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A Wordplay Poetry Contest





It's pretty much just like it sounds, folks.

READ THROUGH THE ENTIRE CONTEST BODY TEXT TO GET A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF THIS CONTEST. DO NOT SKIM THROUGH THIS AND ENTER GARBAGE.

Night-Owl and I were discussing on the Poetry Board the idea of writing a poem centered around a word that's never actually used. In other words, a poem that's about, say, "love", but one in which the word "love" itself is never used. It's an idea her and I are very interested in. So, we thought we'd turn that interest into a contest to see if any of you can pull this off.

Odds are, this'll be easier or harder than it sounds, depending on what sort of writer you are. It's not an easy task for either of us to accomplish; we've only each written a few poems in this vein. Whether they were successful in achieving this goal is up for debate, but that's not the point; we're not here to promote our own stuff.

No, we want to see what you, ladies and gents, can do. We've each compiled a list of five words we personally find inspiring, or that we just like. They are as follows:

Night-Owl's words:

Shadows
Light
Dark
Warmth
Cold

Mine are:

drift
slip
stop
worn
hours

In addition, we both decided to include "love" as the eleventh word to this list. If you choose to pick this word, be warned: your entries will be judged a bit more harshly because we're sick of all the crappy love poetry on this site. If you think you can do the word justice, by all means, go for it. We're not aiming to set double standards or anything; you just better impress us if you pick "love". (Note from Night-Owl: Basically if you pick this word and mess it up... don't expect it to be pretty for you.)

That said, please read the following carefully: You may only pick ONE word from the above lists. Once you've picked your word, write a poem centered around it, but never, ever, use that word in the poem itself or its title. (Hint Hint Hint!~ Night-Owl.)

Write about it, around it, whatever, just don't use it or any forms of it. So, don't think you're being clever if you use "slipped" or "colder". We'll just hate on your entry or something. (That wel shall... I promise it. Night-Owl)

And, of course, there are the other usual rules:

Don't write crap and pawn it off as being good. We'll notice.

Proper spelling and grammar are expected. Not encouraged, not preferred, but expected. I (-BlackKnight-) am pretty lenient on capitalization and punctuation, but don't make it stupid or unreadable.

Nothing emo, lovey-dovey or cliché. No dirty pretty either, for that matter. Also, though I can't speak for Night-Owl, I personally dislike erotica and don't want it in this contest. Sensuality is all well and good, but outright fucking is out.

No rhyme of any kind. Sorry folks, but we're tired of seeing rhyme being butchered so badly here. So, we're just not allowing it. If we see it, odds are your entry will get booted. But, since Night-Owl has decided to make me be more patient, we'll give you a warning first to edit the poem. If this warning isn't heeded, your poem gets shoved out the window.

You may only pick one word from the lists above. Only one. You don't need to put the word in your author's notes. Make us try and guess first what word you picked. If we can't figure it out, we'll just ask you. But, make us think first.

No pre-writes, and you can only enter once.

There's no line limit, but please, don't turn it into some huge, 200 swamp of words. We only have so much time on our hands.

This contest will likely stay open until we find an actual winner. Right now, we're only offering a gold and 300 points. However, if we get more entries than expected, and the overall quality turns out to be good, more prizes/points will probably be offered. So, if you make this worth our while, we'll make it worth yours if your poem turns out to be awesome.

Think you get the idea now? Then go forth and write! If you have any questions, let us know and we'll answer them as best we can.

GO.







Comments From Yours Truly. (Night-Owl)
Well I only have a little bit to add to what has already been said so I won't bore you.
My rules are as follows,

~No Erotica. (If I wanted that I would ask for it. Notice how I didn't ask?)
~Rhyme? Not here... Sorry guys. I love it myself but I don't think it would turn out well in this contest.
~Use the word or any variation of it and I will shoot you. -BlackKnight- probably will too. So just don't do it! Okay? Okay.
~NoNe oF tHiS
~NONE OF THIS EITHER!! DO NOT MOLEST YOUR SHIFT KEY! Thank you. See how annoying it is. Otherwise, puntuate away. But not like Dirty Pretty. I can't do that...
~ABSOLUTELY NO CRAP!!!!! I mean it. I don't want it here. Under the catergory of crap are: bad rhyme (none allowed here), dirty pretty, erotica, emo, etc. Any questions on it, probably not wise to enter. I'd hate to have to tell you something sucks.

Thank you and have a nice day.
Hope I didn't scare you away from entering. My number one rule:
~Don't enter it if you don't like what you wrote, because chances are you didn't put your heart and soul into it and without those two things, poetry simply becomes words.

Contest is Over

  • Contest was judged on June 9, 2008
  • Rewards: Gold: 300, Silver: 200, Bronze: 100, Honorable mention: 2 people
  • Final notes:
    -BlackKnight-: Thanks for entering folks. The entries we got seemed to span from great to shit, but overall, we found some pretty good ones we're happy to award trophies to. The prompt we gave is a challenging one to write, but I think the winners proved more than capable of proving it can be done well.

    Starlight-Owl: Well, interesting contest. There were some people who I don't think even read the rules, but there were some amazing entries. Excellent work to the winners.

    We're both starting up separate contests after this; Starlight's is already up, and mine will be created shortly after this is judged. Keep an eye out for 'em; you might like what you see. Take care, and keep writing.

Contest Winners

  1. ~Premature Twin~
    by Fug-azi 19 lines, 6 comments, on May 12 6:35 PM 2008. In Other, Contest
    Gold trophy winner
    • Commented on by judge. [remove]
  2. october orange
    by zillion 94 lines, 10 comments, on Apr 15 3:52 PM 2008. In other
    Silver trophy winner
    • Commented on by judge. [remove]
  3. Dragging on
    I'm just ...
    something like thin shoes
    by zigdaddy 36 lines, 3 comments, on May 19 2:42 PM 2008. In Contest, Life
    Bronze trophy winner
    • Commented on by judge. [remove]
  4. 27 times around
    by righteousme 33 lines, 6 comments, on May 5 1:00 PM 2008
    Honorable mention
    • Commented on by judge. [remove]
  5. Heaven Birds
    What should become of them?
    All these fragile white fallen things.
    by Dead Red Head 15 lines, 5 comments, on May 12 9:29 PM 2008. In contest, other, personal
    Honorable mention
    • Commented on by judge. [remove]
  6. Snow March Fall
    It started with a few flying flakes... Unsettled and blowing away...
    by meadowfriend 24 lines, 7 comments, on May 19 12:27 PM 2008. In Inspirational
    • Commented on by judge. [remove]
  7. Obscured Luminocity
    by Sanguinarius 10 lines, 7 comments, on May 12 8:46 PM 2008
    • Commented on by judge. [remove]
  8. Error: Unable to find finalist item 4198369, it seems to have been deleted :( [remove]
  9. Forced. Change.
    An uncomfortable joke funny only to the beholder, told
    to a small crowd with dead silence.
    by Aerialrose 137 lines, 2 comments, on May 5 9:24 PM 2008
    • Commented on by judge. [remove]

Entries [38]

1 - 38 of 38

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Comments

1 - 15 of 15

  • layla.
    April 15, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    nice. will try something.


  • cover fire hero
    April 15, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    Done with mine, Thanks for some inspiration.


  • Kitsune Kyuuketsuki
    April 15, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    i was thinking something with cold and warmth, just because thats how i am, but i can choose one word only. i will try and think something up.


  • Kitsune Kyuuketsuki
    April 15, 2008
    Edit | Reply

    also

    is there a minimum requirement of lines?


    • Simply Simple
      April 15, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      No there is not, but use comment sense here. If you enter three lines that don't do anything, don't expect to win. But you can enter one amazing line that will blow us away then go for it. Make it as long or as short as you need to.


  • zillion
    April 15, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    "We'll just hate on your entry or something."

    Wow, that's a pretty intelligent statement.

    I love you Jas!


    • -BlackKnight- gold member
      April 15, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      lol Thank you.

      Hey, where'd that picture go of that pretty girl? I rather liked it.


  • im not broken
    April 22, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    I will see if I can pull it off! This sounds fantastic. ^_^


  • Jonathan Wikkins silver member
    April 26, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    nope, you didn't scare me away, i'm going to have to put my head around this and see what i can come up with!

    mike, aka jonathan wikkins


  • Axelle Black
    April 28, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    Ooo interesting. Too bad my brain's in such a state of deterioration that I can't write. But you know what, you'll get good entries anyway I bet. Good luck judging.

    • -BlackKnight- gold member
      April 28, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      Sucks you won't be interesting, but yeah, I do hope we get some good ones. We've got a couple but we're lookin' for more.

    • -BlackKnight- gold member
      May 12, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      Wow, I just realized I meant to say "entering", not "interesting". I think my brain's in the same boat as yours!


  • Quill Bill
    May 5, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    how people can can get insiration from this cazy just feel like breaking all the rules for the sake of it now that would be a hard.

    • Simply Simple
      May 7, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      It's quite easy to get inspiration from really. Feel free to make all the rules. We will just ignore the entry. They are rules for a reason. We wanted to give AP a creative challange. Feel up to it?


  • stargazer91
    May 12, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    I like a challange... I look forward to giving it a shot. Hope you enjoy what I have to offer.

1 - 15 of 15