A Government of the People (part 1)
Hey my fellow scribes. Welcome to the first of a 3 part socio-political poetry contest.
WINNER TAKE ALL!!
This first elimination round is awarding 1000 points to the first place winner, 100 points to the second place winner and 50 points to 3rd place. Don't get discouraged it you place 4th or 5th though. You will be allowed to enter the second round if you are among the top 5.
The second elimination round in February will award 500 points for first place, 300 points for second and 100 for 3rd place and will qualify 3 finalists who will go on into a winner take all "death match" in the final round in March for 5000 points!! There will be no other points awarded in the final round.
Here are the rules:
- All poems MUST tie into a poli-social issue as the subject of the poem.
- Any position will be accepted.
- Any poetry form will be accepted (free flow, traditional rhyme standards, Haiku's)
- There can be no vulgarity, religion or faith bashing, or racial slurs. Feel free to express your own religious beliefs but please do not criticize others.
- Only ONE entry per poet. If more than one entry is submitted both entries will be disqualified. If a poet decides to change their mind, he/she can remove his/her entry and place the new one in before the close of the round.
- All entries after close of round are final and cannot be edited in any way. Detected post entry edits will be disqualified
Violations of these rules will be automatically eliminated from the contest.
You will be judged on skill and originality of:
- technique
- approach of the subject
- style, and word use
- flow of the piece
- How well your position is expressed (in other words, can the reader tell what you are talking about?)
You can re-use an entry from a previous round but I would not advise it since the people who didn't get first place are going to be entering new stuff in an effort to gain the final first place prize of 5000 pts.
There are many issues in the world that seemingly go un-addressed and/or unresolved. Let's take this opportunity to make a change through poetry using this wonderfully powerful media called the internet.
Don't be the 90% who allow the other 10% to run things into the ground. Make your thoughts known and your voices heard!
If you want examples of social poetry you can lookat:
Corporate Compromise http://allpoetry.com/poem/2483961
Members Only http://allpoetry.com/poem/2423831
A Message From A Satelite http://allpoetry.com/poem/2216553
For political examples:
Underground Poet's Society http://allpoetry.com/poem/2284205
Inquisition http://allpoetry.com/poem/2273720
A Politicians Conscience http://allpoetry.com/poem/2100966
All of these have different techniques and different approaches towards the subjects.
Have fun and GOD Bless.
B) John
Contest is Over
- Contest was judged on January 26, 2007
- Rewards: Gold: 1000, Silver: 200, Bronze: 100, Honorable mention: 2 people
- Final notes: Wow! Let me start out by saying this was one tough contest to judge. There were 196 views but only 30 people actually entered. As a result, there was remarkable talent displayed and in the end it was attention to detail to the rules which ultimately placed poets within the top 5 positions as 1st round finalists.
With that said, lets review the rules:
All poems MUST tie into a socio-political issue as the subject of the poem.
1. Any position will be accepted.
2. Any poetry form will be accepted (free flow, traditional rhyme standards, Haiku's)
3. There can be no vulgarity, religion or faith bashing, or racial slurs. Feel free to express your own religious beliefs but please do not criticize others.
4. Only ONE entry per poet. If more than one entry is submitted both entries will be disqualified. If a poet decides to change their mind, he/she can remove his/her entry and place the new one in before the close of the round.
5. All entries after close of round are final and cannot be edited in any way. Detected post entry edits will be disqualified
Violations of these rules will be automatically eliminated from the contest.
You will be judged on skill and originality of:
• technique
• approach of the subject
• style, and word use
• flow of the piece
• How well your position is expressed (in other words, can the reader tell what you are talking about?)
There were several wonderfully written poems which disqualified themselves because their subject was socio-natural, socio-religious or just religious and not socio-political as required. There was also one that did not have any recognizable poetic form, that is, it did not have a rhyme or rhythm or simile or metaphor but was in fact some very relevant and heart felt statements broken up into phrases.
Because of the amount of effort that went into writing these, I believe everyone deserves a critique of the judging so you will get them over the next week.
The winners are:
1. Wage Slaves - For Under A Dollar An Hour`
by Poetryality 70 lines, 18 comments, on Jan 13 2:25 AM. In Society, Sad, Loss
2. our forgotten.
by J-ay Rose 34 lines, 3 comments, on Jan 13 12:53 AM
3. They're Right, You're Not Pretty
by Faithful Dreamer 50 lines, 2 comments, 1 day ago. In life, society
4. Checkmate
by clotho 74 lines, 3 comments, 2 days ago. In Thoughts, Society
5. Forward Operating Base
by KiwiTRK 70 lines, 2 comments, 1 day ago
These finalists will go onto the 2nd Elimination round in February which will award 500 points for first place, 300 for second and 100 for third but more imporantaly, the 2nd Elimination round will decide who the 3 competitors will be for the 5000 point, winner take all final!!
I wish them all good fortune and thank all of you for participating and making this a great contest.
Stay tuned for more details for the upcoming contests.
John
Contest Winners
- Error: Unable to find finalist item 2514136, it seems to have been deleted :( [remove]
- Error: Unable to find finalist item 2513934, it seems to have been deleted :( [remove]
-
Bending, breaking, shifting and shaping,
peeling the book back in all corners.• Commented on by judge. [remove] - Error: Unable to find finalist item 2559168, it seems to have been deleted :( [remove]
Bronze trophy winner
Honorable mention
Entries [22]
1 - 22 of 22
-
by Yvette Champ 104 lines, 20 comments, on Jan 13 7:37 AM 2007. In SOCIETY, POLITICS, HUMANITY, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY• Commented on by judge.
-
Stars and Stripes reign today,
on freedom’s parade as it marches past;by Carly Pop 38 lines, 4 comments, on Jan 13 11:33 AM 2007• Commented on by judge. -
Trust us we are the one who know
Let no doubts take over your mind• Commented on by judge. -
Antithesis Of The Compassionate Heretic
Freedom, for the droplets able to cling to the sieve.by SmileFromGlasgow 22 lines, 2 comments, on Jan 17 5:34 PM 2007• Commented on by judge. -
Do you want to go to Iraq?
Is that blood-lust I see in your eyes?• Commented on by judge. -
Oxymoronically Politically Incorrect
Contest Entry UnSubmission
Sestinatically Recyclated Words.by Master Anarchy 44 lines, 1 comment, on Jan 21 5:22 PM 2007. In Contemporary, Society, Sad, Ecce Homo Sed Ecce• Commented on by judge. -
by Words Die On Lips 70 lines, 22 comments, on Jan 22 8:45 PM 2007• Commented on by judge.
-
Society thwarted at every turn by God,
Not the true God,by Helter Skelter 46 lines, 3 comments, on Jan 24 12:29 AM 2007. In Society• Commented on by judge. Prewrite -
How hard can it be
To capture the capital• Commented on by judge. Prewrite -
You say
You don’t eat meat.• Commented on by judge. Prewrite -
how dare we mess will mother natures plan
just to feed the hunger of man.by hippy love 20 lines, 6 comments, on Nov 3 9:20 AM 2006. In Other• Commented on by judge. Prewrite -
We see them every day but pretend it's not our business
As long as we have good food and warm homes• Commented on by judge. -
Men don't make passes
at ladies who sit on their• Commented on by judge. -
Dear, the day i saw you,
my heart spun like a ferris wheel.by Siguelson Sidelca 21 lines, 3 comments, on Jan 22 3:46 PM 2007• Commented on by judge. Prewrite
Add a comment
Comments
1 - 17 of 17
-
^__^!!
-
Excellent
An excellent contest! Poetry can raise awareness and speak volumes to the problems of society. It is a tool that should be used much more in the conveyance of important issues that effect our world and its people, will definitely write something for this one. Bravo!
Bunny
-
Am bookmarking,great that the contest invites creativity amongst changes of positivity.Enough rambling.-Kudos- Yvette
-
Pretty sweet contest. I like the opportunity to step out of my abstract, drug-fueled box and write something about something, for a change.
Just so you know, better than half of those links to poems sent me to server errors. I don't know why that is. -
-
oh no!
-
-
fantastic contest idea......I am bookmarking and will be back to try my best after a few hours of desperately needed sleep
-
Thought provoking and well thought out contest. I think your motive of political incorrectness is correct, since politics never are. I will bookmark this one ponder the matter. Not sure if it will lead to something appropriate in time, but you planted the seed of inspiration in any event. Thank you for that and good luck with the contest. Take care,
U
-
Congrats!! check this contest
At last a contest to make me focus on things that really matter. I believe every writer should assume the responsibility - eithet political or social - to leave aside his own angst from time to time and serve higher ideals.
I sure hope to make an entry. I was curious - why 'Politically Incorrect' I would appreciate an explanation. Thanks.
best luck,
rachel -
-
Explanation? - Sure. :)
Truth, the health and welfare of other people, exposition of same, are all non-pc. We hide our homeless in jails. We hide our elderly in homes. We pursue wars for profit which is acceptable as long as no one is required to hear about it. Any suitable cover will do. And the biggest contributor to the problem is the general public who allow the elected officials to do it.
The conspirators do not make up the majority of this planet's population. They just make the most noise. What happened to the majority? Why are they silent? Who is more guilty, the criminal or the observant, silent, bystander who sees all but reports nothing? Who is the more ignorant, the one who does not know or the one who has access but chooses not to know?
One Love, One Lord,
John
-
-
Oh well
Just wrote one that would fit, but the rules sort of eliminate anything that is not politically correct. -
I'd have a perfect prewrite but will see what I can do here with a fresh write
-
This the last day to make corrections to your poems or replace them with something else. The contest closes at Midnight of January 24th. That's tonight, so please be mindful if you wish make any changes.
I will begin judging on the 25th and try to distribute the awards by this coming weekend.
John
-
nice contest!! i shall bookmark and think of a worthy (hopefully) entry!
webber -
hi im not sure if my poem fits but i thought that it was quite political xxx
-
whoo hoo! same type of poem with different content for the second elimination round?
i like/liked rule 4 btw. -
Congratulations to the trophy winners,I shall keep this bookmarked to try and pop back and read more entries.It was great to come across this worthy platform as a place where both the liberty of freedom of expression was encouraged and the liberty to express opinion.Well done to you for running the contest and good luck with the next rounds of it,love and light,Yvette
-
Thank You!
I am honored to have won the Gold in this Round of the Challenge! This is indeed a pet peeve of mine John, and it encourages me to continue my research and ultimately create my Thesis from what I've learned. I have studied in this area for over 10 years. My son now sits in Prison for smoking Marijuana, and has become a felon in the system. You know I have stepped up my efforts because of this. Blessings to you for showing your approval.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS AND HONORABLE MENTIONS!
The best to all who enter Round 2!
Much Love Always ♥
Renee
Adding your comment:
1 - 17 of 17
