Form Poem Contest

White bear's last footprint
An invisible banner
Rippling in the heat

Good going, Fifth! :thumbs_up

Grasshopper in fields
now reaped of their new harvest
will starve without food...

we live entangled,
in the restless sleep of God,
dreams in a dim room

Lots of good entries so far - keep them coming! There's still plenty of time before the deadline of 3rd October.

Haiku! bless you!

The whisked air rumbles
Apollo's plot, as light whips
his chariot on.

Don't forget to submit your haiku before the deadline of 3rd October!!!

you and i tumble
into illusions of love
the summer was ours...

scarlet scaling the
morning sky, cardinal bathes
in the golden sun

Thanks lucid & quimmi :)

Just a few hours to go, get you're Haiku in now (you've got to be in it to win it...or so the National Lottery say!)

This yellowing leaf
Bathing in October light -
How long will it last?

The contest is now closed for entries.

Now the hard work begins ;)

Apologies for the delay, and thanks to everyone who entered a haiku into the contest. The standard has been really high, every haiku submitted is a winner in my book.

I hope you don't mind but in view of the shortness of the form I wasn't planning to comment on each one. All the haiku submitted were excellent, beautiful images in their own right, and there's such an excellent range of themes here that it is hard to say anything other than everyone who's entered has done a brilliant job.

Needless to say the choice has been extremely difficult.

So, I'll stop blathering, except to say that the winner is.....

......


....wait for it.....


***Windblown***

With a neat little haiku, perfectly capturing the decay of autumn with a single yellowing leaf. And leaving pause for thought too. An excellent haiku.

As the all were.

Congratulations, and thank you to everyone who took part.

Windblown, could you select the next form?

Congrats, Windblown... *grin* don't leave us in suspense too long...

Way to go Windblown!

Thank you, Fifth and autolycus and congratulations to all the others who wrote such wonderful haiku.

Well the next form is a rondeau, an old French form most of you will know from the famous "In Flanders Fields". I'll explain how it works in rhymes:

Go, grab your pen and write with me
The form that I'll explain to thee.
It's a rondeau in thirteen lines,
Two rhymes repeated and it shines
Like golden sunlight on the sea.

Oh, I forgot, here is the key
To your success: You are not free
With the beginning; it defines
(Go, grab your pen)

What stays in mind when mem'ries flee
And while you sip your cup of tea
You see a poppy that enshrines
An echo of the form in lines
That say "Go, drop your sword" to me,
"Go, grab your pen!"

Ah, the deadline: Let's say 10th November - and good luck!

Congratulations, Windblown.
Here's my poem.


One Night I Spent in Mexico

One night I spent in Mexico
En route to Brazilian gay tablearx.
I arrested all my expectations
Based on sincere felicitations
Offered in a massive show,

A massive show the humble know
And celebrate and live and grow
Asking for no consolations,
One night I spent...

As they did, partaking with the low,
Feasting on the bread and crow,
Counting the hours and aggregations
'Til I left their congregations.
Soul in hand and heart in tow.
One night I spent...

Congratulations Windblown. Your haiku was very neatly done-capturing a season with a single image.

The years we spent upon the Wall
Were not the dreams we dreamt at all
The runs upon the Scottish banks
The more and frequent lack of thanks
For nervous evenings spent on call...

We stood our duty straight and tall
With regulations large and small
We formed up companies in ranks
"Strike low, aim high!"

But now the spaces in the hall
Will never fill the crumbling Wall
We feel the wet breeze on our flanks
As they come rolling up the banks
"Strike low, aim high!"

=====
Note: Ha, someone suggested I should call this 'Wall Street Blues'. Tsk.

Hey, you are swift - two entries on the first day already, and really good ones. But please make my task harder and come up with some more of those rondeaus.

The years I wasted bemoaning fate,
Until I realized, almost too late,
A diamond never really shines
Until it is cut, and then it almost blinds
The years I wasted, just contemplate...

With voluminous tongue I could relate
The many outrages of fickle fate—
But fate it seems comes in different kinds…
(The years I wasted!)

Anger and pain will finally themselves sate,
And sorrow will have its filled-up plate;
But a single sunbeam always reminds
Me to not shut down my blinds…
The time I saved is twice as great!
(The years I wasted!)

Pendragon
© Saturday, October 11, 2008

Spare the gestures. Take my golden dream.
Hear the sound of hearts that scream?
I beg, don’t take what’s mine from me,
Leave a thousand dreams in the debris,
Watch our riches flow downstream.

I found the gold-a rich seam
Just yearning to be mined-to gleam;
You, instead, slashed the artery.
Spare the gestures.

Don’t you mind your recurring theme?
That you are just what you seem?
Pirate, dreamthief, by your decree
You alone will turn the key.
Night is nigh in your regime.
Spare the gestures.

Hey Pendragon, I really like your poem. It is so easy to regret . But it is one of those childish things we must put away if we are to move on.

Congratulations, Windblown! Fifth made a good choice.

Hey, all these poems, (including the sample) have 14 not 13 lines! Great poetry form anyway and wonderful answers to it. Your choice may be hard! ;)

Drat, Dragon, you found me out. I must confess I'm hopeless with numbers and I simply did not check the way the lines are counted in a rondeau. So in my sample poem I actually forgot a line (I've mended that now). Here then, to make confusion complete, are the rules again in prose:
- A rondeau has thirteen lines plus the rentrement or refrain that picks up the first part
of the first line and inserts it at the end of the second and third stanzas.
- Ideally it is in iambic tetrameter or pentameter, but I think we can leave this
optional.

Of course, the fault is mine and all the really fantastic rondeaus minus a line that you sent in have the same chances to win this contest as any that will follow with the correct line count. Indeed, the choice is hard already, but please make it harder still by posting more of the same high standard.

“Rondough”

We have no cash, that much we know.
The well-heeled world may pump and crow
and show us shoes that we can't buy.
We seek our values in the sky
which banks the sun’s rich golden glow.

We're truly poor, but profits grow
with fluid springs and falling snow.
Wealth grows on trees, so it’s a lie
we have no cash.

Why can't we be just like Thoreau
and live near a pond or river’s flow?
With Nature’s help our souls could try
to watch the birds and seasons fly.
But we won't move, and we can't go.
We have no cash.

There's still a week to go. So send in your rondeaux.

The contest is now closed for entries. It will be hard work to choose the winner, so leave me some time, please.

This was a very hard choice indeed. Five rondeaux of great beauty and depth:

alakungfu: What a night you describe! A Mexican fiesta full of colour and gloom.

autolycus: Wall Street Blues or Empires crumbling - your poem is open to all sorts of interpretations. It has a beautiful flow and captures the mood of the soldiers perfectly. The only flaw I can see (apart from the missing line, which is my fault entirely) is that your refrain does not take up the first half of the first line. I obviously did not make myself clear enough about that, sorry!

Pendragon: Your philosophical contemplation of wasted years is bittersweet. You use the form very convincingly here, even varying emphasis in the refrain. I especially like the second stanza about "fickle fate" and the image of the cut diamond in the first.

qimissung: Very poignant! I like the way you address the dreamthief who takes away everything that is valuable.

AuntShecky: Your "rondough" puts a very topical theme in this old-fashioned form and the outcome is wonderful. Your wordplay is just fantastic (well-heeled world - shoes we cannot buy; the sky which banks the sun's rich golden glow, etc.) as is the juxtaposition of economy and nature.

I like all of your poems, but I have to choose one as the winner. After days and days of pondering I want to congratulate AuntShecky on winning the rondeau-dough contest.
AuntShecky, choose the next form, please.

Apologies to all once again for the confusion I created about the form of the rondeau.

Holy tetrameter, Windblown! I can't believe this! Thank you very much, and special kudos to all who participated in this round.

For our next number, a form that might be fun to try is a song parody. Take a well-known tune and rewrite the existing lyrics, substituting the syllables and rhymes so that the melody can still be "sung" with the new words.

I've looked up this form to see if it is "safe" from a copyright perspective, and as far as I can see, song parodies fall under the definition of "fair use." This isn't for "commercial" purposes; we're not posting the music at all, and the lyrics won't be from the original song but they'll be brand-new by. . .you!

But in order for us fully to appreciate your parodies, you may want to choose an old song that's in the public domain so that most of us can recognize it. You can choose a Christmas carols, but that's not required. The more famous the original song, the better, though.

So, one more time:
1. Choose a song, and rewrite the lyrics.
2. The more the new topic veers from the original, the funnier the parody will be, but please keep the subject matter within the general Literature Network Forum rules.
3. Don't worry about length. It doesn't necessarily have to be as long as the original tune. Just a verse or two and the chorus will be fine.
4. Deadline will be January 2. I'll choose the winning entry shortly after that (as long as the ol' PC's still working next year.)

If you need more info, try this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parody_song

or you could always send me a "PM."

Good luck!

Sincerely,
Weird Aunt Yankovick

Congratulations AutoShecky

This is a take on Karen Carpenter's Song, "Solitaire". I confess, I'm not so good with humour; satire is more my thing. Here's my attempt.


Nonpareil

There was a man
A homely man
Who lost his faith
Through self-indulgence
With a face that cared
That went unspared
Until it cried of
Extra-divulgence

And nonpareil's the only name in town
And every string that ties him ties him down
While deep within he's desperate to transcend
Or generate amends
And steeped within himself he craves the day
A blip of static all the wage in pay
While style fares well without him every way
He's simply nonpareil

A single crow
Can steal the show
Steal presently
The strength of right
There was a man
A homely man
Who fought to own
The fabled night.

And nonpareil's the only name in town
And every string that ties him ties him down
While deep within he's desperate to transcend
Or generate amends
And steeped within himself he craves the day
A blip in static all the wage in pay
While style fares well without him every way
He's simply nonpareil.

And nonpareil's the only name in town
And every string that ties him ties him down
While style fares well without him every way
He's aptly nonpareil.






Solitaire

There was a man
A lonely man
Who lost his love
Through his indifference
A heart that cared
That went unshared
Until it died
Within his silence

And solitaire's the only game in town
And every road that takes him takes him down
And by himself it's easy to pretend
He'll never love again.
And keeping to himself he plays the game
Without her love it always ends the same
While life goes on around him everywhere
He's playing solitaire.

A little hope
Goes up in smoke
Just how it goes
Goes without saying
There was a man
A lonely man
Who would command
The hand he's playing

Chorus...

And solitaire's the only game in town
And every road that takes him takes him down
While life goes on around him everywhere
He's playing solitaire.

A funny take on Harry Belafonte's Banna Boat song

Food Cart

May-o, I say, may-o
Delight come and I want some mo’
May-o, I say, may-o
Delight come and I want some mo’

I dreamed all night of the food to come,
Delight come and I want some mo’
Stacks of pancakes with butter and syrup, yum!
Delight come and I want some mo’

Come, Mr. Waiter I got an order for you,
Delight come and I want some mo’
Eggs, toast, sausages, bacon, biscuits and gravy and coffee too,
Delight come and I want some mo’

There’s tuna salad, garden salad, sub sandwiches to munch,
Delight come and I want some mo’
Hamburgers, hotdogs, coleslaw, cake and punch
Delight come and I want some mo’

Big beautiful bunch of ripe bananas,
Watermelon, strawberries, cherries, pineapples with rum
Oranges, tangerines, oh! A big tarantula!
Delight come and I want some mo’

May-o, I say, may-o,
Delight come and I want some mo’
Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow! Oh!
Delight come I can’t eat no mo’!

That "Banana Boat" parody is really cute! Of course, now I'll hear the melody in my head all night and "day-o."

Anyway, I'd better make something clear. Optimally, we'll be choosing songs that most LitNetters already know; for that reason it is NOT necessary to post the original lyrics from the original song. Just post your own lyrics and tell us the title of the song which you are parodying.

Please remember what I said about copyright in the original rules.

Nevertheless, I hope we get some more parodies t before Jan. 2!

Thanks for judging, Pen! Congratulations to AuntShecky, and I shall shuffle off to parody some undeserving soul... *grin*

We need more entries! December has a way of vacuuming up time; the days are shorter. So please post your parodies before Jan. 2 sneaks up on us.

The original version of this song sung Judy Garland, was filled with sarcasm. In keeping with the true tradition of the song, I present the following.


Have yourself a wary little Christmas,
look both left and right,
what gets you may very well be out of sight.

Have yourself a wary little Christmas,
farewell, four oh one k,
red's the color of the season, anyway.

(refrain)
Now, unlike much more pleasant days,
mired in the ways of war,
let us pray that the Middle-East finds love and peace once more.

In the years to come let's live more simply,
pasture the cash cow,
until then we'll have to bail the b.astards out,
so have yourself a wary little Christmas now.

(refrain)
Two-Thousand-Nine is upon us soon,
the national lampoon retires.
All the pigs gathered at the trough, will be living off spare tires.

Santa Claus will have some new restrictions,
clearing customs now.
Rudolph's nose will surely beg the question, how,
but have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

Oh, thank you so much, Firefangled!
Your parody is witty and singable!

Let's have some more LitNetters join the fun.

Okay, so I'm ***BUMPING**** this to remind all the witty wunderkinds on the LitNet to take a break from their Yuletide
revels and try to write a parody. Music is in the air -- catch some
of it and write some alternative lyrics.

Deadline is January 2.

I'm wishing for a nice New Year's gift-- a package of parodies by LitNetters!

Six more days to post.

Friday is the last day to post a parody here.
Isn't there a song crying out for some alternative lyrics--
"Auld Lang Syne" for instance?