YOUR PROMPT:
Write an autobiographical poem.
OR
If you can't write about yourself, or feel you have nothing interesting to share (but really, anything is interesting to me!!!) - you may write a biography about someone else.
Not too hard, right?
It can be about a singular moment or event that shaped or defined your life --- or about your entire life!
Any subject, any style, any length. Have at it!
That's right, I'm giving no length restrictions - write hundreds of lines if you must.
You can even write in prose, if poetry doesn't do your story justice.
JUST REMEMBER: I LIKE DETAILS!!!
I'm incredibly nosy and I'd like to know as much as you are willing to share.
If a shorter, somewhat vague poem - please give story background in author's notes - if you're not comfortable with that, it's okay. Just say "I take the fifth" and I'll understand.
People, and their lives, fascinate me. I read more biographies/autobiographies than anything else (besides textbooks and poems). So this should be fun!!!
MORE POINTS AND TROPHIES WILL BE ADDED AS I FIND ENTRIES DESERVING!!! 
Give it your best shot!
Contest is Over
- Contest was judged on October 13, 2008
- Rewards: Gold: 300, Silver: 150, Bronze: 100, Honorable mention: 5 people
- Final notes: You guys made this sooooo difficult! I wanted to give a trophy to EVERYONE!
The Gold Winner ("Metaphorically Me" by Rowan) was just amazing and really spoke to my soul. It's a perfect metaphor! I'm jealous I didn't think of it first.
The Silver Winner ("Girl" by Stride) took me completely by surprise as it was one of the last entries I read and was one of the best by far. Tragic, yet captivating read full of lucid descriptions.
The Bronze Winner ("In Flight (Adult)" by CaliOkie) was expertly penned and brimming with explosive imagery. If you haven't read his work, you should definitely do yourself a favor and visit CaliOkie's page.
The first HM ("Stained Lips" by RiotProof) was like looking at a photo album full of stark, high-contrast black and white photos with touches of electric red... so vivid, so imagistic... it is enchanting in a heart-wrenching way.
The other HMs are in no particular order, but you all did an absolutely wonderful job.
What impressed me the most in this contest was how brightly you guys all shine and how strong you are despite all you have been through.
Contest Winners
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Tender bud, no shelter from the storm.
These heavy rains were thought to be the norm.• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
How do you tell a story that has not yet ended?
So many beginnings and endings,• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
A year ago, this week
my first poetry bookby voodoo ink 35 lines, 16 comments, on Sep 22 8:19 PM 2008. In life, thoughts, personal, pain, happy, autobiography
Honorable mention
• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
three words needed
to describe the best man I've ever known• Commented on by judge. [remove] - Error: Unable to find finalist item 4615753, it seems to have been deleted :( [remove]
Gold trophy winner
Silver trophy winner
Bronze trophy winner
Entries [13]
1 - 13 of 13
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Born to a mother and father that prayed
for many years to have another child.• Commented on by judge.
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More than one entry okay??
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as many as you'd like to enter!!!
enter ten times if you wish! or twenty! I LOVE biographies. -
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LoL!
There are so many interesting people I could write about.
Hmm...I guess I wouldn't be able to write about strangers and what I THINK might be their lives then?? -
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Of course you could!!! That would be interesting and amusing!
I love that idea actually. That could almost be a separate contest - but I'll just leave it as part of this one. -
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Man, you have the most kick-ass contests. You
Gotta bookmark...where do you come up with these awesome ideas for contests anyways?
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I generally get the ideas for poems first - and if I can't do anything with them, or don't feel like attempting it, I just host a contest off the idea.
I figure it's more fun to share the inspiration anyway. -
That's what happened with the mythology one, anyway.
I've been wanting to do an autobiography one for a while now. -
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Psssh, you can write about myths...yourself...and make it good.
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I'm working on it.
My inspiration was specifically Andromeda.
I remembered this oldie-goldie movie I used to watch when I was little about Andromeda being sacrificed to the monster in the sea...
I thought of that in the shower this morning.
My mind has been racing with ideas all day long - all week long actually - but nothing can materialize from them.
I think I'm having some mixed mood swings. I feel a bit manic and a bit depressed at the same time - which isn't good for anything. LOL. Hmm...
Well I go back on meds this week, so hopefully it will all level out. -
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LoL...when I'm taking a crap or I'm in the shower...I often get ideas.
Actually, I get ideas wherever I go--it's pretty annoying, but I love it at the same time.
Well...I reckon mood swings would lead to interesting poetry.
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LOL. You sound like me.
Well... they can... but they can hinder greatly also.
Mixed moods are terrible for everything in your life. You're too damn frazzled to accomplish anything. I write best mildly depressed or hypomanic - but when I have a bit of both I can't keep with one line of thought long enough to finish anything.
It's like one half my mind is at war with the other - half feels exuberant and euphoric, while the other half is bitterly battling against that with despair and angst.
At times, my poetry seems unfocused and I lose that cherished ability to see a theme and metaphor all the way through - those poems were more than likely written in severe mixed states.
The worst part about mixed states is they're very volatile for me. One moment I'll be laughing and giddy, five minutes later I'm crying, then ten minutes later I'm laughing again. It's bizarre, confusing and frustrating for friends and family who have to witness it. So I tend to avoid people if possible, when like this.
Also, I'm usually most self-destructive during more severe mixed states. During severe depression, you may want it all to end, but you don't have the energy or thought-process to actually go through with it. But when you have severe depression mixed with a little mania - you have all those feelings along with the energy and impulsivity to do it. All three of my suicide attempts were during mixed states.
So yeah... let's hope this ends before it gets bad. LOL.
I just slipped into it today, so it's all good so far. -
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Well, I still think it'd be interesting to read poetry at your state (I hate using the word 'state' because it makes you sound disfigured or something LoL, which you're definitely not--it's the limitations of English, okay). Like...it's a genuine view of how you feel, not just something meant to be poetic, right?
But yeah...I think I get what you are saying.
You KNOW I'd kill you if you tried to commit suicide Phoenix...
I hope it ends for you soon.
Damn, this conversation box is getting too small!
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LOL... wonder how small it gets???
Thanks - glad to know you'd still find it interesting. Though you'd bitch about all the little incongruencies.
LOL... wouldn't it be hard to kill the dead?
If I did it again - I think I'd do it as a measure of finality and leave no chance for survival. With pills, slitting wrists, etc., you always have a chance of being discovered and revived. There are other ways that leave no window of opportunity.
But I'm not suicidal now - and I'm being closely watched by friends, family and a vigilant psychiatrist and attentive therapist. So... no worries. If I took one step in that direction they'd take action to prevent it.
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You think I'm that bitchy?
Eh, I probably am...
Hey, don't question my empty threats! They're full of sincerity.
*gets out pole-ax*
Hehehe.
Good to know that... A psychiatrist would kind of be like...the "mind doctor" and a therapist talks to you???
Although of course...you'd "talk" to both of them.
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LOL. I didn't say you were bitchy. I said you would complain about mistakes I'd certainly make and incongruencies in my logic.
You're not bitchy - you're just more intelligent than most people, more honest, and more thorough. Not a bad thing... I have a lot of respect for you.
Pole-ax??? Interesting choice of weapon.
Psychiatrists diagnose disorders and write prescriptions. Therapists help you and your family come up with a plan to cope with your illness, and help you get past any other issues you may have.
I want to be a therapist. I'd love to be a psychiatrist - but I don't think I could get through med school (not because I'm not intelligent enough, because it's too demanding physically and I crack under pressure) - besides, I wouldn't want that much responsibility and liability.
My psychiatrist is actually kinda hot. Very soft spoken, thick ash blonde hair, strangely ambivalent eyes (they seem to be constantly shifting colors and shades - I can never tell if they're blue, brown, green - light or dark - but they're always intense and gorgeous), a nice smile, good body, well-dressed, sometimes he wears glasses which only adds to the impression of extreme intelligence....
wow... listen to me!!!! He is cute though. -
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Respect, for me? Oh, okay then...
You know what cracked me up..."Interesting choice of weapon." It looked so disjunct out of everything you said...funny. 
I think the pole-ax is pretty badass.
You know. Theoretically. I'm not going to go back in time and kill hordes of people, seeing as that's not possible.
Yeah, I remember you talking about wanting to be a therapist--you'd be awesome!! I could tell you about my petty "problems" and you'd nod along and say, "And how does that make me feel?" (Just kidding--I'm pretty sure real-life therapists are not that generic.)
You're married!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
If you can't tell eyes are light or dark...wow, that has to ambivalent. How is that humanly possible?
Niftyyyyy!
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I know!!! My husband is hot too!
I just have a thing for shrinks - and he's absolutely delectable --- but extremely cautious and professional. So don't get any ideas. LOL.
Yeah... it's fascinating. One day they'll look like that piercing light green, the next they're kinda bluish-brown, and sometimes they're just a dark gray - I guess hazel is the correct color term.
Sometimes he has very, very dark circles under his eyes and looks a bit unnaturally pale (this coming from me - the ivory-skinned girl). That's when his eyes are dark.
When he looks more rested and healthy, they're lighter and quiet beautiful.
It's no wonder he looks exhausted sometimes, though - the man is a professor of psychiatry, the head of another college's student mental health deparment, the head of a christian nonprofit counseling program, and a private practice psychiatrist with evening and weekend hours... when does he sleep or eat????
It doesn't matter - even when he look unhealthy, he's gorgeous in his own intellectual kind of way. -
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Hazel seems to imply that his eyes are only brown/green, and it doesn't sound like the case from what you wrote there...
You've been staring, evidently.
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yeah...
I love to stare at people's eyes... and it's hard to miss his.
There were two guys I went to high school with that had these insanely intensely brilliant eyes. One was Nick, who had jet black hair and these piercing turquoise colored eyes under thick black lashes. The other had dark honey blonde hair with these brilliant light green eyes - they were gorgeous!!! Nobody on TV has eyes that compare to these guys'. -
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Maybe you need to watch more TV...I mean, celebrities are real people.
LMAO...well, some of them, anyways.
Staring at good-looking people in general is coolio.
Or cute puppies and kitties and bunnies and horsies and unicorns.
Haha
This conversation box is a MIDGET!!! -
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LOL. I know... I wonder how small it will let us get it?
I watch a lot of movies. I look at a lot of photographs. Even photoshopped - I've never seen eyes that met the intensity of Nick's or the brilliance of Billy's.
Two very gorgeous guys - but both were nothing but trouble.
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This has to be the smallest or second smallest conversation box I've ever had...
LoL...I guess intensity/brilliance depends on the person, though I wouldn't question your judgment.
I think Wentworth Miller has cool eyes.
Although...I think eye shape accounts more than eye color, since you can't really change that.
Man...I wish genuinely purpley-black eyes existed. Why can't we have a mutation like that in genes?
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Sounds like a good idea..
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I hope it will turn out to be
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I am sure it will...I have bookmarked it!
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My entire life? Hell no
That would take so many pages and
it would bore people to death
I wrote one in college that nearly killed the instructor. He did not include any length so I wrote a short novel. Got a good grade but pissed him off as well
However, this sounds like fun
Bookmarked for sure and thinking
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ahhhh you could never bore me....
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This is an interesting contest. I am bookmarking it.
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wonderful! please enter as many times as you'd like!
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Do we get one on you?
KIDDING!
Bookmarked
Looks like fun
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Actually - I was thinking about asking Kevin if we could add a "journal" application - much like the "column".
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Sounds like an idea most would like
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Wow
this could end up quite long lol. -
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lol... that's ok
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http://allpoetry.com/poem/3772754
http://allpoetry.com/poem/4008535
These are a couple of prewrites I already had done if you are interested in reading. Thanks, Patty
Great idea for a contest!
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