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Poetry Challenge 3!
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Poetry Challenge 3!
Poetry Challenge 3!
Hola, poets! Two summers ago, Leeli made a thread called the Poetry Challenge. Last summer, she made a second Poetry Challenge. This summer, I've been wanting to write more poetry, but I haven't had the motivation or ideas to do it. And I was thinking how the Poetry Challenges were fun, and then I realized that we've done them two summers in a row and haven't done one yet this summer, so (with permission that I got from Leeli) I'm making a Poetry Challenge for this summer!
If you haven't done this before, you might be wondering what the Poetry Challenge is. I linked the two previous threads up above, but here's a refresh of the guidelines too:
We all write as much poetry as we can in one week. You should aim to write one poem a day, although you can do more if you want (and don't stress if you can't write a poem every day). There will be an Announcer for each round, who before each round will post a main theme and an optional prompt (or two) for the poets to write about and take inspiration from. The theme should be something broad, something you could write a lot about; the prompt(s) can be anything, really--another theme, a poetry technique, a quote, whatever you want that you think would make a good prompt. Then, the Announcer and everyone else writes as much as they can in the following week, and posts it on this thread.
At the end of the week, everyone votes for their favorite poem, and after a week where you can vote, the poet with the most votes on their poetry becomes the new Announcer and can pick the next theme and prompt(s).
Some important things to remember: No voting for yourself, you can join/drop out at any time (although it's best to wait until the beginning of a new round to join), please don't choose a theme just because it's one you'd like to write off of, be nice, and have fun!
The purpose of this is to grow our writing skills and give ourselves a challenge! Like Leeli said, "It's a bit of a game, a bit of a prompt, and a bit of a competition all in one."
The first person who posts and says they would like to be the first Announcer can post the theme and prompt(s) for the first round, and we'll start soon, once we have at least five people who've said they'll participate.
I'm excited to do this!
submitted by Leafy, age No, not a cat
(July 23, 2019 - 2:43 pm)
(July 23, 2019 - 2:43 pm)
The theme is. . . fabric! Take it as you will!
(July 29, 2019 - 12:23 pm)
Is there a prompt, too?
(July 29, 2019 - 7:30 pm)
Oh, sorry! Remind what the prompts are supposed to be like again?
(July 30, 2019 - 12:54 am)
”the prompt(s) can be anything, really--another theme, a poetry technique, a quote, whatever you want that you think would make a good prompt.”
(July 30, 2019 - 12:26 pm)
@Kitten, thanks! @September, sorry, when I said "a theme and an optional prompt" that wasn't worded very well, I meant the announcer should post a theme and a prompt or two and people can choose whether or not to use the prompts.
(July 30, 2019 - 8:14 pm)
Can I join? I know I'm a little late, but I'd love to write some poetry for the contest!
So, can we just post our poems as we write them?
(July 29, 2019 - 5:03 pm)
Theme: Fabric--
~~~~~
Tyrian shades of rich violet,
Pierced by cold sapphire;
Verdant streaks, gently parting
an imposing and vivid demask.
Woven intricacy, running
Patterns, screaming
against hard, leveled, solid beige.
Coarse centre, spiraling outwards
Ridges smoothed by age.
Soft, soothing silk and cambric;
Elegantly flaunted before
coarse cotton, colours bleeding;
and linen's scent tugging at quiet
nostalgia-filled, warmth laden days.
Fluttering in the faded wind, bleakness
Matching the sky, drenched, dark with water
Just like yesterday's static storm clouds.
(July 29, 2019 - 5:47 pm)
This is a poem for the theme “fabric.” It’s supposed to be based off of the style of other poems people have been writing, but I don’t know how it turned out. :) Critiques/advice are welcome.
—
look but not see
i. she sits and looks with her brown-green-blue-stare-all-day eyes into my face but not really at me and she says she’ll come but i don’t think she really cares
ii. he looks at her strangely (he doesn’t know this is who she is) and he looks at me like is she okay and i look back like why do you care and he shakes his head and walks away
iii. she’s still sitting there and looking but not seeing and I ask if she wants to go and she says sure and i ask if she wants ice cream and she says sure and i ask if she cares what flavor and she says nah
iiii. so i go and get ice cream and I almost drop it running into him and he looks at me like such a freak and i head away like I didn’t see him (but he knows i did) and he says to my back why do you hang out with a piece of fabric
all malleable
she can’t be any fun to be around
like he knows
(but he doesn’t.)
(right?)
(July 29, 2019 - 10:23 pm)
I really like that!
(August 1, 2019 - 8:37 am)
When a Heart Decays~ double haiku
i look at you and
i wonder if love can just
be fabricated
i would run to you
even if your love is fake-
mine is ever true
(The promts didn't show up yet, so this is just fabric.)
(July 30, 2019 - 9:43 am)
Here’s another fabric-themed poem, coming your way!
The Curtain
The curtain’s loosely woven,
the holes are gaping wide.
If you put your eye up to it,
you can see the snow outside.
You want to move that curtain.
You don’t care if you’ll be cold.
But your mom’s voice is in your head
And her voice is ready to scold.
My mom’s stupid, you think.
She’s very rarely right.
If she always had her way,
you’d eat veggies day and night!
So you reach up to that curtain
and you yank it to the side.
A snowy wind comes rushing in;
it’s freezing cold outside!
Shivering, you pull it shut
and sink down to the floor.
You’ll never open it again.
It’ll happen no more.
Minutes pass, and you get up.
You feel a strong unrest.
That curtain seems to call to you;
it puts you to the test.
Perhaps you’ll try it
just one more time...
You pull the curtain open
and feel the snowy cold.
You should have listened to your mom
and you wouldn’t be this bold.
You pull the curtain closed again
and promise then and there:
you’ll leave the curtain where it is
to keep out the winter air.
But yet again, you can’t resist.
You’ve tried and you’ve tried.
But you just want the open wind;
You want to be outside!
Perhaps you’ll try it
just one more time...
(July 30, 2019 - 10:05 pm)
1. Outfit of the day
2. Unconventional building materials
3. Sharp things and soft things
4. Missing threads
5. Frayed edges
(July 31, 2019 - 12:51 am)
I really don't know where I was going with this, but so far it's the only poem I've written. I guess it should probably be for Monday.
together, we are the world:
----
from the start we fused together, each person a thread,
a fiber--we work with each other and
we hold hands, and laugh, and spill our
coffee and make beautiful things and
we breathe, rise and fall,
up up and down, and
every day we tear and we rip
and we mend as well, we sew ourselves
back together, and we are a fabric of beating hearts,
inhaling and exhaling in unison: spanning the earth,
holding it together, together:
together, we are the world
(July 31, 2019 - 10:37 am)
Wow, everyone’s poems are amazing! Here’s one for the prompt ‘unconventional building materials.’ I didn’t realize until after writing it that it follows roughly the rhythm of Summer’s poem... so sorry about that!
—
Walls, Doors, and Other Objects of Love
He built a wall of silence
To keep away the words
We built a door of kindness
To give hugs all warm and furred
He built a lock of anger
To block out all the love
We made a key of hopefulness
To let in a peaceful dove
He threw his arms up tiredly
He marched away once more
We followed him inside the room
We closed and locked the door
”Please go,” he said. We didn’t.
We said, “We know that you are hurting.”
”Go away,” he said once more.
We looked closely. We shook our heads.
We piled all around him
In a great big loving hug
We gave him all our shoulders
Upon which he could cry
We wrapped him tight and held him
’Til he needed us no more
We had broken the wall of silence
And knocked down all the doors
(July 31, 2019 - 4:01 pm)
Theme: Fabric
Prompts: missing threads, frayed edges
9/31/19
gritty friction---
frayed edge, a loose thread, one of a
million---
it's easier, to sit here, playing with a
loose thread than to
come to terms---
fabric so intricate, yet frayed, something beautiful that has been
torn apart---
(i'm not bitter
what makes you think i'm bitter?)
looking and thinking about
tracking down the
missing threads, and
where they would lead---
(back to you, into your arms, the
place where i belong)
(July 31, 2019 - 4:29 pm)