Weekly Contest Results September 18

Hello Everyone!
Without any delay thank you judges for all your time and effort.
Congratulations to the front page Winners: mossgirl19, MiriDeshmukh and
Lvi and to all those who received a HM! Well done everyone.

WINNERS:

The Mirror of the Witch by mossgirl19 = 7+10

Trauma by Lvi = 7+7

Grave of a Stillborn Soul by Mihir Deshmukh = 10+10+4+ 4

||COMMENTS||:

Grave of a Stillborn Soul by Mihir Deshmukh-

To be perfectly honest, I was a little distracted and put off at first by your use
of punctuation. I personally do not find it necessary to have commas in every
line if there is already a natural break for the reader. BUT, that is just my personal
preference. I was pleasantly surprised with the depth of this piece and the story
you wove. There was such a darkness that just haunts me, as others have commented
as well. The power, vengeance and curse in this poem: “I live on, on my crashed lungs”.
Such a vocal piece, and love your imagery here. Very haunting. This woman and this
piece is memorable (4 points)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grave of a Stillborn Soul

This was a splendid, haunting write, with excellent imagery and well
managed rhymes. Very powerful. I am in awe. (10 points)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grave of a Stillborn Soul by Mihir Deshmukh

Mihir captivated me with this piece and only on the third read did I
realize that this was in fact a rhyming piece because of how well it was
done and how smooth it was to read. Usually I find a 'favorite' part
which captures me more than any other part to a piece but with this one
I didn't because it was just fantastically haunting and the imagery was
just wow alongside the rhyming when I actually realized it was a
rhyming piece. (10 points)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grave of a Stillborn Soul -

This poem shook me right down to my core. The title grabbed my attention and
my heart and my teeth sunk into the grit and emotion of this poem. This is
obviously a very near and dear piece of poetry and if it's reality I am so incredibly
sorry. My heart aches reading this poem, knowing the depth that this pain can create.
Well done conveying just a sliver of the emotion stuck into your back. <3 (4 points)

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The Mirror of the Witch by Mossgirl19,

When reading this poem I first thought of a young girl sat in her
room doing things that may possibly be forbidden.

Then the story weaves a little and I thought of a stolen and unexpected
kiss and ultimately of desire.

I think when we make ourselves look nice (especially if it's something
we don't do often) and we look in the mirror, we all give a little
smile.

Perhaps we all have a witch mirror.

Thoroughly captivating (7 points)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Mirror of the Witch by mossgirl19

I love the way you wrote this piece, the dark undertone and how it alluded to
the theme of a temptress. I felt the humanity in it as well, how this woman “sensibly”
keeps the bright red lipstick hidden away, as if to keep herself grounded and without
sight of temptation. There’s the question of vanity and how deeply that reflection can
deceive. Such a unique and intriguing piece! I was drawn in with the “scenes” of the
poem. First, with her braid, but feeling it was too twisted, tangled. And then the safe
bun that seems plain, professional and predictable. The use of venerated to describe
the more lively version of her, this fiery girl in the mirror, set the tone... especially when
compared with how she views herself as dull and how the man notices she is
unresponsive to his kisses. Would be interested in more perspective from this
“enchantress”, but I love the character development that you started on in this
piece. (10 points)
-------------------------------------------

Trauma by Lvi

I don’t know if “commend” is the right word, but I commend you for writing
this piece. I got shivers first reading it, then reading your response brought
further emotional depth to what this piece relates to, to the sexual exploitation
of children and the types of trauma that we can’t even begin to process but exists.
There’s such an innocence that makes my heart scream and my fists clench. Having
that simple desire, that simple dream of warmth and hope and summer… having
that completely betrayed and abused…. It just puts into reality the truth of trauma,
that it cannot be invalidated.

When I first read the line of “They say: it’s all in the mind.” I related in a
personal sense because of certain moments of my past that tend to be triggering in
regards to verbal abuse. It reminds me of the people who just say to “move on”, that
we shouldn’t dwell on the negative. It’s not that easy however. There are so many
levels of trauma and what frustrates me the most is when people think they can
compare and decide your process of healing from it.

There was a glimmer of hope in this, then that numb reality of the presence
of traffickers, that this issue is more prevalent than we may believe.

My only critique is that the stanza near the end of the poem should read
“endure the screams” and not “endured the screams”.

Powerful, hard piece to read. Thank you for writing this.
There needs to be more awareness. (7 points)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trauma -

The use of winter of her limitations and the hope for a yellow summer - these
two intermingled was just beautiful. This poem is beautiful and haunting. The
thought of it being all in your mind and yet you know it isn't, it makes you feel
absolute insanity, and this was drawn out so well. Very beautiful. (7 points)

HM’s:

Black Diary by Ben Pickard = 10

Saturation in f minor by pmmurphy = 10

By The Sea by Elittos Ocinemod = 7

Moments of a Spring Garden by Mark = 7

A jump to the other side by marvelous efe = 4

Hi! I'm Hermit the Crab! By Crafty Ken = 4

Deterioration by Frank = 4

||COMMENTS||:

By The Sea by Elittos Ocinemod

This piece had a somewhat calming feel to it that made me feel like
I was on a beach dipping my toes in to the ocean or paddling along in
there with the sun on my face and all my worries being washed
away. I do feel the ocean is a really strong metaphor for something that
is beautiful and soul warning yet soul destroying all the same. To be
one with the ocean and let it cleanse all the bad away would be
fantastic. (7 points)
-------------------------------------------

Saturation in f minor by pmmurphy

This poem took my breath away, literally. There is grit and grace and the
emotion is beautifully overwhelming. The #3 point/area was absolutely gorgeous
writing. I appreciate this poet so much, the vulnerability, the emotion that's
poured out. Truly a stellar write. (10 points)
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A Jump to the Other Side by marvel

This piece was a real eye opener, I say this because I remember (like
many others) watching the scenes of 9/11 unfold on TV and it felt
like something from a film not real life and to put yourself in those
people's shows that died because they tried jumping to safety
probably knowing they'd die anyway is something of a wonderful sad
tribute to all those lives that have been lost not just America but all over
the world because of terrorism. We stand together against terror.
(4 points)
-----------------------------------------

Black Diary by Ben Pickard

Many of us have been fortunate enough to read Ben's previous works
and in doing so we feel we know what to expect, One of the things we
expect is quality and he delivers yet again.

What I did not expect was this poem and this method of writing. It
rather caught me off guard and wonderfully so.

I never read poems in order of their nomination (I think it would
be impossible to try) so I scan tittles and come back to the rest when
time allows. Black Diary was a total eye catcher that ensnared me as
did the poem itself. Even though I had an inclining about two thirds
of the way through as to what the ending would be I still found this to
be thoroughly enjoyable.

This was a clear winner for me (10 points)

___________________________________________

Hi! I'm Hermit The Crab! by Crafty Ken

I found this to a clever and fantastically amusing piece by Ken that
kept me smiling from start to finish.

I loved the form and flow and the cleverly dropped little
rhymes. One thing I did think was if your dear lady reads this you
could be in for a bit of a nip.

Quite wonderful (4 points)
-----------------------------------------------------

Deterioration by Frank

This could be about physical deterioration of the body but I interpreted
it to be a bittersweet monologue of a wounded soul. I imagine someone
trying to convince himself that dying is as beautiful as living, indicative
that the speaker here has found no purpose for his existence. Wonderful
language and tone, it was a gripping, thought-provoking write. Some lines
really stood out, such as:

‘There was a sense of pleasure and satisfaction in decaying. ‘
‘Repaying was more luscious than the receiving.’
‘I was being absorbed by everything while I was turning to nothing.’
(4 points.)
------------------------------------------------

Moments of a Spring Garden by Mark

‘Adjure, adjure’ opened the poem very well, creating a playful and heavenly
atmosphere. It was adequately descriptive, written with beautiful language. The
imagery unfolds stanza after stanza before my eyes. The trip to the garden
was amazing! (7 points.)

Congratulations to the winners and HM's.

Thanks to those who nominated such beautiful poems.

Thanks to Brenda and Mel for nominating my poems.

Salute to moderators and judges for always keeping things right in this site.

Thank you.

Congratulations to all, and thankyou to the judges for their time and effort

Blown away by the judges' comments. Congratulations to Mihir and Lvi too. Congrats to our HMs as well. Thank you to Dagmar for the nomination.

As always, judges and mods, we commend you. What a fantastic week.

With such stellar writes all around I am honored to have won.

Thanks to the judges and the mods and a big thanks to Jamie for the nomination.
A heartfelt thanks to the judge for picking my error and for the amazing comments.

Congrats to the HM's , Mel , Mihir and all those nominated.

Thank you very much to the judge who commented on my poem and congratulations to all the winners and other hms.
*Is it just me or is Lvi a comment down or two? From this page, it strikes me that she has one comment and 7 points.

Yep...definitely something's wrong with the scores right now...Ben's poem has a score of 10 and Lvi's only showing a 7...something's clearly not right here???

Morning from the bottom of Ben Nevis on a beautiful sunny day.

Congratulations to all winners and honorable mentions, Stella work as always peeps.

Once again massive respect to all working behind the scenes.

Craig

I noticed that too, Ben. Maybe there is a missing comment here for Lvi and also for pmmurphy, I did not see a comment for his HM.

Thanks guys

Congratulations to all the front page winners and HM's! Such beautiful writing from everyone. A lot of emotional writes so I am sure difficult choices for the judges. Thank you Meena for hosting and as always the judges for their hard work.

I was a judge that just stepped down - I voted but haven't sent in my comments yet because life got hectic all at once. I'll send them in hopefully today.

Congrats guys.

Here are the breakdown of the points:

The Mirror of the Witch by Mossgirl19 = 7+10

Trauma by Lvi = 7+7

Grave of a Stillborn Soul = 10+10+4+ 4

Saturation in f minor = 10

Black Diary by Ben Pickard =10

By The Sea by Elittos Ocinemod = 7

Moments of a Spring Garden by Mark = 7

A Jump to the Other Side by marvellous efe = 4

Hi! I'm Hermit The Crab! by Crafty Ken = 4

Deterioration by Frank = 4

Will post the remaining comments as soon as we receive it from the judge..

EDIT: Remaining Comments:

Saturation in f minor

This poem took my breath away, literally. There is grit and grace and the
emotion is beautifully overwhelming. The #3 point/area was absolutely gorgeous
writing. I appreciate this poet so much, the vulnerability, the emotion that's
poured out. Truly a stellar write. (10 points)
-----------------------------------------------------

Trauma -

The use of winter of her limitations and the hope for a yellow summer - these
two intermingled was just beautiful. This poem is beautiful and haunting. The
thought of it being all in your mind and yet you know it isn't, it makes you feel
absolute insanity, and this was drawn out so well. Very beautiful. (7 points)
---------------------------------------------

Grave of a Stillborn Soul -

This poem shook me right down to my core. The title grabbed my attention and
my heart and my teeth sunk into the grit and emotion of this poem. This is
obviously a very near and dear piece of poetry and if it's reality I am so incredibly
sorry. My heart aches reading this poem, knowing the depth that this pain can create.
Well done conveying just a sliver of the emotion stuck into your back. <3 (4 points)

Each week I am more and more glad that I found this site, I love this contest and all the wonderful, diverse pieces that get showcased.

Congrats everyone!

Congratulations everyone on the wins and HMs and to all the judges who take the time to judge and to Meena for pulling everything together this week. Milly x

Thanks Meena for hosting
Thanks judges for making this competition ongoing

Congratulations to all who got nominated
Congratulations to those front page winners
Congratulations to all the HMs
And more so
Congratulations to those who always participate

Em, you bring up an excellent point. Some of us (me, for example) don't participate enough. Those of you who do participate regularly by submitting poetry, reading, commenting, and nominating... you keep this site afloat, so thank you!

Congratulations to all the well deserved winners and HM recipients
This is such a great site and I'm loving the community and commend everyone that voluntarily gives their time to keep it so :-)
Kitty =^.^=