Weekly Contest Results - May 1st, 2017

Mark here. Without further ado, here's the contest results! Congrats to all the winners & those who picked up a HM. Thank you judges for all your hard work. <3

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Winners
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Fade in fade out By ether 20: 10 points + 10 points
X I I by tobias kinti 15: 4 points + 4 points + 7 pts
24 April by Ezrah Jayne 15: 7 points + 4 points + 4

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HMs:
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Black Tulips by Pagan Paul 10 points
Will you stir if I write you a Sonnet? by Ben Pickard - 10 points
The world will not wait by Aries Rising (10 points)
just another anxious note by Britt 7 points
Wiccan Woman By Pagan Paul 7 points
Wine that's full of dregs by Ben Pickard - 7 points
Mirror Mirror By Scott Cole 4 points

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Comments
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Fade in fade out By ether 10 points
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A powerful poem of two parts. The first two stanza’s are quite bare and gritty and in your face, whereas the last softer and more personal, this adds immensely to the flavour of the piece. We have certainly transformed this planet to one of chaos, is there a glimmer of hope within your last stanza? I would like to think so… maybe not…Great title, a really thought provoking read.

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“we are the same construct;
our flaws create diversity”

What a thoughtful pair of lines! We are all human, all the same flesh and blood, and it is our inadequacies, our lacking that separates us into single persons. As is said, “we are one as many”.

This piece really draws you into understanding how limited our time here on earth is as a singular people, as a population, and in our current treatment of one another and the earth as a whole, we may be the finality of all creation. “…the next mass extinction”.

A really powerful poem that makes you think a bit more about not only yourself and others, but about our impact on one another and the greater sphere.

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X I I by tobias kinti 4 points
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For being called a fleeting thought from a hang over, this piece was extremely powerful and well penned. The flow and elegance balanced out the painful nature of this piece. And normally I am not a fan of the lacking punctuation or capitalizations, but it worked in this piece, this choice allowed the piece more fluidity and voice. Absolutely captivating write. (4 pts)

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I'm so glad you typed up this poem Tobias. A powerful and sad piece with beautiful words throughout. Let's hope that the bombs never go off. Well done! (4 pts)

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As the note states at the bottom of the poem, the author stated all of this prior to writing it down; the first stanza quite well represents a clear stream-of-consciousness thinking - the string of conjunctive statements with their line-opening “and”s parlaying into a strong opening.

“when
at long last
the bombs go off
and the horsemen
finally arrive…”

This elongated stanza of brief declarations reads so quickly, we no sooner have begun the poem and been inundated with images - — and suddenly we are at the beginning of the second stanza. The flow is so easily punched through, the pace dizzying, and so then we are presented with the narrator’s mortality - when all of this happens, perhaps I will not be here. Perhaps, not physically.

And yet, the poem ends with a reminder that - though the narrator may be gone, they may still be there in one way or another, watching. It ends almost in a protective way. Well done! (7 pts)

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24 April by Ezrah Jayne
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The movement in this piece was wonderfully portrayed. It felt as though I read this in the time it took me to take a deep breath and I felt both lighter and heavier for having done so. The comparisons of this person's love of whatever kind to a cigarette were incredible because even though comparing love or lovers to anything you are dependent on is becoming overdone, it still had personality and a uniqueness to it that allowed for this piece to stick with me even after I had read it and the other pieces nominated this week. (7 pts)

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Following the opening “Inhale-“, we are immediately met with a heavy sense of longing. The scent of chapsticks lingering, memories of a person now gone. Like the addictiveness of nicotine, the love of a former flame is not forgotten, but stays with the narrator.

“held between frigid
fingertips.”

This couplet can be read in two ways - literal coldness, the narrator is physically cold, a cigarette between two fingers. Or the narrator, without this love, has grown cold, feels a numbing coldness, emotional. It holds a nice double meaning.

The narrator’s sadness rings true through the words of the poem. An excellent write! (4 pts)

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Very deep, very sharp and vivid.
Sadly put, but nicely combined. There is an inner flow to the words in all making it very likable.

I thought the title was a smart choice, whether it resembles the day you want to remember or the day you want to forget, it works both ways, if any.

Amazing job. (4 pts)

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Black Tulips by Pagan Paul
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Firstly the title of this captivated me and before even reading the piece I played around with ideas of what it might be about or why the author chose such an odd description for these tulips (or what the symbolism might be hinting at). This was incredibly fun for me. Then as I actually read this piece, all of the imagery amazed me. I was excited for each new line and got so carried away in that, that I reread the piece countless times. Once I reached the end of the piece (while actually following what it was the author intended to say instead of just the beauty of it all) the title clicked. It was perfectly penned and even though there were tons of images and descriptions there was still a flow and a story to it. (10 pts)

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Will you stir if I write you a Sonnet? by Ben Pickard
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What a wonderful loving piece this is Ben! It is truly a Masterpiece. Words fail me, this piece is just so very beautiful. Well done! (10 pts)

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The world will not wait by Aries Rising
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Others could say that this wasn't the strongest nominated piece, from a poetic point of view.

However the message behind this poem and the honesty behind it, got me biased towards how realistic it is, and close an eye on metaphors and imagery phrases.
I really love this piece, I love how motivating it can be, and how awakening its tone is. Amazing poem, can't get any more accurate. The world never waits.

Thanks for sharing. (10 pts)

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just another anxious note by Britt
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Very emotional. The last few words gave me goosebumps.

Sometime those notes to self are more effective and more touching than those we share with others directly.

This was sad and sensual. The description touched my heart.

Those moments when someone pretends to be there, are the hardest to digest.

Beautiful. (7 pts)

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Wiccan Woman By Pagan Paul
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A well written descriptive poem. Excellent imagery to bring to life a time long past when we were connected to the earth in a much more intricate way than we are now. Sad that most have lost that connection. Maybe we will end up back there one day though I doubt it. Great read thanks for the jolt ! (7 points)

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Wine that's full of dregs by Ben Pickard
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Another beautiful piece by our Ben, and one that truly pulls at the Heartstrings. A well deserved place in this competition. (7 pts)

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Mirror Mirror By Scott Cole
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A simple format executed very well with excellent rhyme and meter. Staring into a mirror is something we all do pretty much every day, are any of us really 100% happy with what we see. Aging and beauty and how others will perceive us are things not far from our minds as we grow older. Questions you have addressed in a simple yet thought provoking way! (4 points)

Congrats to all the winners and HMs this week! Y'all wrote some amazing poems!!

Great week, there are definitely some amazing pieces this week and fantastic comments from the judges!

Well done, all and thanks to the judges.

Congrats to the other winners and hms. Thank you judges for the comments on my poem. And thank you to whoever nominated my poem for the week- Sadly, life has been crazy busy lately and I haven't been on here much (so I didn't see who it was). But it was a pleasant surprise this morning to see that my poem was chosen. So thank you. (:

Thank you for the HM, judge :) I appreciate the kind comment.

Thanks everyone else and congrats to all <3

Morning all.

Firstly well done to all for your wins and HM'S. Well deserved all round.

Secondly thank you for my HM and comments on this piece. Very surprised it made it up there to which end thank you to Ben for nominating it in the first instance.

Regards

Craig

Congratulations to all the Winners and HM's!!

Thank you judges for your time and effort and thank you Mark for hosting!

congrats to all the winners :D

Very unexpected to see me on the front page considering the high calibre of work seen this week/last week. Thank you for the lovely feedback.

Well done, all.

Well done to everyone. Great poems here!

Thankyou to all who judged, nominated and took part.
Special thanks to the judge who reviewed Black Tulips, an interesting synopsis :)
PPx

Thanks, Mark. For the rest of you, Mark picked up an extra week that had not been covered.
Thanks judges & good selections for the front page and HMs.
Congrats to the poets so recognized.