Weekly Contest results 12 September 2016

Loss swayed the judges this week: loss of a partner, never to experience the duet of Love's Sorrow; loss of an elusive phantasm will-o-the-wisp; loss of one's own life to the Angel of Death. Nice showing by newcomer, Dean Kuch, who also received an honorable mention.
Congrats also to Ben, who has finally outed himself from Sir Lancelot and to Mahal whose esoteric style captured three superlatives and forced at least two of us to research Alt-Wiener Tanzweisen and to listen to Liebesleid.* Congratulations as well to the honorable mentions. Thanks, judges for getting this completed in time.

*If you're interested, checkout Isaac Stern's orchestration @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ModXTjydx7k
You may find that you've heard it many times & did not know it.

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Front page:
Perhaps You Were by Mahal Ko Kuya Ko 30 Points
Somnolent by Ben Pickard - 24 Points
Hummingbird Hill by Dean Kuch - 17 Points

Honorable Mentions:
The Curse of Late Night Inspiration by BlueJay 8 Points
The Devil's Doll by Dean Kuch 7 Points
The cruelty of one-way mirrors by Ether 7 Points
Overcoming By Dream of Olwin 4 Points
On Target by Everlasting 4 points
I See You (6) by Ren 4 Points

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Perhaps You Were by Mahal Ko Kuya Ko 10 Points
There's a certain haunting beauty to this poem, it's riddled with cruel realizations and a sense of this ambitious love. The mixture of well-chosen metaphors and pacing of this poem has a certain synergy. Interestingly enough, although Chopin admired Beethoven, Beethoven was not aware of Chopin due to the age difference and just because of circumstances (if I recall correctly Chopin just started his career a bit after Beethoven's death). This tidbit paints the ending in a different light, and solidifies the theme of unrequited love. I must admit that I have never stumbled across the piece "Liebesleid" and after listening to it, I really think that this poem reflects the essence of that piece extremely well. There's so many little things stitched into this poem that works really well, and for that reason alone, I consider this a masterpiece.

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Perhaps You Were by Mahal Ko Kuya Ko 10 Points
This is a beautiful poem! The elegant wording is mixed with nature tones, singing a true melody of emotions. The beginning stanza sets the scene full of metaphoric brilliance! I can see vividly the memories of a friendship perhaps, very touching. The loss of a friend or loved one echos through this poem and as sad as it is, its so darn beautiful!

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Perhaps You Were by Mahal Ko Kuya Ko 10 Points
Such a beautiful poem. It stood out so clearly for me. Very elegant and soothing. The word choice and imagery are very tender and not very usual. The writer of this piece cannot not be a very sensitive and emotional person. Someone who writes in this style, usually has their words naturally composed. I am moved and really impressed by this poem. That ending was a mix of many emotions, I thought this poem was brilliant.

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Somnolent by Ben Pickard - 10 Points
The woeful tale of a lovers demise. Losing one's loved one and getting lost on the moors on what becomes a very visual and emotional journey. The reader travels with the poor lovelorn lover in search of his lost love. The visuals are so masterful that I actually could see and feel the decline into misery, the hunger and thirst. Even most unpleasantly the nausea when I read "The filth felt right when swallowed down; It churned and mixed with sickly bile". Ben has an absolute talent in both rhyming and use of words to create visual masterpieces. His poem takes you on a downward journey into madness and death where you travel as one with this lost soul in his search for his love. A very well deserved 10 Points

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Somnolent By Ben Pickard 7 Points
I truly believe you have a knack for making me weep. Every single poem you write hits some type of nerve in me. I laugh, get teary-eyed, feel angry reading your poetry and sometimes even get jealous streaks at how you can just put out so much and very quality pieces and I love them all. This will be a favorite of mine, I am sure.

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Somnolent by Ben Pickard 7 Points
Nice title choice. Interesting. I love when the poet strikes me with a direct open-line story. Speaking of loss at an early stage made me wonder where this was going next.. It left me speechless, and sad. The poem effectively transfer the emptiness and pain between its lines to the reader. The coherence is worth praising throughout the whole poem. Hats off for the imagery.

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Hummingbird Hill by Dean Kuch - 7 Points
This deliciously dark poem is one of two excellent nominations of two poems by Dean so it was a hard choice on which one to vote for. I chose Hummingbird Hill because whilst the theme is dark its an almost light hearted quirky dark poem. The visuals and story ideas are excellent. Death tapping on the window with his osseous grin, the internal debate one whether to run or just let him in. The rhyming is superb in particular the triple rhyming "And his glare is the stare of a thing without care". It's a poem just begging to be read out loud in massively exaggerated tones and I like very much the idea of the corpse having to miserably follow around Death as he goes about his duties, until finally being able to rest in your grave up on Hummingbird hill. Very enjoyable read 7 Points

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Hummingbird Hill By Dean Lurch 10 Points
I suppose I should say "Welcome" before I get started. I noticed you are new to the site, so Welcome, we hope you enjoy it here. You have a very interesting style, and from the nominated pieces of poetry you have made for some enjoyable reads. I enjoyed the rhyme scheme and dark overtone. You are definitely talented, I can't wait to read more.

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The Curse of Late Night Inspiration by BlueJay 4 Points
I really enjoyed this stanza: "a heart of stone frozen in time. skin too rough for hugs. And a mind so closed even Berlin looked like Legos." That said, the ending was perfect for this poem. The poem paints this sense of utopia and progresses slowly to deconstruct that utopia, but you cannot ascertain as to whether the deconstructed utopia is actually a dystopia, or something between.

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The Curse of Late Night Inspiration by BlueJay 4 Points
This love poem is very striking and unique, I was pulled in by the word usage and entanglement of emotions. Just beautiful!!

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The cruelty of one-way mirrors by Ether 7 Points
I'm absolutely entranced by this piece; I've read it numerous times - it's a short narrative but it works really well. The title foreshadows the plot (and I think it's an excellent title at that). This piece was written about someone that the speaker thought was just like them, but came to the sudden realization that they are not alike. Whether or not, the subject of the poem is known to the speaker or not still remains a bit of mystery to me, there are some verses that suggest so, and other verses that suggests otherwise. This little obfuscated detail works really well since it draws in the reader until they come to the ending stanza and is hit with the same realization the speaker was hit with.

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The Devil's Doll by Dean Kuch 7 Points
Mr. Dean Kuch has joined PnQ and has created quite a stir with his powerful rhyme poetry, we are very happy he is here :-) This poem is filled with dark imagery, powerful and flowing rhyme patterns and a touch of edge... his ending is explosive and I am thoroughly amazed at what a powerful writer he is. Lovely!!

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I See You (6) by Ren 4 Points
A wonderfully expressive poem which depicts the trials and tribulations of our hard working often undervalued Doctors and Nurses. It reminds us that there is more going on in hospitals than you can see. That being a doctor or a nurse is so much more than a job it is a vocation undertaken by people who love and care for complete strangers. How many of us could say that we could show patience with and love unconditionally a stranger and take care of them? Beautifully written with a voice and subject that should definitely be heard. Well done

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Overcoming By Dream of Olwin 4 Points
How could one put it more forward than you have in this touching poem. If only people would just treat everyone with dignity and respect..... but we can dream and have hope that someday they will. Well done

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On Target by Everlasting 4 Points
This got me lost, for a moment. I just needed to highlight it. I am always, always, fascinated with short forms that DO make visualize, feel, and react to their content. The scene, upon reading these 15 words, is worth praising. It takes an artist, more than a poet, to paint "effects" ( sound, color, etc..) that way. Well done. I loved it.

Firstly, let me just say a massive congratulations to the other winners and all the hms this week. A particular congratulations for Dean who is new to the site and obviously very talented.
Secondly, can I just say to anyone who may have noticed, that I feel a little sheepish this week as Somnolent is actually a repost and I had the fortune of winning with it on my last account not too long ago, so I am sorry if it gets anyone's back up.
Thirdly, as ever, many thanks to the judges and also to Larry.

Ben

Thank you Larry - wonderful introduction as always.

Ben? Ben, why I thought he'd left the site,*shakes a fist* Seriously, well done on the re-post! It just shows that it is a genuine winner! Well done.

Great poems all round and fantastic insightful comments. These comments take time and show the task of judging is taken seriously. Thank you Judges!

BTW - anyone seen Sir Lancelot? I was wandering the PnQ corridors last night and tripped over his rather large weapon!

Michael, you more than anyone have been intimate with me and known the true identity of my rather large weapon, so let's have no more pretence, lol

Thanks Larry for posting and judges as ever for their times and efforts, it doesn't go unnoticed.

Well done to all winners, all deserving and to HMs.
Em

Wow! Thank you, Judges! Congratulations to the Winners and HM's! Thank you, Mr. Larry, for posting!

Congratulations to all the front page winners! Amazing writes all around. Also congrats to the HM's, so much talent on this site! Thank you Larry for moderating and the judges for their time and wonderful insight.

Congratulations Winners and HM's!

Thank you judges for your time and effort and thank you Larry for hosting :)

Thank you! I am glad you did.

Congrats everyone.

Well done all x