Well, the last contest did not go so well. I am trying something different. I want you to write a "drabble". If you are not familiar with the term, it is a short piece of one hundred words; no more, no less, not counting the title which can be up to ten words. The idea is to tell a short story or a glimpse of one. You may pick the topic, but you must use the following words:
skirt, midsummer, jamb, crescent
Here are two examples:
The Wager
Mess, inclination, won, screeches
What a mess! I cannot fathom why I let this happen. I wagered on a race. A stupid bet. Who knew the nag was that fast? He did not look it. And now, I have to pay up. Stupid wager. My inclination is to just leave quietly and hope he does not remember. Oh, if only I had not said anything. But, he won. Fairly. So, I will, of course, pay up. But oh, the screeches of laughter when he crossed the finish line. How will I ever pay it? Well, I can think of one way. But will he?
A Sycophant's Farewell
Anyone who knows the type
Will surely know it’s true;
That apple-polishing is an art
Practiced by me and you.
It involves ingratiating
Yourself in ways contestable,
And saying things you later feel
Are phrases most detestable.
And yet we find ourselves caught up
In games designed to shame.
Attempting to out-do others
And ending up in pain.
The only winners in this forum
Are ones with lesser scruples.
For they study others’ weaknesses;
They are observant pupils.
What's the answer to this query,
“How to quell the unctuous demon?”
Replace it with compassion
And the lasting light of reason.
The rules are as follows:
1) Please spell check.
2) Use proper grammar.
3) No profanity whatsoever.
4) No netspeak or chat lingo. Use whole words.
5) No sticky caps.
6) Innuendo is allowed, but nothing overly erotic and nothing explicit.
7) Please use common sense when writing.
8) You may use any form you like, (poem or prose) but if it is difficult to read, I will not bother. (i.e. words wandering all over the page)
9) No cutting, suicide, bleeding, etc.
10) I am not requiring you to comment on anyone's poetry. I think that is bad form. It would be nice if you at least commented on each other's entries, but I am not checking up on you. We are all adults. By the way, so far most of the poems follow the same idea. Anything original?
11) No stupid phrases in the comment box, either. Either you read the rules or you did not. You are still responsible for following them.
I will not comment until I judge. I will leave pointers by IM. It is up to you to change any problems. I will comment when I read back over them. I have extended this, once more, as I am going out of town until Sunday. (Yea, Louisville!) I will not have access to the internet, so I cannot judge until then irregardless. So far, I have eight entries.
First Place is for 300 points. I am not sure about the others at this point. Depends on how many points I have. Any deviations from the rules will disqualify you. (If no one follows them, no one wins) Good luck.
NOTE: I am awarding here for prose only. Please check the Dribble A Drabble Part Two for the poetry contest. I am sorry to do this, but I have a hard time judging between the two, so I just made another contest for the poems. The points are the same. You just have a better chance now. When you enter the other contest, it should remove you from this one. If you are not interested in entering the other one, just let me know by IM. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience. Judging for this and the other one will take place when all the poems are removed from here.
UPDATE:
An Explanation Drabble
This was such a hard thing to judge. There are too many good entries for the three prizes. Now, as the full moon wanes and shrinks to the crescent that is coming, I will skirt around the issue by making it easier for both categories. I will just hold another contest for the poems, same points and trophies. There, I rest against the jamb of the doorway to creativity. Hopefully, this will hold me over until midsummer, when I may get up the gumption to hold another contest. By then, maybe I will have gotten this right. Thank you.
These are my choices for winners:
Gold and 300 points: Misplaced Girl with Crescent Eyes by vaguelyfamiliar- This came the closest to what was intended- a complete, coherent and concise story.
Silver and 100 points: Lessons Learned by NurseyPoo- Again, a complete glimpse. What kept this from gold was the lack of some punctuation.
Honorable Mentions and 10 points:
goodnight haircut by featherpen
A Midsummer's Day by Naphrititi
Neither of these seemed to carry cohesion. I did not find a line to follow from beginning to end. They both managed to keep within the 100 words, but lack of grammar was a big factor here.
I thank all who entered and I do appreciate the attempt to keep to the rules. When all the poems are removed and entered into the other contest, then I will judge that one.
skirt, midsummer, jamb, crescent
Here are two examples:
The Wager
Mess, inclination, won, screeches
What a mess! I cannot fathom why I let this happen. I wagered on a race. A stupid bet. Who knew the nag was that fast? He did not look it. And now, I have to pay up. Stupid wager. My inclination is to just leave quietly and hope he does not remember. Oh, if only I had not said anything. But, he won. Fairly. So, I will, of course, pay up. But oh, the screeches of laughter when he crossed the finish line. How will I ever pay it? Well, I can think of one way. But will he?
A Sycophant's Farewell
Anyone who knows the type
Will surely know it’s true;
That apple-polishing is an art
Practiced by me and you.
It involves ingratiating
Yourself in ways contestable,
And saying things you later feel
Are phrases most detestable.
And yet we find ourselves caught up
In games designed to shame.
Attempting to out-do others
And ending up in pain.
The only winners in this forum
Are ones with lesser scruples.
For they study others’ weaknesses;
They are observant pupils.
What's the answer to this query,
“How to quell the unctuous demon?”
Replace it with compassion
And the lasting light of reason.
The rules are as follows:
1) Please spell check.
2) Use proper grammar.
3) No profanity whatsoever.
4) No netspeak or chat lingo. Use whole words.
5) No sticky caps.
6) Innuendo is allowed, but nothing overly erotic and nothing explicit.
7) Please use common sense when writing.
8) You may use any form you like, (poem or prose) but if it is difficult to read, I will not bother. (i.e. words wandering all over the page)
9) No cutting, suicide, bleeding, etc.
10) I am not requiring you to comment on anyone's poetry. I think that is bad form. It would be nice if you at least commented on each other's entries, but I am not checking up on you. We are all adults. By the way, so far most of the poems follow the same idea. Anything original?
11) No stupid phrases in the comment box, either. Either you read the rules or you did not. You are still responsible for following them.
I will not comment until I judge. I will leave pointers by IM. It is up to you to change any problems. I will comment when I read back over them. I have extended this, once more, as I am going out of town until Sunday. (Yea, Louisville!) I will not have access to the internet, so I cannot judge until then irregardless. So far, I have eight entries.
First Place is for 300 points. I am not sure about the others at this point. Depends on how many points I have. Any deviations from the rules will disqualify you. (If no one follows them, no one wins) Good luck.
NOTE: I am awarding here for prose only. Please check the Dribble A Drabble Part Two for the poetry contest. I am sorry to do this, but I have a hard time judging between the two, so I just made another contest for the poems. The points are the same. You just have a better chance now. When you enter the other contest, it should remove you from this one. If you are not interested in entering the other one, just let me know by IM. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience. Judging for this and the other one will take place when all the poems are removed from here.
UPDATE:
An Explanation Drabble
This was such a hard thing to judge. There are too many good entries for the three prizes. Now, as the full moon wanes and shrinks to the crescent that is coming, I will skirt around the issue by making it easier for both categories. I will just hold another contest for the poems, same points and trophies. There, I rest against the jamb of the doorway to creativity. Hopefully, this will hold me over until midsummer, when I may get up the gumption to hold another contest. By then, maybe I will have gotten this right. Thank you.
These are my choices for winners:
Gold and 300 points: Misplaced Girl with Crescent Eyes by vaguelyfamiliar- This came the closest to what was intended- a complete, coherent and concise story.
Silver and 100 points: Lessons Learned by NurseyPoo- Again, a complete glimpse. What kept this from gold was the lack of some punctuation.
Honorable Mentions and 10 points:
goodnight haircut by featherpen
A Midsummer's Day by Naphrititi
Neither of these seemed to carry cohesion. I did not find a line to follow from beginning to end. They both managed to keep within the 100 words, but lack of grammar was a big factor here.
I thank all who entered and I do appreciate the attempt to keep to the rules. When all the poems are removed and entered into the other contest, then I will judge that one.
Contest is Over
- Contest was judged on April 25, 2005
- Rewards: Gold: 300
- Final notes:
Entries [4]
-
by Blackdayz854 22 lines, 1 comment, on Apr 11 8:05 AM 2005. In Love• Commented on by judge.
-
In midsummer a girl in a short pink skirt was walking down the road when all of the sudden someone she knew walked up to her and handed her a crescent moon neckby Naphrititi 16 lines, 3 comments, on Apr 12 5:57 AM 2005. In Love• Commented on by judge.
-
Under the light of a summer’s crescent moon, I held my breath as he leaned so casually on the hood of his car. My whole life seemed to be at stake and he didn’tby ShaShay 18 lines, 1 comment, on Apr 20 7:03 PM 2005. In Society, Nature, Contemporary
Silver trophy winner
• Commented on by judge. -
by vaguelyfamiliar 20 lines, 2 comments, on Apr 20 7:36 PM 2005. In Personal, Contemporary
Gold trophy winner
• Commented on by judge.
Add a comment
Comments
1 - 13 of 13
-
how interesting
-
This looks like a creative idea for a contest. I think that
promoting it is a great way to get some more interest
generated here. I did not realize this was a contest when
i clicked on it in the featured box.
Good luck with the entries for the contest!
UB
-
have fun with your new contest and I hope it goes a lot better then your last one. Judge well and good luck to all who enter this.
-
I always like to see new concepts for the contests here at
All Poetry. Sometimes it seems like they are all alike and
it can be hard to find something new and interesting to
check out.
I am glad to see you put some effort into creating this
contest. I hope you get a ton of great entries to this.
Peace Abel -
woooord
-
Thanks, but why do you not enter? I need more entries.
-
Come on, I used 15 points to promote this; the least you could have done was give me more than wooooord. That hardly seems fair. I know, now you can enter and give me 100 words. LOL
Edited on Apr 11, 6:32 p.m. because ''. -
When I first clicked on it, I thought it was a poem, I read it and I just might enter, but can't promise you anything. I will bookmark this page so I can remember to come back to later on today...~Stacey~
-
This certainly seems interesting. I think I will play around with it and see if I can come up with anything worth entering. Good luck with your contest!~vj
-
Ah this is very challenging indeed. I see why you asked me to check this out. I think it is a great idea for a contest and hope you get many fantastic enteries. Hope it has been a success and good luck judging. Also the enteries i read so far have been really good and have risen to the challenge well. You've got your work cut out as i think there will be more enteries soon! Best wishes
katy
-
Hi, have done an edit on my poem, I feel perhaps this is now a little better, have changed love's rhapsody played on the breeze, and extended the subject of quivering lights,hoping this will be better,
-
I am amazed that anybody did that. A lot of people must have a whole lot of time on their hands. Anyway, interesting idea, even if I would never find time to do it.
-
Thank you for taking time to read and comment. I am glad you find it interesting. But why are you amazed? Is this any dumber than a lot of the other contests posted? It seems that a lot of people waste more time on less creativity.
Adding your comment:
1 - 13 of 13
