Weekly Contest Winners 10/26/2015!

Hello, everyone! Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Three clear, awesome poems this week from Jordan, Hellon, and Karla. The judges had the same poems in mind, as they were quite memorable. Huge congrats to them and the HM's! Thank you judges for your hard work. :)

WINNERS:

"Refugee" by: Jordan 10 + 10 + 10 + 7 = 37 points

"On Summer's Night (Rondeau)" by: Hellon 10 + 7 + 7 + 4 = 28 points

"Exodus" by: Karla 7 + 7 + 4 + 4 = 22 points

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HM's:

"Are You Really Fearless?" by: Ben Pickard = 10 points

"At night (Haiku)" by: Koan = 4 points

"By Listening To You (Play Your Guitar)" by: Ben Pickard = 4 points

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WINNER COMMENTS:

"Refugee" by: Jordan

"The emotional turmoil in this piece is present in each line. The images all remind me of an innocence, as you wrote a "forgotten hope". A heart now cold, an eye no longer looking upward, death suffocating every second. The single statement of "hunger" shows that there can never be any denial of it. That quest at the end to look deeper, understand the cry, not just dismiss it. Powerful piece, in the eyes of a refugee, that plea, that hope stolen away, that mistrust, that constant presence of death." (10)

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"I can always put my finger on it but I believe I know a good poem when I read it . Very current theme also." (10)

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"The plight of these poor souls has been captured so well. I see their situation captured in the papers and news coverage but the writer's words here not only gives a painful image but the
inner screams and their empty looks which are so lost. I also like how each stanza is separated with a one line sentence and then it takes the reader deeper into its meaning. This one stood
out for me:

Death's choke hold.

pessimist amiss,
Can you hold a thing against me?
My feet break no barriers but
you may call me
Miss Continental Shift.
No teeth behind my lips.

^^What a sight filled with pain, sadness no sorrow...it moved me.

The ending just leaves me as a reader with the sounds of thunder, the cries of children and their helpless parents...touching write." (10)

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"Very touching, and having the writer speaking of someone else's struggle in such a raw and emotional tone is honestly amazing. I loved every word and felt the immense and tough and harsh and really gloomy comprehension structure that reflects a Refugee's state.

Your closing "thunder" line gave me goosebumps.

Dull prism conundrum
treasure plundered
ocean split asunder.

Hunger.

^^^
priceless flow.

An overwhelming poem, least to say. Well done and thanks for your sharing." (7)

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"On Summer's Night (Rondeau)" by: Hellon

"Very vivid and descriptive. Perhaps one of the most captivating poems for this week, put alone the theme itself, the write successfully reflected nature in a very charming way and implemented such role in her usage of words like

"Sweet jasmine breathes a perfumed sigh"
"yawning sky" "wise owl"

A very refreshing piece of art.

The rhyme and flow just added bonus beauty to the poem, for the wording itself having no rhyme at all would just have been as beautiful. A very well penned poem.

And I have to say, this is utterly romantic." (10)

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"Hellon the only word that comes to my mind when reading this poem is "flawless"....the form is beautiful, your wording is elegant, picturesque, and takes me literally to a summers night in my mind. I love how poetry is not only an art of words, but a literal painting as well and that's what you did hear. You wrote something that was a good read and a good visual. I loved the rhymes you chose and the descriptions again, captivated me. Well done. I want to see this on the front page." (7)

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"Very well written and unforced style." (7)

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"Such an enchanting rondeau! This was perfect to read aloud and the poem almost sighed near the end. The atmosphere and detail you created in this piece captures all the senses!" (4)

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"Exodus" by: Karla

"I must say that this is a very haunting write filled with a self discovery journey and the magnitude of its pain emits within this poem. It's like the writer is caught within the writer's "killer" world and that itself drags her down and locks her up inside a black hole. But there is always light at the end of the tunnel and this case the writer's daughter. Children do have an
innocent way to bring out the smile on a mother's face.

The ending:

because she's my flesh,
my absolute pain,
the face beneath my face.

^^My, this one stunned me. Instead of using the words mirror etc, it just
sandwiched me, I felt I was looking into that mirror, that inner self." (7 points)

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"Would have never guessed this was about your daughter. Loved your voice in this and the meaning of the title. One suggestion though: in the second stanza, second line, "is" should be "are". There's a lot of depth in this. At first, you showed me darkness. Defiance, her against you, going through surviving life in possibly the same way you did. The mention of "symbolic union" reminded me of the importance of a mother-daughter relationship, just like any other bond. My favorite stanza though was the fourth. The mention of broken pieces, the caretaker in you trying to mend her. I thought it was interesting and also sad, the "dangerous brain" part. The self-destructive of one and how it can impact others. You only want to protect her. Then, the violence of words in the end, the climax yet realization you and her are similar. This pain, this bond you share. You'll be with each other through it all. Enjoyed reading." (7)

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"Mind blowing. Karla, you have this unbelievable ability in communicating with readers while writing perhaps some of the most personal poems.

The connection one feels with the way you place your words and emotions, and the way you play with metaphors is mesmerizing.
From the very 1st few lines to the "Face, beneath my face" this poem did not cease to move my emotions.

A daughter mother poem could never be any less touching, could it!

Well done." (4)

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"Karla this poem isn't something I can relate to on a mother's end, but definitely from a daughter's stand point. It really described some parts of a mother daughter relationship that we often don't read. for example,

she's smashed.
i pick up the pieces,
and try to glue
her dangerous brain.
i can hurt myself:
it's a sharp weapon,
a silenced pistol.
it's her self-flagellation
haunting us.

^^ so brilliant!!! a side of motherhood that's usually behind the scenes you penned in such transparency and truth and reminded me of my own mother.

This was an awesome write." (4)

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HM COMMENTS:

"Are You Really Fearless?" by: Ben Pickard

"Hats off to to you on this one Mr. Pickard. I fell instantly in love with this poem from the first sentence and my love trickled over into the second stanza as you continued with your word play. The ending was jaw dropping, you completely tied everything into each other and drove your whole point home. I was so impressed by this poem and really enjoyed the message you're sending. I hope this is a front page win!" (10)

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"At night (Haiku)" by: Koan

"This really touch upon the essence of nature reflecting romantic is the moth wise enough not to get to close to its passion." (4)

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"By Listening To You (Play Your Guitar)" by: Ben Pickard

"Good music always have a way to hypnotize listeners and for that moment it takes away all worries, exertion, stress even the sadness, leaving behind a smile; that is what this little poem is all about. I liked the descriptions of tranquility and the writers peaceful sighs is felt within this write...nice read. (4)

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Congrats winners! We have a great bunch of poems on the front page this week!

Congrats also to the HM's -- brilliant!

Thank you MA for your work this week and also the judges - you had a hard task!

Three very clear and deserving winners this week. I have to say, these three pieces are some of the best work I've seen on this site recently. Congratulations and a thank you to the judges for their comments on my poems and the time taken.
All the very best
Ben

Great poems! Congrats for writing such awesome poetry everyone. Well deserved

Congrats everybody! :)

Congratulations, awesome!

Congrats

Thank you judges.i'm honoured!Congrats everyone!

Congratulations Karla and Jordan and also to the HMs. Thank you judges for your lovely comments and thanks also to the members who nominated my poem. Much appreciated.

Congrats to the winners and HMs, and thanks MA for posting up. Well done all.

Congratulations

Congrats to Jordan, Hellon & Karla, great old time members and great new thoughts. Congrats to the HMs as well.

This week may have set a record for a close shot grouping:
83% of the vote to 3 poems and only 3 others sharing the remainder!

Thanks judges & MA

Congratulations to Jordan, Hellon and Karla!!

Lovely poetry!

Thank you peeps so much for the HM! It means a lot.
Also, congrats for the winners!