This is my third contest, and I wanted it to be a little different....to reflect what I most love about poetry. I gave it a lot of thought and decided that I would like to read poems that had a profound message, expressed concisely. I also want this poetry to be well written, and to speak to what I believe is poetic excellence.
Eunice Tietjens said (when asked to define poetry): "...the two chief characteristics of poetry are condensation and the heightened mood, the condensation which will not allow an unnecessary syllable, and the heightened mood which must make every syllable sing or slash."
Keats said, "Poetry should...strike the reader as a wording of his own thoughts, and appear almost a rememberence..."
And, of course, the Immortal Bard had to have his say on the matter:
“The poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothings
A local habitation and a name.”
The following is an example of what I believe to be concise poetry with a profound meaning:
Regret
By Alice E. Clear
Your gossamer bridge
Stretched across my path.
Being a woman,
I am grieved to see
Your frail web shattered.
I have a love for weavers,
And a grief for dreams.
Now, given definitions of poetry, the fact that I'm looking for poems that express profound meanings in a concise manner, and an example of a poem that I feel fits all these criteria, here're the rules:
1 - Pre-writes will be allowed but will be judged more harshly because by entering one you're telling me it fits all the criteria perfectly.
2 - Any form, style, or subject is acceptable, providing it meets the criteria listed above.
3 - Poems will be judged as to how well they fulfilled the criteria, poetic skill, and the basics of grammar, spelling, and vocabulary.
4 - Only two poems may be submitted per poet.
5 - I will not be making commentary on submissions until the end of the contest. I was originally going to just say "thank you for entering", but AP won't let me repeat a comment, and there're only so many ways I can think to say that.
Points will be awarded to all those winning trophies, as follows:
1st place - 350 pts.
2nd place - 100 pts.
3rd place - 50 pts.
I will list honorable mentions, if applicable, and they will each recieve 15 pts.
If you have any questions, please IM me. I hope that you will all have fun with this contest, and I'm looking forward to reading some wonderful poetry!
Thanks, in advance, for entering.
ATTENTION: Please pay attention to the rules and criteria for this contest: I have recived numerous entries already, the majority of which have not been at all concise. Profound & concise are what I'm looking for. Rambling poems without a clear and definitive underlying meaning just won't have a chance of winning. I also will not accept "verbal shorthand", such as "u" instead of "you". Poems with spelling errors are not acceptable either.
Contest is Over
- Contest was judged on March 1, 2004
- Rewards: Gold: 350
- Final notes: There were 51 entries to this contest, and I want to thank every one of you for the wonderful poetry you submitted. I spent many hours reading and rereading some beautiful, profound, and very thought provoking poetry. I feel I am the real winner in this contest.
I also want to issue the following "honorable mentions":
"See You in Court" by EarthToJim;
"Dreams of Heaven" by twistedpisces;
"Peace & Disquiet" by Asmearis;
"Sting and Infinity" by Renata; and,
"Anonymity" by whims.
Thank you all again for the beautiful poetry.Entries [19]
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Stumbling darkly through eternity,
seeking truth with covered eyes,• Commented on by judge. -
mirror, mirror, on the wall
who's the fairest one of all?by Springheel 2 lines, 4 comments, on Feb 5 9:50 AM 2004. In Other• Commented on by judge. -
I made a shock confession,
And the halls echoed with laughter• Commented on by judge. -
How come this wasted time,
Is such a lose on my side?• Commented on by judge. -
You told me that i had to change if i wanted in your group.
I can't change the way i am for you,by sogoodinblue 23 lines, 7 comments, on Feb 21 3:23 PM 2004. In Society• Commented on by judge. -
• Commented on by judge.
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A ten-ton hammer strikes the globe,
"Where's world peace?" its entreaty• Commented on by judge. -
I am powerless… until you let me in• Commented on by judge.
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Baking under floodlights,
Your bad taste in clothing splashed uponby AutoPilate 15 lines, 12 comments, on Feb 22 6:38 PM 2004. In Humor, Contemporary
Gold trophy winner
• Commented on by judge. -
Jesus' crucifixion,
Lost all benediction.• Commented on by judge. -
Rain creeping up my arms, knees pulling me down.
Lightning yo-yoing out, heaven spilling over its beam.by philophant 4 lines, 9 comments, on Feb 28 6:10 PM 2004. In Other• Commented on by judge. -
She'd led a good life
but something was missingby leannewales 15 lines, 6 comments, on Feb 28 8:37 PM 2004. In Spiritual• Commented on by judge. -
Love Comes flying on a wing,by Hoosierpoet 4 lines, 3 comments, on Feb 28 9:20 PM 2004. In Love• Commented on by judge.
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we laughed
at the sick idea of heartacheby lithiumsiren 6 lines, 5 comments, on Feb 29 8:13 PM 2004. In Personal, Love, Hope
Bronze trophy winner
• Commented on by judge. -
by Muffin Magic 2 lines, 1 comment, on Feb 29 10:51 PM 2004. In Personal• Commented on by judge.
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by Muffin Magic 6 lines, 2 comments, on Feb 29 10:58 PM 2004. In Other• Commented on by judge.
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Comments
1 - 15 of 15-
I just might enter this...
-enkou- -
A great contest. I will bookmark it and await the muse! Or I might just have to stalk her!
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Wonderful idea and I will take efforts to enter it.... ..it sounds like an excellent contest and I hope you get many entering!!
~~whims -
excellent
i'm looking forth to the entries for this.there are a few poets that i think will excel in this.i don't think i can,but reading the entries will be super.living up to your standards will definitely produce some terrific writes.a really excellent idea. -
Ooooh I have a couple prewrites I'm itchin' to enter in this one! However... I think I'll have to write an original too - just for you, dear Musey-Woozles!
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I'm gonna have to think about this... I think it takes a lot of effort to write a nicely packaged short poem. Thanks for the challenge!
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I'm not good enough to enter this contest, but I can't wait to read some entries you get for it.
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You never know what you can come up with until you try, sweets. I'd love to see an entry from you. I'm looking forward to reading all of them, too.
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Looks like this will be an interesting contest with lots of excellent poems to ruminate over I'm sure. Thanks and I love the fairy pic you choose for this!
~lonelyhowls -
Really Neat Idea for a contest! I'll try to enter ASAP.
Asmearis -
Muse
This is a wonderful contest and should be held up as an example of what a challenge should be. Yes there are rules to be followed. Yes there are expectations but that is why they call it a challenge, Otherwise you could ask for all interested to im you and you could just send the points now, (eenie meenie miney mo) and they could post the poems at a later date if they wanted and if not okay too. Not sure I'm up for the challenge I'm so not concise and profound lately but I do have a few days to get with it.
Desiree -
I'm not sure you got my im (sometimes I don't find mine until it's...too late for them to be very helpful). Just to let you know, it looks like I entered three peoms in this contest because I removed on and added another, but the one I removed is still showing up on the list. Please ignore the poem 'Idle Heart.' Thanks.
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i have the perfect prewrite so im going to submit that. right now im not feeling too profound, mainly tired and headached. Be as harsh as you'd like, however. Great Idea for a contest!
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Thank you so much!! for the trophy, and honorable mention, this was a wonderful contest. It isn't often that call for precision and profundity is made.. and this was a treat wanting both.. congratulations to all the winners and all who entered ..
~~whims -
Hmm, I thought this contest was for concise and profound poetry, but the gold and silver winners poems are not very concise. Somehow that doesn't seem quite fair to those of us who bore that in mind when we created our poems for this contest.
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