Weekly Contest Winners - March 6th, 2017

Shh, pretend it's Monday ;) Mark here, sorry for the delay in posting! Clearly Britt leaving us sent into disarray :(

Congrats to Andrea, who dominated the front page with two wonderful oems "Broken Imagery" and "Endless Sunsets", and Aegis as well, with his poem "Wistful Wordplay". Congrats to all those who picked up a HM as well. Thank you judges for all your hard work! <3

Winners:

Broken Imagery Maple Tree (17: 10 + 7)
Wistful Wordplay by Aegis (17: 7 + 10)
Endless Sunsets by Maple Tree (17: 7 + 10)

HMs:
Blue Memory by Shruti (14: 10 + 4)
Breathless by Ren (10)
A house of wood and stone by yogi73 (7 pts)
The Sound Of Your Melody by nani (7 points)
A Day in the Life by Brenda (4)
Short and Sweet by Mr. Darcy (4)
Bottoms Rock by Micheal (4)
Here’s to the future by Saerlune (4)

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Broken Imagery Maple Tree
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The intro reminded me of mornings - and late nights with some people that I miss dearly, so that was an amazing thing to connect with. Maple Tree didn't let me down as she created the idea of shadows playing or dancing around in the foreground of the author's world. The next stanza shows some contrast to this by introducing an idea of hope, which is turning the author back into something fragile. Above all else, the contrast and interesting style of back and forth really captivated audiences across the board this week. (10 points)

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The poem opens with a strong image, and not just an image, not just the visual of the scent of coffee beans, but opens up the sense of smell as well. Many a person can relate to early morning, the scent of coffee wafting through the air - it starts the poem on a good note, especially considering imagery is right there in the title.
Weaving into the second stanza, the subject will not allow their past to determine today's outcome - they will be happy.
The poem is draped in a longing and, in that, sadness - the shawl no longer provides warmth, the subject's wings are broken - but despite all of this, there seems to be hope. There is strength; an almost 'you can break me down, but I'll still find a way to fly' mentality. Stupendous work! (7 point)

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Wistful Wordplay by Aegis
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The introduction sounds like something I would totally say to myself or even say in a comment, so that was cute and playful. It really got me interested in this piece and what else Aegis was going to say to us. "I lost my voice," is where this piece took a turn of sorrow. It was a beautiful, delicate sort of sorrow, that was completely stunning. So many of us have our own takes to this, and that's probably what I love the most about it. (7 points)

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A cleverly worded poem that drew me in and captivated me from start to finish. I’m not normally a fan of using gaps and spacing to add emphasis but in this case I felt it was appropriate and complimented the poem. Short but chocked full of meaning, well done. (10 points)

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'Endless Sunsets' by Maple Tree
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This poem was magical to read, every line telling a story in itself, mystical and mysterious as the poem itself says. A short poem but one that was a real pleasure to read, with great imagery spilling out from every word. A very enjoyable read! (7 points)

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Even those who befriend darkness would go mad without the light. There are many things that we could adapt with, except for void and lonesome.

This poem is very beautiful, sad, and touching.

There was a sense of praise to the night in the lead verses, however the closing line was really touching and gave me goosebumps. It kind of twisted the scene in one way or another.

A very beautiful poem for me. Well penned. (10 points)

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Blue Memory by Shruti
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This piece starts with such lightness, a simple request for a ‘share’ of a vibrant shade of blue paint, which quickly shifts emotionally to confusion, a feeling of perhaps betrayal in that the share the writer receives is a dark blue.
In this image, the poet manages to encapsulate the simplicities of relationships - both of love and of friendship - in how asking for something so minor, you may find that your lover or your friend, who once could be entrusted with such inquiries, is no longer able or willing to fulfill even your smallest wishes.
The poet does a masterful job wrapping up this piece by providing a ‘promise’ with physical characteristics - the promise can be felt, heard as it impacts the ground. In line with the coldness of dark blue paint, the promise is thrown upon ‘winter’ ground.
Excellent piece, well-written, and truly original in its description of an all-too-ordinary scenario! (10 points)

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I like the play on words. A sad memory which obviously left its mark in the writer's heart.

The first part was deep, the second was direct and authentic.

Sometimes those broken promises are the things we end up carrying bitterly in our hearts for a long time.

Simple and honest. Blue but colourful poem. (4 points)

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Breathless by Ren
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I liked this poem a lot, a story about a woman who is struggling against the bad things that life is throwing at her. The poem was beautifully written and has great imagery that is evident in every line. This truly was a masterpiece of the written word. Loved it! (10 points)

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A house of wood and stone by yogi73
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I am not sure if the lower case dominating the poem is intended or disregarded. Both cases, the poem is unique and the flow helped overseeing other minor details.

This piece can be seen from different corners. Has scenes all over the place, cozy but eerie, old but scary. (7 points)

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The Sound Of Your Melody by nani
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Rhyme and meter worked really well in this poem. So often I find myself tripped up by the meter or the rhyme is off key, that wasn’t the case with this, it had me bouncing along, not an easy task with lines this long. It flowed well, adding to the message you are conveying. It could almost be a rap song maybe ? Well done. (7 points)

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'A Day in the life' by Brenda
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I smiled all the way through reading this poem, every line made me chuckle! It perfectly put into words the nonsensical '9 to 5' struggle that we all have to go through so as to put 'bread on the table.'
Clever rhyming throughout, describing exactly the trials and tribulations of our working day. I enjoyed reading this! (4 points)

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Short and Sweet by Mr. Darcy
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The title seemed to be very telling of the author's personality, though I was relieved to see that it was not deceiving. I get the feeling other site members were also amused by this after getting to the piece. Stylistically this write seemed bare, but still managed to make simplicity something stunning. Though the ending felt like an odd rehashing of a common term it worked extremely well here. Butterflies have a lot of variety in symbolism, and this piece did not disappoint - it allowed for many of those meanings to fit within the work, which is a valuable skill for poets to have. (4 points)

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'Bottoms Rock' by Michael
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There's a near seamlessness to this poem's flow - a hitch here or there in its smoothness - but overall, it's quick and fluid in its reading. Along with the flow of the poem, the rhyming is well thought out, rarely, if at all, feeling forced or extraneous.
The diction of the poem is compelling in its quality and its imaginativeness, painting an interesting portrait of finding 'rock bottom' and yearning to escape, to find new hope and relief. This is a very strong poem and was a delight to read. (4 points)

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Here’s to the future by Saerelune
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A whimsical poem that everybody can relate to at some time in their lives for those that have ever had to write a CV. An astutely written poem with some great lines. “till my head grows bigger than its fancy hats” was one that took my fancy, excuse the pun. You were able to convey your message succinctly in three concise stanzas, capped off by a great two line ending. Some may find the replicated CV distracting but for me it added to the emphasis and stigma that surrounds having to write the confounding things. Good poem! (4 points)

Congratulations to Aegis! And all the HMS.... Beautiful poetry folks!

Thank you, thank you to the judges for your lovely comments, can't thank you enough...

Thank you Mark and I'm honored this week, a wonderful surprise.

Congratulations to all who won and got awards this week and a big welcome and thank you to the new set of judges.

Ben

Congratulations to all the front page winners and HM's! Thank you for the comments on mine, I appreciate it greatly. Thank you Mark for hosting and our new set of judges, well done!

Thank you so much for those so beautiful comments. :)
Many congrats to the winners! and fellow HMs!
Well...Monday feels like a Wednesday....:)

Congratulations to all. It was my turn to host and I dropped the ball... again. I'm all over the place, sorry everyone. Thank you so much for covering for me, Mark.

Well done to the Competition winners, and also all poem entrants. A very high standard by all!

Congratulations all and welcome new judges, exceptional poetry this week as always

Thanks for posting, Mark
Thanks also to the new judging crew
Congrats Aegis & Awesome Andrea!

Thank you so much to Mark and the amazing judges!
Congratulations to all the winners and HMs! :)

Congratulations to all! Wonderful work. A big thank you to Mark and all the judges :)

Congratulations Andrea and Aegis...great work!
Thank you Mark for hosting and thank you to all the
new judges :)

Congrats to the winners and hms! Awesome poems this week. ^^

Thank you so much for HM for my poem. I've only just found this area of posts and comments. Doh!

Michael