Weekly Contest Results, 30 November 2015

The judges this week were caught up in introspective pieces. From cassie's mournful dirge, to Kay's musings on how she is made up, to James' lament about squandering of chances.
One judge chose not to comment on the 4 point vote.

FRONT PAGE
Insidious malice by cassie hughes 20 points
Remnants of my Forefathers by Dixiedaisy 17 points
Home II by Beautiful Soul 14 points

Honorable Mentions
An Angel's Tale by Ben Pickard 11 points
A Heart At Doubt: by Scott Cole 10 points
Ink splotted bricks by adreamer 7 points
Quick Write by Senyru 7 points
Before it begun by Yakari Gabriel 7 points
The Bottom by Bob Shank 4 points
Give thanks by Dagmar Willson 4 points
As Autumn Invites Winter In by Adreamer 4 points

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Insidious malice by cassie hughes 10 points
I tend to watch a lot of shows on ID , investigation discovery, they have a lot of true crime type shows that investigate homicides. This write has a very dark side that could coincide with the show. I can just hear it as an entry to one of the shows being spoken in an Vincent Price voice. Truly a dark, interesting write that was enjoyed. I have only just discovered you as a poetess and am really liking what you have written.

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Insidious Malice by Cassie hughes 10 points
This dark piece really pulled me in from start to finish. The images it produced for the reader gave me chills. The haunting undertones seems the writer can't let go of someone from the past, or is being held by memories. Somewhere that the light of love can't reach.

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Remnants of my Forefathers by Dixiedaisy 7 points
Dixiedaisy's poetry is outstanding. She wrote such a creative poem upon Thanksgiving holiday this week and she dove into this piece with elegance. She has such an elegant style that is woven within each line and her love and respect for her family can be felt throughout this entire poem. well done!

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Remnants of my forefathers....dixiedaisy....10
enjoyed this piece to the fullest, we should all learn our heritage and be proud of where we came from and who we are, it just didn't happen by chance, many people paid a huge price for our very exitence, the writer has captured that, and questions the times of her ancestors....very well done.

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Home II by BeautifulSoul 10 points
The word choice in this write is captivating, its so unique and yet it's hear trending to. Especially the sentence about making music from lips against ribs. It's a beautiful way to show the way love was shared only now to be searching in ways to keep from numbing yourself to love now that it's broken. It takes a lot for something in a poem to jump out at me when it's formatted like this, but this piece is stunning to a T. Style, word choice, silky flow, contagious heartache and all.

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Home ll by BeautifulSoul 4 points
Sad or dark how about both. The sadness of losing the one you love. The metaphors that the writer uses are very dark. Together they have created a poem that draws the reader into it's depth. Just the vision I was left with in my mind. The writer standing there left with only sand. Leaves you pondering what ended this love?

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An Angel's tale by Ben Pickard 4 points
Such a lovely poem. You have a very ornate way of writing. It allows the reader to feel what you are describing. There are many people who have lost loved ones that will find comfort in this poem

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An Angel's Tale by Ben Pickard 7 points
Beautiful poem. All the colors the rainbow then add an Angel.
I saw it, then, the trees sad blight,
and how the flowers sadly bent;
I saw how dark replaced the light
and why I was from heaven sent.
Just a hint of sadness here. Like nature is crying. This is a feel good poem. Uplifting like the colors
In the rainbow. Great images, rhyme and flow. Once again Ben brings us something to smile about

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A Heart At Doubt: by Scott Cole 10 points
This poem was a heart breaker.
This poem has a beautiful and favorable rhyme scheme to it, and its very creative and elegant with its flow. Scott poured out his heart within this write and I applaud him.. its very touching! Beautiful poem this week!

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Before it begun.....by Yakari Gabriel......7
the ocean forms
at the corner of her eyes
she talks about light
(all the time)
says they used
to be plenty of it
before the bombs were
dropped
^deep sentiments and tells a sad sad tale of reality that many don't know about. While many write of parental punishments, boyfriend/girlfriend issues, the above is actually a daily reality for far to many children in today's world.....this last stanza was exquisite.

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Ink splotted bricks by adreamer 7 points
This is a finely penned piece that reads as a story, but ever so poetic. I still felt there should have been more punctuation. There were a few places where I wasn't sure where to pause. I was very impressed with the subject of the write. The poem didn't directly mention the type of art but is implied it is writing. Looking forward to reading more from you as I really enjoyed this. My favorite line was " where culture means more than the language barriers". Wow what an insight in so few words.

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Quick Write by Senyru 7 points
This is a beautiful poem about both love and nature and then some. All of his poems involve these gorgeous color references and this piece is far from an exception, while continuing to be a stunning piece of simplistic honesty. In a way this piece screams that dawn was the muse, but each reader can choose to find so many other meanings;like colors of a person's eyes and the stories they tell so vividly or the way a painter captures the world trapped inside their mind. I love this write because despite being pure imagery, it's entirely, timelessly universal.

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The Bottom by Bob Shank 4 points
This poem needs to be highlighted for its unique style in format. Bob has shown in great detail that short words and different format can add so much to a poem. This piece is drenched in sorrow and touches the heart, with great detail about how rock bottom is... A powerful poem indeed!

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Give thanks by Dagmar Willson 4points
For being such a simple write this blew me away. Without saying anything specific I was able to feel the laughter bubbling up inside me and relive the pointless arguments from my previous Thanksgiving holidays, and I lived that. Its a three line touch stone anyone in America can relate too. It's just sad that other countries do not celebrate this for their own rhyme and reason, because you can never be too close or too far from the others in your family to celebrate having them near you, bringing you joy and amazement with everything they do. And this write is so cookieless cookie cutter I think it takes everyone to a new thought and thats what makes it such a fantastic piece.

Thank you judges & congrats to the winners and HMs.

Thanks you judges for the win and comments, congrats to all winners and hm's

Thanks for the win and the lovely comments Judges and congrats to all the winners and HM's. :)

Congratulations to the winners and the honorable mentions.

Congratulations Winners and HM's!!

Thank you judges for all your work and thank you Sir for hosting :)

One judge chose not to comment on the 4 point vote.

^^^

Why? Did they give a reason???

Thank you for the hm, judges and may I just say congratulations to the three wonderful poets who penned the winning pieces this week - all such different but accomplished writes.
All the best

Thank you for the HM (:

Congrats to all those who won, and picked up a HM.

Yes, Hellon. The judge did give a reason.

Congrats winners & HMs!! Thanks again, judges, for your hard work!

So..what was the reason??? None of the other nominations was worthy of a 4 or something???

Yep

How very miserly! What kind of message is that giving to the 30 odd poems that were nominated that this judge did not think any of them worthy of a modest 4 and what kind of message does it send to the members who took the time to read and nominate. This modest little 4 could have changed the outcome of who's on the front page this week and, I know if I was Ben Pickard or Scott Cole, I'd be rather annoyed at this pompous attitude... Bah Humbug!

On Monday I got confirmation that the judge did vote the four, but declined to write a comment. I edited the top post to reflect that vote. It did not change the outcome.

My feeling is that none of us are poet laureate candidates, none of us are likely to be on the best seller list. However, each poet expresses him/herself to some personal degree. Many bare their souls in poignant works. It seems to me setting standards too high denies the plain fact of what PnQ is and the level of poetry posted here.

Now, for those who believe otherwise, who think that this person or that is worthy of their nation or their public's highest honor, nominate them! If you believe you personally fit that category, well done. I'm not here to bust your bubble.

Personally speaking, I think it would have been more ideal if the judge who declined to comment had commented, but none of us know the reason behind it so we shouldn't judge, perhaps.
Aside from that, the winners this week are all super pieces that thoroughly deserve their place on the front page. As Larry alludes to, we can perhaps take ourselves too seriously anyway. This is a hobby and a passion for us that doesn't bring the bread home. It's a lovely little extra in our lives and I believe we are lucky to have the weekly contest at all. People on the site giving up their free time to make the effort is commendable and cannot be expected of anyone.

All the very best
Ben