Poetry Challenge 3!

Chatterbox: Pudding's Place

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)

Oof.

They're all great; it was hard.

I finally decided to vote for "together, we are the world" by Leafy.

submitted by Summer, age pi, Nowhere at all
(August 5, 2019 - 6:43 pm)

I liked so many of them, but I'm voting for Walls, Doors, and Other Objects of Love by Kitten.

(Also, I realised that the four of us all voted for each other- I voted for Kitten, Kitten voted for Summer, Summer voted for Leafy, Leafy voted for me (and thanks Leafy!). Weird, right?) 

submitted by Luna-Starr, age 27 eons, Existential Ponderment
(August 6, 2019 - 8:57 am)

Oh boy! Someone's going to have to break the tie. @Peoples, even if you didn't end up participating in this round, you can still vote, or if you want to join for the next round you can vote on this one.

submitted by Leafy, age No, not a cat
(August 6, 2019 - 4:24 pm)

Wow, thanks!

Yeah, that is weird! There’s one more person who submitted a poem (Jaybells) and I think September could vote too, so hopefully the vote will end not on a tie. :)

submitted by Kitten, Pondering
(August 6, 2019 - 4:24 pm)

I’m voting for ‘sharp and soft’ by Leafy, even though I didn’t participate this round. I think I’m going to try and write at least a bit next round, though. 

submitted by Leeli
(August 6, 2019 - 5:30 pm)

Okay! It's Saturday, so I'm tallying up the votes and...I guess I won? Thanks, friends! 

Since I'm here, I'll just post the next theme and prompts right now.

---

Theme: Yourself! I thought this would be a really cool theme to do. You can use this next round to explore yourself in your poems, describe yourself, find yourself! 

Prompt 1: Take a line from a book and use it as a title, a theme, inspiration, or a jumping-off point for your poem.

Prompt 2: Air

-

Also, a note about the prompts: I was always a little bit confused about how to use them. I used to think that I could either write a poem centered on the main theme, or I could write a poem on the subject of one of the prompts; I think some people combine the theme and prompts together, the theme as what their poem should be mostly about and the prompts to help them write that. But I usually take it as: you write most of your poems about the main theme, but if you're not having good luck with that, you can write a poem that just focuses on what one of the prompts is about.

So we'll start on Monday! 

submitted by Leafy, age No, not a cat
(August 10, 2019 - 9:35 am)

TOP! 

submitted by LeafyTOP!, age Top! Top!, The TOP of the forest
(August 11, 2019 - 2:58 pm)

Glasses

The glasses are round. A nice soft sort of gray. Have blingy bits on the edges. Like to slide down my nose when I look down.

The glasses are oval-ish, slightly... cat-eyed? Look good with most of my clothes. Can stand their own in a contest of uniqueness. 

The glasses are sophisticated. Mature. Change the way my face appears in the mirror. Are large enough to showcase my eyes but not too too huge.

The glasses improve my look.

The glasses make my outside look more like my inside. 

submitted by Kitten, Pondering
(August 11, 2019 - 4:13 pm)

This is my poem for yesterday--

transition forms

----

at four, a little girl digs her toes into the sand.

amidst the seagulls, the sand shovels,

the beach towels, she smiles as bright as the sun.

her short hair curls in the ocean wind.

at seven, the same girl, wearing a brightly striped

bathing suit, jumps over the waves.

she laughs and laughs

and laughs and chases her older siblings and 

climbs rocks and turns cartwheels on the shore, sand 

sticking to her wet hands.

at thirteen, she sits on a rock ledge,

dangling her legs down, between her friends.

their hair whips in the wind and she smiles,

and they joke about destinies and love and

the sea and the sky. she watches the waves

crash over and over the rocks down below.

the overcast sky turns the water to grey 

as it stretches away and swirls.

and she loves all of it--the rocky shore and the wind 

and the breaking waves and the way the ocean

is hers.

 

submitted by Leafy, age No, not a cat
(August 13, 2019 - 9:23 am)

I'm not quite sure what this is... or if it's good... but anyways. 

the grey parts of my eyes

i. resounding- cracking knuckles and

mouth-breathing, heart beating still,

a secret in crossed legs, fingers twisted---

what remains inside? words that

echo ever, yet my soul is no 

cave 

 

ii. you find me in the

broken lines of wisdom--- they're 

just like me, beautiful and

shattered, belonging only with

themselves--- yet they still have

friends

 

iii. ideas blossoming yet

caged, tucked away into the

corner of my room--- solitude is where my light can

shine

submitted by Luna-Starr, age 27 eons, Existential Ponderment
(August 13, 2019 - 9:53 am)

Okay, here’s one I wrote.

Little Kid

”If you eat too much junk food,”

they always told me,

”you’ll grow in an unhealthy way.”

I used to wonder what that meant.

Would I grow curved instead of straight,

curling and twisting in on myself?

Would my back hunch,

my shoulders curl

my fingers gnarl themselves?

Now I know that

it’s possible to twist inward on yourself

after all.

 

“Monsters don’t exist,”

they would tell me.

”You’re completely safe.”

I never truly let go

of my imagined night horrors.

I lay in fear that they

would burst into the room

to feed on my blood.

Now I know that

there are more terrifying monsters

than my nightmares.

Those monsters live inside

the hearts of others

and my own.

 

”We’ll tell you when you’re older,”

they’d say. I’d storm

up to my room.

I’d count the days

the weeks

the months

until I grew old enough

to learn the secret.

I waited with mounting impatience

to turn one year older.

Time passed so slowly.

Now I know that

time passes quickly

whether you want it to or not.

 

”It’s important to be honest,”

they always said.

I followed the rules to the letter.

I was constantly honest

never having a second thought.

Lying was a horrid

deed in my mind.

I believed that

adults were completely honest

and I should return the favor.

Now I know that

lying is sometimes necessary

the rules may need to be broken

and grownups always seem

to slip away from the truth. 

~~

Thank you, Admins, for your patience with this long poem! 

submitted by Summer, age pi, Nowhere at all
(August 13, 2019 - 7:00 pm)

I was inspired today, I guess.

blue blue blue 

flahses of black, stuck-together 

eyelashes revealing eyes

blue blue blue---

crystalline fog, post-rain sky, yet

faded--- we feast upon

eyes beholding poetics, we long for

something beautiful to say--- but what if

something so blue blue blue

lacks the crisp edge of

something remarkable? extrodinarily

beautifully dull, looking at the

blue blue blue, searching for something---

wise? impactful? meaningful?---

to say. 

submitted by Luna-Starr, age 27 eons, Existential Ponderment
(August 13, 2019 - 8:51 pm)

This one's from yesterday--I wrote a little poem about my eyes.

watch

---- 

smoldering brown eyes,

mascara-lined and shadow-rimmed, 

create passageways to my mind

that have dripped with tears

more times than you would believe.

(selfish. and overemotional.)

pink-and-brown eyelids

hide me--

 

submitted by Leafy, age No, not a cat
(August 14, 2019 - 9:05 am)

I'm here and I finally wrote a poem! Not my best, but I'm working on it.

nostalgia

all i am is thoughts and memories

swirling like a cyclone

people and places and things

in every corner of the circular room

up is down and you can’t think straight

or curved or any way at all

and sadness bubbles in your chest

like sweet acid

and burning ice fills your eyes

and you begin to think

maybe this is how alice felt

falling into wonderland 

submitted by Quill
(August 14, 2019 - 3:58 pm)

This one is today's poem, for the "line from a book" prompt.

my fingertips kissing your palms goodbye

----

arms. wrists. fingers.

it's hard to tell you i will never see you again.

that from this day i will be gone, but i will always love you--

those things i could never put into words,

but i always carried in my heart--oh. i can't come with you 

any longer, i hope you understand--

my fingers brush the soft silk skin of your 

palm, slide down your fingers

and curl away. so many things i can't speak into the air,

i know you see in my face. but all i can do now is to 

turn away.

 

submitted by Leafy, age No, not a cat
(August 14, 2019 - 6:11 pm)