Any of you living in the states below have no doubt either been annoyed or completely fascinated by the emergence of cicadas in your areas this year.
KY, GA, IN, MA, MD, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV
These are Brood 14 of the perfectly harmless "periodical cicadas" called Magicicadas. In the spring, only once every 17 years, magicicadas emerge to mate (from below the ground where the nymphs feed on tree roots until they're finally grown to maturity). For Brood 14, their wait is over! The cicadas' mating songs can be heard by the tens of thousands in the tops of sunlit trees. It is a beautiful high pitched ring that swells and fades, swells and fades, seemingly non-stop and all in marvelous unison. Those of you in other states or countries may have your own cicada fest in other years! Be on the lookout! But 2008 is the time for Brood 14. It's a pretty remarkable thing to me, and much of the understanding of these bugs' uncanny, cyclical life remains a mystery.
So I want to hold a contest to celebrate their magnificent emergence!
Choose your prompt:
*WAITING
*EMERGENCE
*SWELLING
. . . Or you may use the picture above or my poem below.
Cicadas make me think of beautiful love poetry/songs, BUT, I will be delighted to read whatever your muse brings you relating to the picture, poem, or word prompts.
10-40 lines or so
ANY STYLE
Wonderful imagery and/or metaphor, beautiful language manipulation, and depth of thought will be most highly rewarded.
Check out this link to learn more about these amazing creatures.
http://insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/fauna/Michigan_Cicadas/Periodical/Index.html
Song of the Adolescent She-Fox
A song drifts gently through the midnight wood
overtop the swaying trees.
Its fingered mist creeps down to beckon me
with soft, repeated, backward curl.
It sounds of hunger, thirst, and steadfast love
for that tender rabbit prey--
entangled in a far, distracting brush
to become another's feast.
It sounds of yearning. And for accompaniment,
ten thousand cicadas, stringed,
bow of that beautiful creature, fair;
and there he lies, his eyes concealed with leaves.
It sounds to me to run, be filled, and sing.
I groan, but stay. And still it calls
to me, upon my bed of fallen pine--
in the kind hunter's clawed trap.
Contest is Over
- Contest was judged on July 10
- Rewards: Gold: 1000, Silver: 300, Bronze: 200, Honorable mention: 5 people
- Final notes:
Thanks to everyone who found it within themselves to enter a contest whose inspiration was bugs! You turned out some beautiful poetry, and I so appreciate your work.
Gold--Swellings and Passings
To me this one had it all. The phrasing was so lovely, the mood and emotive effect were excellent, and it was truly thought provoking.
Silver--Emergence
This one seemed to speak so deeply. There was expectation throughout, and thrill. The poetry was well done, but the deep implications is what impressed me most.
Bronze--Plight of Magicicadas
Okay, I am a sucker for internal rhyme and beautiful phrasing and I found this poem to be wonderfully strong in those elements. Also, it truly made a bug's life seem worth living!
There were other contenders for trophies and I struggled with choosing, for there were strengths in each one. Ultimately I was pleased with each entry. Please read them all.
Also, a couple of young author's chose to enter. I hope you will leave comments on their wonderful poems!
Thank you once again. Your poetry was a delight.
Contest Winners
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We've waited... groomed in shadows,by MikeNoxaura 34 lines, 2 comments, on Jul 6 4:26 PM. In Contest, Nature, Weird, Spiritual, Hope, Life, Message, Dedication, Inspirational
Silver trophy winner
• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
• Commented on by judge. [remove]
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bursting into being
sunlight• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
Petrachan Sonnet• Commented on by judge. [remove]
Bronze trophy winner
Entries [8]
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Comments
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beauteeful
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COOL CONTEST TTC!!!
COOL CONTEST ttc! good luck (blessings) to everyone!!!
slick99
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This seems cool. If anything comes, I'll def. enter.
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Oh, my...how amazing to hear someone praise these little monsters! The noise from them is deafening, and drives me quite insane! *
*..anything I write would NOT be complimentary!
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A cicada rant . . . that might be interesting. Well, actually, the poems can be about whatever the prompts make you think of. LOL. If you can get that ringing out of your ears, maybe you will come up with something lovely to write.
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^_^ I like how you even know what brood this is.
It's really funny how I found that out, actually. I live in Cincinnati and was wandering around at about 10 o clock one night right when the cicadas first started coming out, and there was a National Geographic film crew filming for Brood 14 right in my town, it was fun to talk to them. I'm gonna be looking for any specials by NG on cicadas now XD -
Thank you for a wondrous contest ...
which I enjoyed.
Congratulations to the winners.
Love
Myra -
Thank you for the honorable mention and for creating a contest that inspired such wonderful poetry. Congratulations to all the winners. Peace, Liz
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