I'm just going to repost my poem in hopes to avoid further confusion. Sorry @admins, and thank you.

Seven billion

Seven billion people in the world

Seven billion chances to be loved

Yet, I never have

I was born in darkness

In darkness I lived

-I strived

I was taught to fear darkness

-To submit to it

Let it engulf me

But they never told me what was in the light

-A tiny speck in the distance

Impossible to reach

I lived in fear

-In hopelessness

In isolation from the world

Alone

Until I met you

You showed me the light

That I never knew existed

That I thought I could never reach

You gave me a reason to live

-A reason to survive

To chase away the darkness

-Abandon it

Fear it no longer

And discover what was in the light

-To cherish it

To live in the moment

You were everything to me

You were my light

You chased away my darkness

You taught me to laugh

-To love

To seek the light

Forgetting about the darkness

leaving my past behind

I saw nothing but you

And you lit up the world

Then one day, that light went out

You were gone

You left me

-Alone

and moved on

Leaving me to the mercy of the darkness

That I thought I had forgotten

But now

I fear it again

And no longer remember what it’s like

In the light

Darkness devours me

It consumes my thoughts

-My soul

And I let it

That tiny speck of light

Off in the distance

Is gone

Everything is dark

Seven billion people in the world

Why can't I find the one? 

~Emotions~ 

Deep in the depths of her

murky mind

are where they hide. 

Surpressed,

and squeezed,

untill they cant breath.

Untill they burst, 

in great spurts,

of voices and visons,

no one can see.

She smiles,

and nodds,

covering the fact that

her mind is blacked by

years of---

Surpressed.

And squeezed.

In the murkeys depths

of her mind.

Are where her emotions hide. 

I didn't see a deadline, so here's what I wrote (I didn't even know I would be entering this round, but then I felt compelled to write a poem). It's about how nature can generate a sense of peace and tranquility, and how people's emotions can sometimes be balanced out by that.

peace/turmoil

i. "i find solace

in the thick green-ness

of a tree

the calm that it generates

when you lean against its trunk

in the warm sun

and look up into the leaves

and know that it has been here so long

standing here and always growing upwards

toward the sky"

ii. "i love the water

how you can lean down

and spread your fingers over the surface

of a lake or the sea

and dip your finger into the

bubbling water of a stream

the wind blows gentle ripples 

over the ocean and i could stand

between the grey sky and grey water

soaking in the immensity 

of it all

for long enough to become

untroubled"

iii. "when i look at a person

i find turmoil inside

a mass of stress and fear turned to molten lava

or else just a blank wall of white and grey

and i have understood

and hurt for them

but

i wonder if

they have ever thought to take a moment

to stand alone beside a tree

and tried to let go of their emotions

for a moment"

Sorry! I forgot to write the deadline! Two weeks seems to be good, so the 28th!

Is this open to anyone?  If not, disregard this!

Strong Feelings

I'm a different person when I'm crying,

My thoughts are not my own

The change can be quite horrifying

Facing this "second me"

alone

It's like the tears, they wash away

The thoughts I have when smiling

It feels like my brain, to my dismay

Is gone, no hope of

reconciling

I feel so tense, so full of self-hate

All joy sinks far underneath

All hope seems hopelessly lost to fate

I can't think, can't see

can't breath

I sit and sob and listen

To my fragile heartbeat remind me I'm weak

My eyelids feel heavy, all of a sudden

I let the changes

wash away again

with sleep

This one was really hard to judge! Everyone did such a great job, and there were a lot of entries to sort through. But I think I’ve come up with the top 4.

Honorable Mention: Soren Infinity! These lines in the last stanza really got me. So many people with their own stories/Have stood upon, their shouts die, and they become/History to be long forgotten, and you can see

You also used really good metaphors.  

The anger, drawing its ragged breath/In sharp bursts, eyebrows knit/White knuckled, tight fists banging on/The walls it cannot escape from/Its furious scream shooting knives through your blood.

It was beautiful, but the rhythm seemed off, and the first few stanzas were a lot worse than the other ones. I know it’s free verse, but it was just close enough to a more rhythmic poem to be in the ‘bad rhythm’ area. I’d suggest making the line lengths more irregular or more similar.

Third Place: Leafpool! I love the poems that use lowercase Roman numerals for stanzas, it just gives the whole thing a really wistful, beautiful vibe. The theme of nature and serenity was also a good choice, and fit with the style. 

the wind blows gentle ripples /over the ocean and i could stand/between the grey sky and grey water

There was nothing I’d really change about your poem, it’s just there were a really big amount of poems and I couldn’t put them all in first place! 

Second Place:  aFountainPen! The theme here was wonderful, and something I think we can all relate to. The repeating line ‘I don’t want’ tied everything together and really made the poem. Part of the reason this isn’t first place is because you didn’t keep the line at the end. If you made it the last line, that would make the end feel more, I don’t know, ending-ish.  A great poem, though, and good to read.

I don't want to practice so much/My voice hurts too much to sing

***

Okay. (Ahem) NOW, THE MOMENT YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR...

DRUMROLL, PLEASE... 

First Place: Applejaguar!!!!

I chose this poem for personal reasons. Applejaguar was talking about things that I can connect with, things that come from having friends and going to middle school and hanging out at the park making stupid jokes and being a kid-almost-teenager in a place I’d never move from for the world.

The form was also good, and it fit the mood. The ending stanza was my favorite:  

when you look around at the world and suddenly it's different. you don't know how exactly but it is and the bricks are sharper and the flowers pop out and you feel like you could go home and write a poem and then you do.  

Too loudly

People’s cars honking too loudly

People’s mouths chewing too loudly

People’s dogs barking too loudly

People’s clocks ticking too loudly

People being too loudly

People’s drills drilling too loudly

People’s drawers opening too loudly

People’s doors slamming too loudly

People’s food sizzling too loudly

People being too loudly

People’s things falling to the floor too loudly

People’s chairs squeaking too loudly

People’s machines whirring and clanking too loudly

People’s feet striking the road too loudly

People being too loudly

People’s music playing too loudly

People’s pencils scribbling on paper too loudly

People’s children wailing too loudly

People’s birds singing too loudly

People being too loudly

People’s cars whooshing by too loudly

People’s markers squeaking too loudly

People’s voices shouting too loudly

People’s fingers clacking on computer keys too loudly

People being too loudly