Weekly Contest Results 10 November 2014

Three clear winners and five judges voting. I'll be in Court all day tomorrow so I thought it better not to wait.

Lady Nik breaks a long silence, ironically, not to Stutter, but to articulate her emancipation from a relationship magnificently, as discovered by several judges. Andrea's touching portrayal of a mental healthcare patient will possibly be followed up by poems dealing with arachnophobia - but she's earned it! Kakera's roundabout tale of possession captured the third spot just as the titular deceptively empty shell captured the forlorn spirit, perhaps created to prevent exposure to social castration.

Stutter by Lady Nik 10+7+4=21 points
Pretty Bird by Maple Tree 10+10=20 points
Living in a stolen body by Kakera 10+7=17 points

HMs
Quarterlifecrisis by Saraelune 7+4=11 points
The Leaf and the Twig by Maher 10 points
Trick Senses by Everlasting 7 points
I Walk Alone by Ochita Miko by 7 points
Destination by Kristina 4 points
Etched by Polly 4 points
Reality's Dream by ShadowsEmber 4 points

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Stutter by Lady Nik 10 points
I loved the flow of this poem it is magical. Not many poems are written where I can just lose
myself reading it and not wanting to analyze it bit by bit. The imagery was perfect the tone was
mystical, the questions asked relatable, and most of all the emotions in it were stunning! The
answers were so truthful I can't help but love your ability to write poetry and makes me doubt the
beauty of others so that's why I am in love with this poem and this poem will go to my favorite
poems mark my words! Beautiful work.

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Stutter by Lady Nik 7 points
Well this poem left me speechless!
The message of love lost I presume, but just wow!!!
The rhyme scheme in this was elegantly placed in areas that made is so incredibly unique to me.
The flow had a rhythm, and that is difficult to do, when you take into consideration of the tone of
message in this piece. I applaud Lady Nik for this piece here... The wording was tasteful and very
creative. Powerful and well written piece this week!!

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Stutter by Lady Nik 4 point
The flow to this poem is what really impressed me this week. There is nothing worse than trying
to read a lengthy poem that has a very rough, or a non existent flow, but this poem really was
easy to read and the rhyming throughout really matched the flow also, subtle and not forced. The
message of the poem was portrayed well with the battle within oneself. Trying to move on from
someone who has hurt you, perhaps beaten your confidence down, but this author shows they are
not ready to give up and that they will be proud of who they are. The use of the stutter works well
because it shows that despite having this struggle with words, their confidence is now growing
and they managed to get the words out eventually. The ending was very powerful, comparing this
worthless character to dust which only takes up a small part of the mind now, shows healing and
moving on. Really good write.

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Pretty Bird by Maple Tree 10 points
This poem is a very touching poem, bringing out the reader's empathy towards a character who
has become lost inside the world they live in. The metaphor used of the bird in the cage works
perfectly well for the theme of the poem, really capturing how trapped this vulnerable person
feels. The loneliness is also very evident, and then the comfort the character finds within the bird,
which clearly reflects how the character feels. A connection between them life's circumstances.
The reality of the poem is so relevant, and I think that is why the poem touches me so. A truly
eye-opening poem.

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Pretty Bird by Maple Tree 10 points
This piece is simple and yet it says enough to leave the reader on the verge of tears. Maybe not
from the scene, but from the pure beauty of the piece. It is stunning and perfectly penned, the
flow is spot on, the words are precise and clear - even in their elegance. There is a vivid scene
and a detailed story to this, again even within such a short write. Every word of this carried so
much with it, emotion, detail, kindness. This piece is definitely worth the read, and the awareness
it brings.

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Living in a stolen body by Kakera 10 points
An amazing piece that definitely moved me. It offers an unique perspective about the struggles of being a transgendered person in today's society - it was absolutely powerful and invoked a myriad of emotions that made me empathize with Jean. There was an apathetic feeling that arose from the words of this poem that screamed a mechanism for coping, but also feelings of jealousy and frustration as well. There were a couple of stanzas that absolutely affected me "I am already nothing. I am already no-one./I weren't meant to exist in the first place. /I'm simply the ghost stuck inside a corpse, /and I envy those who can dream." and as well as the later stanzas that spoke of how Jean is struggling with her self-identity between her true gender and the gender she was born with, and it was penned beautifully and quite vividly as verses like "I can access some of his memories. /I can feel him inside of me, screaming, /aching in pain for a chance to be released.". It was a powerful piece that offered unique insight and as well as moved me. Amazing write!

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Living in a Stolen Body by Kakera by 7 points
This poem I couldn't stop reading! It is so dark and yet it is like a story unraveling and telling you
that although yes it stole the body of another and that it is already dead, he/she/it is doing a favor
to the soul that used to own because by their own doing or not their own doing they were just
becoming their own prisoner and this is what made me love this poem! Dark, beautiful (a tad long
but it's fine it's worth it), and makes you keep on reading till the last sentence really nice to read!

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Quarterlifecrisis by Saraelune 7 points
A wonderful piece that addresses the struggles of her current life and as well as her self-identity to an extent. It's quite unique in the sense that the author takes the reader through some various thoughts from an objective view of her life at the moment - which is what drew me to this poem. The simile of poetry being ready to grabbed like freshly printed newspaper was picturesque and captivated my attention. The author clearly see's a major disconnect between her current state of mind and what's expected by society, by stating she views people as if she were viewing stats of a character of role-playing game, and directly when she penned 'And I'm merely a kid with loose threads;/falling behind, not ready for climbing'. This was one of the stronger verses in the poem as I likened the loose threads to be the 'ropes of success' that society excepts one to climb, but the author does not feel ready to climb it yet. It's a unique objective view of herself, and I personally felt able to relate to certain parts of this poem as I feel like a child masquerading around in an adult body at times. Exceptionally written!

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Quarterlifecrisis by Saerelune 4 points
Wow. This piece took my breath away so easily. I never thought a poem could compile so many
every day things so perfectly vivid. It made them jump off the page and leave an impact or bring
as much of the piece together as they did. I love the mention of poems and RPGs and just how
well they were incorporated into this piece. The voice here is clear and comes through extremely
well. The style is wonderful and the word choice was amazing.

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The Leaf and the Twig by Maher 10 points
This poem is so graceful and elegant. A somber, sorrowful poem, mixed with a nature scene
metaphor that is just out of this world.
This poem makes me think of two lovers lost within the seasons of change.. One dying without
the other and the other just floating along through life.
I got so caught up in the sorrow of this piece and yet each line I'm saying to myself "so beautiful,
so very beautiful"
Nature mixed with sorrow/ metaphoric simplicity at its finest this week! Bravo!!! (10)

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Trick Senses by Everlasting 7 points
This piece is phenomenal. It has detail and beauty in so few words. IT truly captures the attention
of the audience and it is extraordinarily penned. There is a tone of sadness or maybe its just
disappointment in the character's self for deceiving someone they care about, but that tone is
covered up by the triumph of having successfully fooled them. Granted there are many ways to
take this piece on a much deeper level. It's beautiful how honest the author was with us as
readers. The word choice is stunning. The flow is beautiful and really, this piece is absolutely
wonderful all together. Everything about it is just so perfect.

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I Walk Alone by Ochita Miko by 7 points
I was very really amazed by the metaphors within this poem, they created such vivid imagery that
really kept an interesting scene painted in my mind whilst reading this poem. The author has used
such unique descriptions to capture minor details and make them such a big part of the story.
This poem is a very visual work of art, it has been constructed very well. The title was also
repeated throughout the poem at the end of each stanza, which really drew each stanza together
and kept each image connected to the tone of the poem, loneliness. Very well created poem.

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Destination by Kristina 4 points
I was put off a bit by the visual format of the poem, so I suggest the author might want to try reworking the structure of the poem since it seems odd due to the pnq formatting of text, and can deter potential readers. That being said, I liked this poem since it read more like a spoken-word poem or something to that extent. The content of the poem is 'jumpy' a bit, in the sense that it doesn't follow a sequential line of thought but it's quite welcomed since it's fresh and reminiscent of spoken-word poetry. Above all, the imagery and the relaxed narrative voice of this poem is what won me over. Excellently penned!

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Etched by Polly 4 points
This poem is beautiful it may have had some grammar and spelling errors but the message behind
it was so much more important than what little errors it had. This poem reaches out for your heart
grabs it and tugs at it till you feel what that person is feeling. The imagery was nice the emotions
stunning, but message was my favorite since it feels like it had two meanings and I choose to go
with the first emotion that I think it was and it felt like the loss of a child it really could've been
anything but this poem just made me feel. Great write!

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Reality's Dream by ShadowsEmber 4 points
Small elegance this week by ShadowsEmber!!
The wording of love captured in a simple and yet effective format!
The feelings are poured out: Perhaps a new love.. A dream turning into reality can bring such joy
and then to craft it into a poem is beautifully displayed in this piece.
I was captivated by this piece for its elegance, graceful simplicity and lovely word display!
Very pretty piece this week by ShadowsEmber!

Amazing pieces, I love the diverse turn out this week. Excellent job

It's been a long emotional day for me ... the birth of grandbaby #4, spider bite #2 confirmed and now I read that a poem I wrote for one of my precious patients is being highlighted... I'm in tears.... thank you... this brings a happy closing to my very emotional day.

The sweet Lady I wrote about brings such joy to my life, it's an honor to care for her and I am touched that her poem has been highlighted this week, yeah I'm in tears!

Lady Nik and Kakera, I am honored to be sharing the front page with both of you.. Congratulations to you both and to the Hm's.. just beautiful!!

Larry,

The Arachnophobia poem will be posted in a few days... lol

Congratulations!!

Congratulations to all the winners - and the HMs.

Great job!

Congratulations, some great poems highlighted!

Lovely intro by Larry. Great work, judges. Nice writing, poets.

Congrats all!

Well done everyone :) Great to see you back writing Nik!