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Just Rhyme

Imagine clicking on a contest link. Maybe the title of the contest interests you; maybe it's the two-line description. Maybe it's one of the options or a prompt. Maybe it's a category or whatever the case may be. Then you read the rules of the contest.

The first few are pretty standard:

1) Don'T TyPE likE tHiS.
2) Use spell check.
3) Write with proper grammar.

Whatever. The next few are the judge's/s' don'ts:

4) No profanity.
5) No sex.
6) No suicide.

Then maybe some dos:

7) 30-60 lines.
8) Write with emotion.

Finally, the last rule comes from nowhere.

9) Free verse/prose only.

For me, that's the end of that. I don't write free verse. I think it inhibits my creativity. I allow it in my contests and love it when people enter free verse. I don't judge based on who rhymed and who didn't. Much free verse is beautiful poetry and those who write it should be rewarded. My AP sister, pixxiepoetess, writes exclusively in free verse. But I love to rhyme.



If you're like me, then this is the contest for you. Enter any form. Use any meter. Use end rhyme, sight rhyme, midline rhyme, whatever. It must rhyme! Rhyme, rhyme, rhyme.

Rules: Don'T TyPE likE tHiS, spell words correctly and write with proper grammar. I don't like profanity, sex, death/suicide, but to avoid hypocrisy, I'll allow it.

I don't care about your topic. Write about something. Write about nothing. Be funny. Be serious. Love. Hate. I don't care. Just rhyme.

K

Contest is Over

  • Contest was judged on March 10
  • Rewards: Gold: 800, Silver: 202, Bronze: 198, Honorable mention: 5 people
  • Final notes:
    Apologies on the long wait for the judging. It was unwarranted; I know.

    I'd like to offer my congratulations to the top three...but they each get a shiny trophy and a bunch of pixxie's and my hard-earned points, so NO CONGRATS FOR YOU!

    After reading the scores, I noticed that numbers 4-8 were on the second tier by themselves so I added HMs. If anybody wants to know how we scored this contest please ask me. You can ask pixxie too, but she'll just ask me anyway, so save her the time.

    I'd like to thank pixxie publicly too. We've both been away from the site for a while, but hopefully that will change. We're both REALLY good poets; I assure you.

    Everyone take care. Wait for more contests by me. Oh look! There's one up right now! Interesting...

    Good night and as always, pen on.

    s.w.i.m.

Contest Winners

  1. Error: Unable to find finalist item 5113467, it seems to have been deleted :( [remove]
  2. Battle-Royale
    by Kelsey-Jo 16 lines, 4 comments, on Feb 25 1:08 AM. In Sad, Love, Nature
    Silver trophy winner
    • Commented on by judge. [remove]
  3. Lost and Found
    I saw a lonely girl today
    A stranger, I suppose
    by Gwenevere 47 lines, 8 comments, on Feb 23 3:50 PM. In Dark, Hope
    Bronze trophy winner
    • Commented on by judge. [remove]
  4. No Sex, No Drugs, No Suicide.
    by Black Narcissus 23 lines, 6 comments, on Feb 22 1:34 AM. In Humor
    Honorable mention
    • Commented on by judge. [remove]
  5. who needs a white horse anyway?
    by going nowhere 31 lines, 23 comments, on Feb 27 1:40 AM
    Honorable mention
    • Commented on by judge. [remove]
  6. Salute to an Unknown Firefighter
    Wearily, he adjusts his goggles and goes in again,
    back into the roaring, scalding, jaws of hell.
    by LittleMoon 24 lines, 10 comments, on Feb 21 5:15 PM. In Life, Nature, Thoughts, Bravery
    Honorable mention
    • Commented on by judge. [remove]
  7. Flavored Poison
    by AutumnsFlame 26 lines, 31 comments, on Feb 21 5:33 PM
    Honorable mention
    • Commented on by judge. [remove]
  8. The Reason I Rhyme
    Unwind my mind and you will find
    a kind old soul, with which to bind.
    by WordsDoMatter 34 lines, 4 comments, on Feb 22 6:52 AM. In poetry, rhyming, funny
    Honorable mention
    • Commented on by judge. [remove]

Entries [32]

1 - 32 of 32

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Comments

1 - 6 of 6

  • Wandering Woodchuck silver member
    February 21
    Edit | Reply
    I feel that the terms of this contest were written by someone that has read my mind. I too write only in rhyme and am offended by some to the virulently anti rhyme contests. I also like free verse, but never write it (other than haiku). Great concept. I will be back to finish.

    Mike


  • Bosiarbooger gold member
    February 21
    Edit | Reply
    sweet a few people like me on AP out of over 900 poems written in a year 9 of them are free verse. I entered a contest for rhymers to write free verse and was criticized for sounding like a rhymer DUH... Glad to see my brethern in rhyme still exist. Power to the rhymer, sorry I got caught up in rhyme. Boog


    • Exit-Stage-Right
      March 4
      Edit | Reply
      Yeah, that was me... We were trying to get rhymers to immerse themselves in free verse... cut the strings to four-line stanzas and internal rhyme, etc. Every entry was free verse, but some entries (yours and others) still had vestiges of rhyming structure and format. Sorry, I didn't mean it to be mean or anything... just noting that it wasn't as free from structural constraints as it could have been.

      Peace, man! You offered good pieces in spite of trace elements of your forté.


  • Frodofan silver member
    February 28
    Edit | Reply
    That happens to me all the time. I've pretty much stopped entering contests because of it unless someone I know hosts one and I get the notification or - like today - I'm bored out of my mind.


  • Adelaine
    March 6
    Edit | Reply

    Good contest.

    I love your concept. I dunno why, but my poems always rhyme...in a way.

    I find beauty in rhyme that comes out naturally...


  • AliceinPoetryLand gold member
    March 10
    Edit | Reply
    Congratulations to the winners and thank you for hosting
    Gaylene

1 - 6 of 6