Weekly Contest Winners - January 16, 2017

Hello! Hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Very unique pieces from some authors that haven't had many of their poems featured yet. I feel it was a hard week for the judges to decide and because so many were highlighted as a 10, the site had to break a tie. I would like to congratulate all the amazing poets and especially thank the judges for their dedication and insight! You all are awesome :)

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WINNERS:

"Bukahbun" by: Thelma 10 + 4 = 14 points
"Turgidity" by: Aegis 7 + 7 = 14 points
"Set Sail (Free Verse) by: IdTakeABulletForYou = 10 points

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COMMENTS:

"Bukahbun" by: Thelma

"I searched for the meaning of the title but I couldn't find anything. I am assuming it might be a name? Or a word in another language? However, despite having no clue of its meaning, I couldn't help but being captured by the poem. The ending sent shivers throughout my body. The sincerity and simplicity in which this poem is written takes a hold of the reader, and the words feel so true. While I am unsure if this poem is about a relationship that didn't work or if ... the lover has gone to a better life, I am feeling it as if the lover, whom the narrator speaks to, has passed away. It saddens me. While reading this, I couldn't help but feel like I, myself, had written this, yet I know that I did not. That's how much of an impact this piece had. Excellent." (10)

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"It takes a good writer to write naturally with this much honesty and heart about lost love without it seeming like a tiresome and clich�©d diary entry. The concept is nothing new - who hasn't mourned a relationship this way? But those details make it work, they make it stick. They showcase the sincerity in the poem, in the love it portrayed. Also, the writing just doesn't care what you think. I like that." (4)

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"Turgidity" by Aegis

"I like the title. It defines the poem. It's complex in style. I'm not sure what to say... Other than, this piece speaks between the lines. I think many writers end up feeling regret when writing, and create verbal ecosystems as well with hidden messages. This poem is relatable. That's why I like it so much. Thanks for sharing. It's well written." (7)

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"I voted for this poem basically because of this line:

and I find myself coughing up
ink and frosty
regret.

such a very powerful way to end this piece. I could taste bitter ink in my mouth. Vivid, deep, poetic and powerful.

It is a tiny elegant poem.

The connotation between the title and the metaphors in the poem is mindblowing.

The 2nd verse of your piece reflects something in my own style and that got me biased further to it. I think it's very original and very fresh.

Thanks for writing." (7)

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"Set Sail (Free Verse) by: IdTakeABulletForYou

"I have to admit to not being able to judge last week (one of the mods kindly stood in for me) and so I was unable to award this the points it deserved then as I believe this is the second week it's been on the nominations board.
I must also admit that I was somewhat flabbergasted that it didn't receive a single vote last week.

The raw emotion is sad but good to see. Couple that with some very powerful lines ('"for life is the most notorious killer of all'" being just one) and you have a winning formula.
There is often too little honesty in art, but this certainly doesn't suffer that affliction.
There is nothing so trite as a fairy tale ending - no treasure at rainbow's end - just brutal truth from a writer who bares his soul completely here." (10)

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HM'S:

"Beyond these walls they celebrate in the streets" by: Thomas = 10 points
"The Fall" by: Senyru = 10 points
"Flicker" by: Aegis = 10 points
"Stars and grappling hooks (Sonnet)" by: Kasie 4 + 4 = 8 points
"Cuticles At Rainbow's End" by: Ben Pickard = 7 points
"Peace within a stream" by: Kasie = 7 points
"Room of Past Selves, a Poem Left Behind" by: Larry Chamberlain = 7 points
"Forever Home" by: deeplydesturbed = 4 points
"Fragile" by: Lovely = 4 points

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COMMENTS:

"Beyond these walls they celebrate in the streets" by: Thomas

"Effective use of description, analogy, simile etc, but what was especially striking was the juxtaposition of the stillness and silence within the room against the noise and activity outside. I imagine a couple struggling with their relationship, listening to the New Year celebrations and hoping that it brings them fresh promise, although the emptiness rings loudest of all. Written with class." (10)

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"The Fall" by: Senyru

"Such a dark piece. The blend of words and their reference is so mind-blowing. It's like a mathematical piece of art.

I shall not claim that I have wandered through the mind of the writer, to each his own and we all receive poetry differently.

However, the power in this piece, is its ability to manipulate the reader's mind and embrace it with so-much images and phrases that provoke emotions and vague emotions.

I just love this poem." (10)

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"Flicker" by: Aegis

"There are moments that pass us by that merely go unnoticed. The moment captured in this poem is not one of them. What is in a look? Well, when it is 'fleeting' and of the 'smile' variety there is much to be read into such a look.

Julie walker said that, a smile is worth a thousand words' here we have 32 words, including the title that paint this seemingly enigmatic 'flicker'. The feminine smile with the 'eyes' is fuelled by a 'fiery' soul. The fact it is synchronised with a 'glimmer' behind the eyes, suggests a person who is lively, young and vibrant. But maybe more...

Yes, there is more in the concluding stanza. A 'twice as blue' the colour blue can be interpreted as sadness, but I think not. We already know there is an associated smile and glimmer and a fiery soul. So I think this 'blue' is of the erotic variety; a suggestion of excitement, more 'blinding' than the 'summer sun'. Yes, this 'blue is a hint of eroticism.

The imagery in this short poem is as amazing as the weighty suggestion within that smile. A thoroughly enjoyable write, that I have enjoyed commenting on." (10)

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"Stars and grappling hooks (Sonnet)" by: Kasie

"Every time I read this Sonnet, I feel like butterflies in my stomach. The ending couplet eloquently summarizes the content, and after finishing reading it, I'm left saying, " awww so sweet."
Well done writing this Sonnet." (4)

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"'A grappling hook is a device with multiple hooks (known as claws or flukes), attached to a rope; it is thrown, dropped, sunk, projected, or fastened directly by hand to where at least one hook may catch and hold' - Wikipedia.
Kasie could have just said hook, but the image of such hook as the grappling hook shows a confidence of securing what is important. In this case it is love/ attraction.

Like in Shakespeare's sonnet 18, where a lover's beauty is compared to a 'summer's day' here, Kasie compares her alluring shine of a lover to the mesmerising twinkle of heavenly stars.

Unlike the heavenly stars her lover's illuminations act like gravity, pulling her in, willingly; after all, there is no need to fight the grappling hook, it will always catch what it wants.

The ending couplet is meant to summarise the 3 quatrains and leave a satisfying conclusion to the poem. Here his love is like the starlit sky, where with it everything is bright.

This sonnet is well written, satisfying and well rounded. The layout with the space between lines makes for an easy read, which is welcomed as these forms can be cryptic and wordy at the best of times." (4)

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"Cuticles At Rainbow's End" by: Ben Pickard

"Did you know that our fingertips have a rich supply of nerves? Of course you did, it is with our fingers that we touch, that we feel. So, imagine now this area being almost teased with the pain of being burnt slowly. Ouch! 'Licking longingly' sounds like a welcomed pain. I like how the writer paints the moving flame, directing it to dance between the cuticles.

I like too, the format, layering the ingredients before us, the diner. We devour this dish and sit back looking over a table full of hard callouses and ash. Not only I enjoy the alliteration, but also the symbolism. Hard working hands from a person who knows a hard life will develop such ugly callouses.

The next stanza cements this image for me. An anvil An anvil is a block with a hard surface on which another object is struck' much like what a hardened heart may feel like after years of pain. It hardened, like the skin creating callouses to protect itself from future traumas.

The next stanza we see a rainbow. These colourful gifts of nature often symbolise promise and new beginnings in our human minds. Maybe because they often appear when the sun is shining through the rain?

The poem delivers a satisfying conclusion and image. That of one, of 'dried salty' tear stains on a face that has seen more than its fair share of dark life. And, despite all this they will persevere, toil and dig; keep working to reach that Holy Grail, that pot of gold at the rainbow's end.

When your core belief is that happiness comes through hard work and pain, then surely eventually this will pay out. I feel that happiness is like a butterfly. As hard as you try to catch one in your hands, it's near impossible! If however, you stand still, raise your arms out, happiness will rest upon a serene and calm soul." (7)

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"Peace within a stream" by: Kasie

"What is art if not for the simple pleasure of mankind? I often wonder why we create so much that is sombre and morose when surely that contradicts the very idea of entertainment...
Anyway, I know that it's a damn sight more complex than that and I admit to being a frequent perpetrator of misery myself BUT I couldn't help reading this charming little piece - all the while being transported into the very woods Kasie writes of - and pondering what it means to entertain. (Not that art's all about entertainment, I know) Nonsensical musings aside, and back to the point, this was a simple and effective little piece that...entertained me entirely." (7)

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"Room of Past Selves, a Poem Left Behind" by: Larry Chamberlain

"A very unique idea, a very intriguing poem. I was surprised at how much depth was delivered within the constraints of the rhyme scheme without the content seeming laboured. I also admired the use of quotes within some of the stanzas - I assumed they were from actual poems previously written by the author. Very cool.

I can relate very much with poems I've written that capture a certain thought that I deemed important at the time, compelled into freezing it forever, and then haunting me years later when I have evolved but the poem has not. Although I am now quite fond of my past poems, it can be embarrassing or frustrating or bewildering to revisit them, sometimes they make a mockery of what I once was, or thought I was. They stand and remain as various bitty parts of me, whether I like it or not.

I liked that the poem ended with recognition that it, too, was condemned to the same fate, turning the cycle around again." (7)

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"Forever Home" by: deeplydesturbed

"This reads as a frantic prose poem that achieves everything I would imagine the writer meant it to: it is dark and it is claustrophobic.
I have no qualms at all with the way it is written but - for some reason - I found myself stumbling on this line

"Forever a lost wandering ghoul"

I suppose it was the word 'ghoul' itself that I wasn't a fan of.
A suggestion:

"I realise I am forever stuck -
a lost and wandering wraith -"

The writer's choice, of course, and either way, I enjoyed this piece. Well done." (4)

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"Fragile" by: Lovely

"A simple poem, yes. A heartbreaking one, indeed. I cannot believe how simply you stated the way you are feeling and yet how heavy it seemed for me to receive it.

Weakness is so powerful. It can destroy us or craft inside us something very beautiful but very sad.

Hands are definitely meant for something much more than tears that inked this very beautiful and honest poem." (4)

Well done all winners and HMs
Thanks judges.

Here, here, Em!

Thank you, well done to everyone. Also, thank you judges for your comments.

Congrats folks!
Love it when new faces are on the front page.

Thanks, judges & Mary Ann.

Thanks for the comment. Very insightful and right on target as to my meaning.

Congratulations to all the front page winners and HM's. Thank you judges for your insiteful comnents and Mary Ann for moderating.

Congratulations to all the winners. ..and HM's wooohhhoo

And another wooohhhoo for the judges. ..

Congratulations Winners and congrats to all the HM's!

Thank you judges for your time and thank you for hosting MA :)

I wasn't even aware I got a HM, so thank you judge! Congrats to all those who picked up a win or a HM! Thank you MA for hosting & thank you judges for all of your hard work!

Some solid works this week

Thank you for my hm/comment and a congratulations from me to the winners and fellow hms.

Ben