Weekly Contest 9/12/2013

I apologise for posting the results a little later than usual.

Three clear winners this week! Sibs snags the most votes with a nice big 34, followed closely by Narph with a lovely 24 points and Sincuna with a comfortable 14 (felt like I was at the races for a moment). Congratulations to the winners, all three poems are wonderful. All you HM's out there also deserve a big congratulations, I had a few of the judges tell me it was quite difficult to decide this week.

Front Page Winners:
Death is a Woman at the Height by Sibyllene: 10 + 10 + 7 + 7 = 34
Sisters by Narph: 7 + 7 + 10 = 24
The Well by Sincuna: 4 + 10 = 14

Honorable Mentions
When you fall in love with your poems by The Huntress: 4 + 4 = 8
Organic by Poet on the Piano: 10
Denial by Maple Tree: 7
Angel In The Sky by Beautiful Soul: 4
Anxiety by Narph: 4

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Death is a Woman at the Height by Sibyllene (10)
This is an amazing poem, I really love the way you have pictured death, which is something that is normally seen as ugly. Here it is portrayed as a fascinating black knight in the night of the soul, the invisible blade that has been living since the dawn of times, an ocean of non-existent blackness that swallows every single breathing spark of life. I adore the imagery Sibs uses here it's got such beauty to it which contrasts with the subject matter in a beautiful way.

Death is a Woman at the Height by Sibyllene (10)
This poem reminded me of the newer Snow White movie, with Charlize Theron (don't kill me haha). This poem is absolutely intriguing and amazing. I keep trying to write a comment and everything fails me, because I just liked to read it over and over. "until forever there is only a slow" and honeyed decay," Beautiful. Well done, and I hope to see this a winner. Sorry for my lame comment, I just can't form words!"

Death is a Woman at the Height by Sibyllene (7)
What a journey you take me on here. The metaphor you introduce right away reminds me of "La Dama del alba" which is a Spanish play we had to read a few years ago. The main character in the play is a personification of death. It is eerie but intriguing how you portray death personally, at the peak of her bloom, almost like she is meant to do her role because it is the right timing and death happens to all. I like the idea of her being the saddest and never having been more beautiful- that reveals this softness and natural quality that death is all around seen as a tragedy, but that it can be a peaceful act. What beautiful wording here.

Death is a Woman at the Height by Sibyllene (7)
This is one of those poems that all readers will find comfort in. You spoke about a topic that is often portrayed in a negative light and allowed the reader to find comfort in the idea of death due to your lovely descriptions and mature, comforting tone. You made me curious and I am not sure that's a good thing considering curiosity killed the cat but it was nice to feel at ease when reading a poem on this subject matter. This was one of those poems with a nice little reality punch at the end, we all meet death eventually. I really liked how you repeated 'because', I remember back in the day someone told me that 'because' was a filler word that should not be used and I have always disagreed, you show how it can and should be used, it helped build up to the last stanza with suspense.

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Sisters by: Narph (10)

I really like the lightness and easy flow of your writing style. It almost gave me this carefree attitude (like the sister and her snide expression). Also reveals more imagery and senses that you chose to let the feel and picture. The sister reminds me of someone who has been changed by society, by status, by expectations, and who feels the need to be in control of everything. I love how you make the reader able to see this sister not from a pedestrian point of view but from someone who has grown up with her, knows her quirks and what she is prone to. What a tone in the ending. I like the shortness, how it is like you two only get together to fulfill this empty obligation to stay in touch or something. Favorite lines were these: "Today we'll take our coffees hot enough to burn the bridges we never built"- what a way to portray that distance and unfamiliarity even though you are bond by blood. Fantastic write.

Sisters by Narph (7)
I liked this poem as it it was such a unique find and being a sibling myself I can relate to it as there is nothing worse than non-existent relationships between siblings. I really enjoyed the way this progressed throughout and thought the second to last verse was very well done as it created a melancholic feeling ad to the poem and a sense of both loss and longing for something that was never there yet should be-a relationship. Lovely work here.

Sisters by Narph (7)
Narph has a way with describing things that make me feel like they're my own thoughts. This poem left me wanting more, as her poetry often does, but it leaves the reader to form their own opinion. It feels like a very rigid relationship, a forced one out of habit, because they have to. This was a really interesting poem to read!

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The Well by Sincuna (10)

While this poem has been placed in the sad category it is just one of those poems that relaxes me. This write has a lovely tone that I would not just describe as longing but also a tone of comfort a tone of relief, as though they are aware of the situation they speak of and have accepted it. Of course I am sure for the writer pain is present but for me I am more drawn to the idea of relief by quenching thirst. The writer states that they are just able to quench thirst, which leads me to believe that the writer has half instead of whole and would like whole but will settle with half. I thought the dedication was interesting. I probably read a little too into the name, with tootsie the descriptive word for a young woman. I also began to imagine a tootsie roll... having no idea what exactly those were I did google them haha. While this poem is obviously very personal to the writer it's extremely relatable, I have read it many times and the only way I can leave is a decent comment is to say it is very beautiful and I hope to see it on the front page this week.

The Well by Sincuna (4)

This was a brilliant write and there were so many thoughts, as well as this sadness, I was left with. Really loved how you chose brevity here. Too often I find myself writing stanza after stanza trying to explain myself. But you leave such depth here. I liked how by the title, you give the image of the well. However, through reading the poem I imagined a love who is not someone constant and rooted in everyday life, but who is there for certain needs. Even if this was a person used for what they can offer. I also thought this was a dedication or in memory since you wrote "For Tootsie". Maybe it wasn't a metaphor for a person and if it just meant the well, I still was able to draw so much from this write and from that one image. Lovely wording, and it almost left me haunted because you only take a part, the water that you need at the moment, never enough to endure you through each hour.

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When you fall in love with your poems by The Huntress (4)

What a vivid piece of poetry. The use of the word spatters is really interesting, like a patterned toss. There seems like such anger here, rather than a sadness like I read through the first time. This poem is definitely feeling like an attack, and the ending makes me feel like the writer has written so many poems about a person.. and they want that person to read them. Perhaps then they'd understand? Intriguing poem!

When you fall in love with your poems by The Huntress (4)
At the beginning I read this in a more literal sense, the idea of becoming extremely proud of your poems, almost having narcissistic tendencies in a sense. This literal idea did come from you mentioning the word 'pride' which connected me to the idea of pride being one of the seven deadly sins. I read it a second time and I began to think that perhaps this was about falling in love with the idea of someone. I often find that my poetry keeps me in love with the idea of someone rather than the actual someone and in the end it becomes quite problematic, more painful and as you described it, a feeling of drowning. For me this was one of these short poems that captures the readers attention and hits them with a punch, it's thought provoking.

Angel In The Sky by Beautiful Soul (4)
The only thing I didn't like here was the ending of this poem, as it was a cliche and let down what could have been a breathtaking poem. The beginning was very pretty and created a lovely visual. Although poems like this have been seen countless times I think you did a pretty good job with the genre and content. I think if you work a little on the closing this could be really beautiful.

Organic by Poet on the Piano (10)
The poet has done an incredible job with this piece. Despite the random thought, she has brilliantly conveyed a deep meaning through this. The use of teabag is clever here and to depict about introverts is real good! An Inspiration!

Denial by Maple Tree (7)
This is an amazing poem. Andrea has always been one of my favorites in here and her poetry is as wonderful as here. The emotions are very well portrayed and the melancholy is creatively expressed!

This Anxiety by Narph (4)
Spectacular! Narph has done an incredible job with such a small piece. The words and the thought behind it are something new to read about since long and this piece shouldn't have been left unread! Great job!

Just a note: We had a sub judge for this week and are still calling on a sub judge until the end of December. If someone would like to sub for this time period or simply just for next week please send a PM to the mod account.

The new judging term begins the first weekend of January until the end of March. Please see the following thread to nominate judges:

http://www.poems-and-quotes.com/discussion/topic.html?topic_id=142213

Congratulations, winners and HM's :-D:-D

Congratulations to all, Winners and HM's.

Thank you judges and congrats winners and hms. Thank you for the comment judge

Congrats to the winners and HM's. I'll read through them again soon.

Thanks again to the judges and for the nomination. :)

Congrats Winners & HMs:)

Congrats everyone on making the front page, and all of those who got Hms. Well done. xxx

Wow, a huge congrats to everyone this week, awesome work! And thank you judge for my HM and comment as well.

"The Well" has the texture of true poetry. I am surprised it got its way( or haha lost its way) to front page. Must be a revelation or something.

Well done winners and thanks judges and all involved :)

A revelation... it could be.

Congrats to the winners and Hm's

Thanks, really appreciate the time taken to comment and read my work. Especially Anxiety, the HM means a lot. :)

Congratulations across the board, especially to my fellow pirates, Sibbylicious and Narphagalactus.

Congrats, everyone! Great poems this week.

Congratulations to the winners and Hm's :-) Thank you judge for the sweet comment, I truly appreciate it !!