My "Manifold Voices" live poetry presentation group have received an unexpected invitation to give our "Music in your ears" programme at the end of the month. As usual, we shall be revising it with a view to including new material.
This is a competition for POEMS on themes related to music: e.g. attending a concert, the problems of learning to play an instrument, one's favourite composer, the impact of a particular musical work, music in unlikely situations, an exceptionall good or bad performance, etc, etc, etc... We do NOT, repeat NOT want songs or song lyrics.
Poems should be suitable for live presentation, namely:
1) Preferably between 12 and 60 lines. We find that ultra-short pieces generally are too slight to make an impact. (Limericks and clerihews are an exception - and are welcome providing they are REALLY well done!)
2) Poems must make their impact by sound ONLY - so please: no "visuals", no notes, commentaries or explanations (in particular, please do NOT name or a fortiori "explain" the form used!), and no "concrete" or "pattern" poetry.
3) Poems may be in any style, but should be carefully crafted. (Young and less-experienced poets are recommended NOT to attempt "free" verse, which in general does not work well in live presentations unless VERY well done....
4) The purpose of the competition is, as I said, to select poems for a live show. We cannot use poems in such shows unless the authors furnish us with their real names and contact details. If your poem falls into the "likely" category, I shall send you a message asking you to provide your name and contact details. If you are unwilling to do this, please do not enter this competition!
5) Owing to the fact that the invitation was unexpected, there will be very little time to revise and rehearse the programme, and therefore this competition will close on 24 July. In view of the shortness of time, I expect, therefore, that the majority of entries will be "prewritten", and you can put in as many of those as you have (providing they are relevant to the theme!!!) If, however, you currently have a music-related poem brewing in your mind and manage to complete and polish it in time - then do put it in ... but - PLEASE, no hasty work. In spite of the short time-span, this is NOT a "Quickie" competition in the usual "Allpoetry" sense of the word.
6) Please note that unpublished poems used in our live shows are normally subsequently published in MANIFOLD - unless the poet has other plans for them! To avoid confusion over copyright, however, we do not use in our shows poems that are currently out to some other (hard-copy) publisher... so if any of yours are currently under consideration elsewhere, please do not enter them in this competition. (Please note this applies only to hard-copy, ink-on-paper publications - not web-sites!)
7)Please make sure your poems are legible at first reading - black on a plain white or pale pastel background is preferable! And, please, under NO circumstances moving, flashing or sparkling backgrounds - which tend to give me migraine....
8) Finally, as always with my competitions, I urge you NOT to read and and, a fortiori, not to comment on each other's work until after the competition has been judged and the results announced. (There will be the usual bonus points for entrants who wait to comment at the proper time!)
NB At present I am putting in only the minimum 300 points for first place. I shall decide on the final allocation of points according to the number or entries, their intrinsic quality and most important, their suitability for the programme.
PLEASE NOTE ALSO that I shall NOT read any of the entries myself until after the competition has closed. Unfortunately owing to a slip of the finger, I have clicked on one entry... However, I closed it up immediately without reading it... so although the "system" says I have "viewed" it, in fact I have NOT. Please do not expect any comments from me until after the competition closes on 24 July.
This is a competition for POEMS on themes related to music: e.g. attending a concert, the problems of learning to play an instrument, one's favourite composer, the impact of a particular musical work, music in unlikely situations, an exceptionall good or bad performance, etc, etc, etc... We do NOT, repeat NOT want songs or song lyrics.
Poems should be suitable for live presentation, namely:
1) Preferably between 12 and 60 lines. We find that ultra-short pieces generally are too slight to make an impact. (Limericks and clerihews are an exception - and are welcome providing they are REALLY well done!)
2) Poems must make their impact by sound ONLY - so please: no "visuals", no notes, commentaries or explanations (in particular, please do NOT name or a fortiori "explain" the form used!), and no "concrete" or "pattern" poetry.
3) Poems may be in any style, but should be carefully crafted. (Young and less-experienced poets are recommended NOT to attempt "free" verse, which in general does not work well in live presentations unless VERY well done....
4) The purpose of the competition is, as I said, to select poems for a live show. We cannot use poems in such shows unless the authors furnish us with their real names and contact details. If your poem falls into the "likely" category, I shall send you a message asking you to provide your name and contact details. If you are unwilling to do this, please do not enter this competition!
5) Owing to the fact that the invitation was unexpected, there will be very little time to revise and rehearse the programme, and therefore this competition will close on 24 July. In view of the shortness of time, I expect, therefore, that the majority of entries will be "prewritten", and you can put in as many of those as you have (providing they are relevant to the theme!!!) If, however, you currently have a music-related poem brewing in your mind and manage to complete and polish it in time - then do put it in ... but - PLEASE, no hasty work. In spite of the short time-span, this is NOT a "Quickie" competition in the usual "Allpoetry" sense of the word.
6) Please note that unpublished poems used in our live shows are normally subsequently published in MANIFOLD - unless the poet has other plans for them! To avoid confusion over copyright, however, we do not use in our shows poems that are currently out to some other (hard-copy) publisher... so if any of yours are currently under consideration elsewhere, please do not enter them in this competition. (Please note this applies only to hard-copy, ink-on-paper publications - not web-sites!)
7)Please make sure your poems are legible at first reading - black on a plain white or pale pastel background is preferable! And, please, under NO circumstances moving, flashing or sparkling backgrounds - which tend to give me migraine....
8) Finally, as always with my competitions, I urge you NOT to read and and, a fortiori, not to comment on each other's work until after the competition has been judged and the results announced. (There will be the usual bonus points for entrants who wait to comment at the proper time!)
NB At present I am putting in only the minimum 300 points for first place. I shall decide on the final allocation of points according to the number or entries, their intrinsic quality and most important, their suitability for the programme.
PLEASE NOTE ALSO that I shall NOT read any of the entries myself until after the competition has closed. Unfortunately owing to a slip of the finger, I have clicked on one entry... However, I closed it up immediately without reading it... so although the "system" says I have "viewed" it, in fact I have NOT. Please do not expect any comments from me until after the competition closes on 24 July.
Contest is Over
- Contest was judged on July 30
- Rewards: Gold: 1000, Silver: 150, Bronze: 125, Honorable mention: 17 people
- Final notes: Thank you all for entering this competition. There were unfortunately not as many entries as I had hoped for - and some of them were exceedingly peripheral, while others were presented in colour-schemes and/or against ornate backgrounds that rendered them virtually illegible to my - admittedly defective- sight... Still I managed to scrape together a top 20... of whom places 4-20 will receive "green" Honourable mentions, and places 4 - 10 will receive (in due course) top-ups of points;70 extra for 4th place, 60 extra for 5th place, 50 extra for 6th place, and so on down to 10 extra for 10th place. There will also be a 20 point bonus for all relevant prewritten entries, a bonus of 25 points for each AUTHOR (NOT each poem) who presented entries in accordance with the recommended format (black typing on white or pale pastel backgroung, AND bonus points for comments on other entrants' work made between NOW and mid-day London time on Friday 8 August. (NB To earn bonus points, a comment must be at least 30 words long and written in standard English - no jargon, slang or chat-speak, please!)
NB Bonus points will be distributed ONLY after the commenting period is closed, and ONLY to those poets who leave their poems in the competition until that time. And, for entrant who has decided to place me on the "ignore" list will, alas, get no bonus points -- that is not my decision, just the way the Allpoetry system works. Unless, of course, that poet decides to take my name off the list!!!
I have not commented properly on all entries as yet - particularly the ones that were difficult to read. This is because I have not been feeling well for several days, and also had to sing at the funeral of a very old friend, which did not exactly leave me in the mood of calm receptiveness I feel one should bring to critiquing poetry. However, I shall try to do so in the course of time... though with my current load of work and other committments, this may be quite a lengthy time...
In general, the poems were all interesting... and many that failed to place received the thumbs-down not for lack of merit, but because they seemed (to me at any rate, rather too peripheral to the theme.
As for our live show... well, success or otherwise here was rather a matter of luck... I had to consider poems on the basis of how they would fit into the context of our script - we were simply upgrading and revamping an existing scrip - not creating one from the beginning...So we needed poems that would fit the general shape of the programme, and at the same time either give something new to it or else replace something similar in the script which it surpsassed in technical and artistic merit. And, as the last time we gave the programme it was a script of two hours and this time will be only 40 minutes, there were time constraints to be considered also...
Nevertheless, there were three poems which were strong contenders for a place in the script - and one (the "gold"-winning poem) will, indeed, be used tonight. And the "silver"- and "bronze"-winning poems - we should like to retain - if the authors so agree - for possible use in this programme next time we give it in a longer format. (We also plan to retain one of the unplaced poems for future use - it was far too peripheral to the theme of music to place in this competition, but it would fit beautifully into another of our scripts.
Finally, thank you for entering. And please... do not forget to make some bonus-earning comments on other entrants' work.
Contest Winners
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I know a bridge which sings High above crawling cars it's set• Commented on by judge. [remove]
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Doves fluttered• Commented on by judge. Prewrite [remove]
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Atavistic feelings stirred
Track where melodies extend.by ecrivain01 17 lines, 14 comments, on Jun 19 3:05 PM 2006. In Personal, Society, Contemporary
Honorable winner• Commented on by judge. Prewrite [remove] -
His Moon lit Legacy
The girl to capture this mby Sue Cardwell 27 lines, 18 comments, on Mar 12 3:46 PM. In Triplets, Love, Contest
Honorable winner• Commented on by judge. Prewrite [remove] -
The trumpet, played badly, is harsh on the ears
My brother had tears in his eyes• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
by TwilightAngel026 19 lines, 8 comments, on Mar 4 1:31 PM. In life, music, reflection, love, joy, emotion
Honorable winner• Commented on by judge. Prewrite [remove] -
• Commented on by judge. Prewrite [remove]
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`• Commented on by judge. Prewrite [remove]
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Frustrating fiddle• Commented on by judge. Prewrite [remove]
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I remember, the first time "You Remind Me"
Was played on the radio, and I had to• Commented on by judge. Prewrite [remove]
Gold trophy winner
Bronze trophy winner
Entries [41]
1 - 41 of 41
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Some
Strom• Commented on by judge. Prewrite -
On
Key• Commented on by judge. Prewrite -
be
it grand• Commented on by judge. Prewrite -
Pounding of the drums and strum of the bass
As falling rain pours down my face.• Commented on by judge. Prewrite -
Songs are never, as beautiful...
...Through my broken lips, and• Commented on by judge. Prewrite -
Big Brother and counter culture lead singer, Janis her ambition tears open the Monterey Pop Festival• Commented on by judge.
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you seek the redemption from today's differences you think you know the truth of it allby AvhClove 55 lines, 2 comments, on Jun 3 10:12 AM• Commented on by judge. Prewrite
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Since man became an upright primate
He's always talked about the climate• Commented on by judge. Prewrite -
I act like an ass
Stubborn and crass• Commented on by judge. Prewrite -
They bide in the dreich neuks o' the harn• Commented on by judge. Prewrite
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I wake this morning, and I see,
A football nestling in a tree• Commented on by judge. Prewrite -
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• Commented on by judge. Prewrite
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Death by lovin' (A poetic study of the greatest performer of all time and his possible divine influeJudge Huey was a tremblin I nearly made him cryby Hungry Joe 50 lines, 2 comments, on Nov 26 3:28 AM 2007• Commented on by judge. Prewrite
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by myriad-dark 59 lines, 7 comments, on May 6 10:18 PM. In Life, Dark, Sad, Society, Thoughts, Show Tunes• Commented on by judge. Prewrite
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I hear it everywhere There is no escaping itby Bella Cullen 8 lines, 2 comments, on Jul 7 7:25 PM. In Music• Commented on by judge. Prewrite
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News Spot - Flash Hot! Obama has Johnson's welfare pot,by Falstaff 43 lines, 1 comment, on Jul 23 6:36 PM• Commented on by judge.
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Trickling pour of meticulous thoughts,
Have decided to join me on my day.by Mila7 42 lines, 4 comments, on Jul 8 7:16 PM• Commented on by judge. Prewrite -
Music
Play me the gentle notes of your music,• Commented on by judge. Prewrite -
Grand piano, tell me why
Why did this go so awry?• Commented on by judge. Prewrite
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Comments
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I have one with a VERY tenuous link to music. I shall see if it will do...
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