Contest Winners- July 29, 2013

Happy end of July all :)

Congrats to our three clear winner this weekend!

I've kept the butterflies in glass jars
by Piogga - 10 + 4 = 14

Waiting
by Maple Tree - 10 + 7 = 17

Seeking
by Britt- 7 + 4 = 11

HM's:

Through the eyes of a loyal dog
by ThebutterfliesMuse (10)

Questionnaire
by The Huntress (10)

Bad Habit
by The Huntress (10)

The Long Journey back (7)
by Darren

Maybe
by Melissa (7)

This is what I was given
by Robert (7)

When Summer Met Winter (part one)
by WintersAngel (4)

Take Two.
by Blissful (4)

An Honest Letter
by Wild Flower (4)

WINNER COMMENTS:

I've kept the butterflies in glass jars
by Piogga

This is a very imaginative piece. Here imagination replaces the day to day logic of mundane world. I particularly like the theme of opposite in this verse: butterflies with glass jars, flying with entrapment, heaviest coats with shirtsleeve weather, hunch back and lugging with empty baggage. It is like the poet wants to duplicate the symmetrical images of butterfly wings. And she does it masterfully only in the confine of a few words.
This peace itself shapes like a butterfly in a glass jar . Maybe as the result of staring at the jar for a long time she learns to see through the eyes of glass itself.
In this piece the weather is optional; we leave our heaviest coat for those who choose to live in winter and be hunched with heaviness of their burdens. We lighten ourselves in order to fly. ( who could fly with those heavy coats of winters?) you never see butterflies in winters. )
Evidently only by emptying our baggage we enable ourselves to lug around instead of being pinned to our chains. (10)

I've kept the butterflies in glass jars
by Piogga

Again, this writer continues to intrigue me. This poem had few words and did not deliver anything definite, but it did leave an impact. I love concrete descriptions like this. It is not pretentiously encrypted, yet it is abstract in the many interpretations and questions it raises. This is at the core of any piece of art. (4)
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Seeking
by Britt

I fell in love with the imagery in this poem, the nature element and how it relates to us as humans, how we and nature all seek something, how that thing is sometimes impossible. The poem has a sense of hope to it, hope that we can all achieve something, and that that something is the reason we are all here. I loved the ending, how the writer describes unborn children as travelers. This gives the idea that we have been through our own journeys before we were born, and that ended in our birth and now we seek for truths which we will find when we move on to the next realm after our death. This poem is philosophically deep and holds much meaning. It was thought provoking and enjoyable to read. (7)

Seeking
By Britt (4)

What I get from this poem is that, canary represents us while the moth symbolizes opportunity. Every one of us has a dream to follow regardless of how distant or unfeasible it may seem and though sometimes the same dreams don't hold true as we get older, they guide us with regards to our direction in life.

"A moth tucked into a rosebud
flits her legs together, but she
can't make music."

Opportunity doesn't come gift wrapped; sometimes we need to look further, and that too, with vigilant eyes, or in a place that it is least expected otherwise it would be very much like a wasted opportunity (but she can't make music).

I like the ending of this piece,

"perhaps a rebirth,
like travelers in the bellies
of our mothers,"

as a child, we often set goals and tend to avoid looking backwards regardless of what we have on our plate or how hungry we are hence, "constantly searching". (4)
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Waiting
by Maple Tree

This poem is just Amazing! I loved every line of it! In the first stanza I could feel the anticipation of waiting for something, the anxiety, and all feeling related to what waiting feels like, which is how great poems should be. They make us feel what the writer is going through. The second stanza is a calm, though I could feel the madness of being left alone waiting, how it deprives us from sleep and feeling relieved. (10)

Waiting
By Maple Tree (7)

This clever little set of seemingly connected lines held my attention longer than I usually spend on a poem while the second half took me by surprise, too. The second stanza starts with a twist that almost makes me groan, something that makes me twist my moustache out of clashing expectations and certainty.

I however love the positivity and the shift of mood at the end of the poem. It reminds me that every morning is a fresh beginning, regardless of whether we are ready or not. (7)
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HM COMMENTS:

Through the eyes of a loyal dog
by ThebutterfliesMuse

Though I weighed your competition very carefully I found this poem the most unforgettable . My fist impression was a dogs hunting companion (another canine) was killed in something like a DC(Dick Cheney) hunting accident , but the ending (strong finish) reminded me of the truest friend I ever had outside of a family member that would truly mourn my passing (10)
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Questionnaire
by The Huntress (10)

The Huntress is unquestionably one of the best known PnQ poets who take inspiration from their personal experience (mostly traumatic), and then form confounding poems out of it.

Truly, an example of a stunning poem about self-doubt, jealousy and timidity, stunning in a sense that the clever imagery impacted the desired sarcasm effortlessly but what a pity both characters have to suffer such pain and rejection.

I like that the imagery and words being used here are quite simply; just a perfect way to make this poem relatable. (10)
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Bad Habit
by The Huntress

Voted for this last week as well, same comment goes. It's a well-written piece of work:
I love me a good ending and that's why this poem gets my final vote. Some clever little techniques used here, almost to a point of excess at times - poetry can be a delicate balance between freedom of thought and self-mastery, the art of not pushing too hard...but sometimes it cannot be helped. I like how the subject of the poem is symbolised by the symptoms it inflicts. The only part I didn't grasp was the smoke on the toothbrush image. And I think 'descent' should be 'descend'? (10)
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Long Journey Back
by Darren

I just felt that Long Journey Home rose to the challenge in a very interesting way to me. (7)
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Maybe
by Melissa

This poem has clear imagery coupled with a clear voice. It is soft, whimsical and effortless. This writer understands the importance of sticking to a central, unconfused theme or metaphor and expressing it succinctly with power. It paints the imagination. The narrator is the star wanting to fall, flimsy as confetti, white and weak to the will of her lover's sticky velvet embrace. Clever, sensual writing. (7)
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This is what I was given
by Robert

This poem is so fluid, simple and honest. It sounds like a country music lyric. It has a very calming tune. The music, the sound of self-recognition and honesty, the simplicity and vividness of sceneries and imageries make this song to stand out. There is no sound of mental constipation or over kill, in this piece. The poet as mentioned in recurring sentence, works only with what he was being given: "This is what I was given" But the poet makes a great use of it. He turns it to a great song, using the guitar he found it in the mid-road of his self realization. It shows how the poet does not force anything; he lets thing appear to him on their own. He lets the roads loom in front of him during the fog of life: " but hey life's a mystery" Amongst the simplicity of this poem you can find some sparks of refined elucidation of meaning regarding life and death:
"and never knowing when this dream
will ever end, I just keep beating death
again and again" (7)
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When Summer Met Winter (part one)
by WintersAngel

The winter guides the summer to her home is a grate metaphor because without the winter summer could no be. Or as a French poet once said, "winter gushes the hives of summer".
I like the mood of storytelling in this verse: Impersonating the opposite seasons in a childlike fairytale. This poem is so musical and easy for the readers to slide through except the 5-6 stanzas that the rhyme scheme are broken- something that easily could be avoided- ( perhaps because the poet could not wait to share her charming creation, her sweet venture in the realm of words )
To impersonate seasons like this is not easy as it looks. You have to create characters that fit to the manners of nature and what they represent, and she did that gracefully and imaginatively: "pale complexion
At the blue in his eyes" I really like the blue eyes part (4)
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Take Two
by Blissful

When reading this poem I didn't understand the connection between the first few lines and the tittle. It was something I didn't expect, but as I moved on I understood that it was about second chances. It is creative to create a poem like this one, moving from one scene to the next changing the concepts not the scenes and clarifying how it concepts change. The changes show the emotional growth of the writer in love. I especially like this stanza because I can relate to it. I know how people seem different once we have a bad experience with them, how their faces seem uglier because they are a reminder of the experience and how at the same time that makes us feel weak.

"you are now marked
with the faces of suicide
for you killed a love
before it even began
and I am now left here
with the thought of being
less than
undefeatable"

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An Honest Letter
by Wild Flower

This poem is mysterious but it spoke to me in a general way with the "your & theirs" (4)

Congrats to all the winners & HM's! Thanks as always to Chelsey and the new judges.... Happy end of July right back at ya :]

Congrats to the winners, a fine and deserving bunch up there this week, and to the HM's

Thanks Chels and judges.
x

Thanks, all!

Judges, you had excellent comments - I truly appreciate them!

Congrats winners and HMs:)
And thank you judge for the HM!!

Congrats to all, Winners & HMs.

Thank you judges & Chels

Congrats to all the winners - though I do feel sorry for the judges as I feel there was much more talent this week with the amount of poems posted. I am surprised the site didn't explode :P

Great poems on the front page - and to those HM's too.

And Chels? well... you smell :p

Congrats Winners & HMs:)

Thank you Chels for the efforts:)

Very , very cool !! Makes me smile to share the front page with Britt (Pantso) and Piogga.. :-) Lovely poems ladies!

thank you judges for the awesome comments very much appreciated! Congrats to the hms as well.. beautiful poetry this week!!

Hugs you Chels!!

Saffie....kiss my butt.

everyone else, youre welcome :) hahaha

I knw I am late, but still congrats.