funerals, mopping the
corners of the old rooms.

The air will be thick -
too thick that we'll
fear waking up
everyday.

I won't have the chance to
love you further.
I'll leave so many depths in you, undiscovered.

You'll have to weave the rest
of the dream without me.

And to the wounded, to the bereft hearts,
to the soldier cradling his homeland,
to his homeland,
to the rain and to each night under the rain,
I promise I'll be sending a breeze.

-----------------------------------
#65
Misc
Barren

Winter is moving out,
stacking up its hollow dimensions in a ragged cloud
and leaving, like any broken soul.

Outside, there are women living to plow and sow,
going out in a windy day, settling
down in the sunny sides of a lonely field,
unveiling their tired faces. With mud chewing up
their skins and wrinkles harrying their eyes, they'd hold
up the shovel and drench a land with their sweat.
In the evening, they'd brawl with the grocer for
delayed debts,
cry their babies to sleep,
swear and grudge.

Outside, there are women
whose lives are devoted to dirty laundry,
raveled socks, flu, weight and flowerpots.
Outside, there are women
empty and fragile.

--------------------------
#66
Dark fantasy
Red Room 217

Don't look up. Your reflection.
(?where's daddy?)
A cleaver aimed at your skull.
Deep as an ocean rolling thoughts
dredged by shadows past midnight;

fat ghosts roam in rooms
walls covered in clocks
never knew that time was up.

Bloated corpses overdosed, bathtubs
have since become cold. Linger
still like paintings. Hunger for a taste of life.

One way out guarded by a hound
bloodshot eyes and a gleaming smile,
lips that taste of a secret lover
masked by copper and iron.
Years dead comatose smeared blood
neurosis screaming at you,
mirror meat cleaver reflection -

MURDERREDRUM

Don't look up, only one way out.

------------------------
#67
Internet slang
T-bombing

Well Bob's your uncle
I was t-bombing my mates
Bout going to the flicks
To see some movie that was sick

When I got an sms from my chick
She say that movie ain't hip
No man, don't be getting on that ship
Don't go takin that trip

So I chewed on my cig
As indecision didn't suit my rig
See I was caught in this rip
My bird as sweet as a fig

But im the boss of this boat
afaiaa
Tellin me what do do don't float
But hey osbutctt

----------------------
#68
Nature poem
The Beach at Dawn

As we cross over sand dunes
of hilly shrubs and mossy boulders,
yellow rays like flashlights
make chutes above the sand.
From the blinding lights,
we close our eyes, smiling -
warmth like downy sheets
spreads 'cross stony, silver skin,
cold from Night's long journey.

The morning sun casts
blood-like shadows
over slowly waking waters,
bluer with each passing wave.
We watch gulls in flight;
sand pipers trekking
in crab-filled, shallow tides,
and pelicans standing on
rotted, wooden planks,
preening with their wobbly bills.

The beach is where we choose to go
when nature spreads its wings.

OK, now I am absolutely glad I'm not judging this contest.

However, # 14 sends chills up my spine. Perhaps because I've been there. When the contest is over, POST IT FAST!

#21,22, 26, 29... I like

#22 struck me. I only read a few randos, but that has to be my favorite thus far.

I can't wait to sit down and read all these new pieces...

A poetic smorgasbord...YUM!

Results of day one are in! I'm going to post the results of each club here, and any club who wants to find out the points for their individual poems, pm me and Ill send them on.

Club 1: 50.5
Club 2: 39.5
Club 3: 54.5
Club 4: 36.5
Club 5: 48
Club 6: 41
Club 7: 47.5

By and large, the judges were not overly impressed with a lot of poems. Paraphrasing and relaying their general comments about the first round (they had similar comments to make,): Some poems did impress them but overall they expected more, due to the fact that it was an open round. One judge felt the score of many poems suffered for not fitting in with the genre, while another felt it took a strong, original poem to score well.

So clubs 1 and 3 are the first to break the 50 points mark, but its close. Things will no doubt shuffle when round 2 results come in, where each poem was worth 20 points as opposed to 10. Thanks a million to the judges, and keep it up poets. The judges may have been watching too much Simon Cowell so better bring your A game for the remainder of the contest :)

Ohhh I love Simon Cowell, hes an ass, and asses motivate me to strive! lol!

Thanks Colm for doing so well with the updates!

Which club is which? And could you PM me with the details... Our club's points jointly and individual scores? Thanks!

I won't reveal which club is which until nearer the end, trying to keep judging anonymous when we can :)

I'll send them on to you now

Cool, thanks.