Subject Poetry Contest.

LET THE SONG BE SUNG

Let the song be sung
when the fingers weave the twilight,
when the moon rises from her bath
and the stars try not to peep.

Let the song be sung
whenever shadows gather,
when the twisting shades entwine
and the night strides out on stage.

Let the song be sung
and the stars and planets tango
while the North Wind whistles his applause
and the ghosts come out to play.

Let the song be sung
from throats and tongues unseen
telling all the sorrowful tales
of the way things are—and must ever be…

Pendragon
(C) 2000

I'll give this contest 1-more week - final entries by 12:00 mid-night tSst ( tailor STATELY standard time ) February 7th.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

Pianissimo
A whisper of
Smoke
A shadow
A ghost
Massive in its
Fragility

Crescendo
It swells
Builds
Overlaps itself
And folds over
Enveloping
The world
In sound

Fortissimo
The grand
Moment
The epiphany
Ringing out
Echoing in
Triumpth
Silencing all else
Deafening

Fermata
Infinity
The sound pours out
Forever
Into
Oblivion

Rest
Sound still
Ringing
In the silence

Pianissimo

Diminuendo
Fades gently
And
Dies

*crickets chirping*

Again, my apology. I needed time away from the web. Will render judgment soonest.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tailor STATELY

Again, my apology. I needed time away from the web. Will render judgment soonest.

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welcome back tailor STATELY:wave:

Thank you cacian.

So many wonderful poems. I enjoyed them all. In order:

Dark Muse - Passionate and poignant.

YesNo - A wonderful synchronicity.

cacian - If I might hazard a modest rewrite:

music is the wave
that drifts you away
to a world of uptunes,
decibels of sounds
filters your rays
and sweetens
your sways.................................... (I had a vision of dance while reading)

melody is the ring
that takes you afar
as high as the
sighs and
strings you along
in a line
of rhythm and light.......................... an allusion back to "waves" and "rays" earlier

Pendragon - I really liked this poem. What distracted me was the date (please forgive me).

moonbird - I must say that the last line "Diminuendo Fades gently And Dies" was a bit abrupt for me. Perhaps: Diminuendo Fades gently and yet live on in one's mind...
or something to convey that the music lives on even when not at the auditory level.
.
.
.
And the winner is: Dark Muse... Congratulations !

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

Thank you! I will have a new subject posted soon.

Thank you very muchtailor STATELY.
I agree the poem needed a rewrite and it reads better now!:)


congratulations Dark Muse :hurray:

congratulations Dark Muse

Thank you cacian and Pendragon!

Ok next subject is Photograph

Tentative Deadline is March 15th

Frozen image, forever chained
A moment in time where time has no meaning
People long gone, events long past
Captured for posterity by light and film
The windows of the soul, sealed in a golden frame
Watch over me daily from grandma's wedding day
Dad looking so young, my mom at sixteen--
He has passed death's barrier, and she's gone grey
That little boy with the ball and bat
Now has kids of his own, and even grandkids
I stare at our photograph, and wish from my heart
That time really could stand still for us...

Pendragon
(C) 2012

Memory Required

I wish I brought my camera but
I left it in the car.
The leaves were changing by that fall,
The river flowed, the sun pushed all
Our futures from us far.

A picture would be better but
My mind will have to do
Recalling on this winter's day
Those times now gone, the very way
I felt while there with you.

an image came into the light
and caught on time a camera lense
it flashed a ray of colour pearls
and turned into picture frame
a perfect shape
a perfect place
the view it paused was scarlet fame

There is no time
Only a memory

Our smiles are frozen
Captured and printed
Colors enhanced
Flaws corrected

Immaculate
Eyes glittering in the
Artificial sunshine
Toes in gritty sand
Bleached white

Arms around each other
A ruse of affection
A white lie
To make life sweeter
With a bitter aftertaste

Manufactured beauty
False perfection

The camera flashes
Whirs

We pull away

Thank you all, this was tough as there were some really good entries.

YesNo: I liked the way in which you created the idea of a mental picture, and I thought there was a touch humor in the idea of having forgotten your camera. The end I found to be quite touching. I really enjoyed you capturing the changing of the seasons, but I have to say I did find some of the line breaks a bit awkward in reading.

cacian: I thought this was a beautiful poem. There was something quite original about it and I loved some of the descriptive language you used. I particularly enjoyed the line "it flashed a ray of color pearls" I liked how you captured that moment of the picture being taken. Rather than just describing the picture itself I liked the way this seemed to be from the point of the view of the one behind the camera snapping the photograph.

moonbird: I loved this poem you used some great and powerful language to convey your thought. And I very much appreciated the fact that your poem reflected my own cynical view that I often take towards photographs. I very much enjoyed your point of view on the subject. I really liked these lines "A white lie To make life sweeter With a bitter aftertaste" I also really enjoyed the ending, it leaves the reader something to ponder about, it left me with questions about the people in the photograph and what there story was. I like the things which one could read into the poem.

But the winner is...........


Pendragon: I thought you did an excellent job in creating the essence of a photograph. The first lines really leapt out at me and caught my attention enticing me to want to read more and I thought the last lines were a fitting end which rounded off the poem. You had such vivid language which captured the feelings of melancholy which a photo can often create and using words were able to create a mental picture in the mind.

Congratulations Pendragon ! and everyone else; what wonderful poems.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

Thank you DarkMuse for the feedback!
congratulations Pendragon!:smile5:

Thank you, DarkMuse, and one and all.

I want the next contest to focus on REMEMBERING, for good times, or for struggles. Good luck, God bless, and Best wishes.

I'll tell you something,
And make it good,
A day in the life,
Of a memory's bad mood.

It starts with knowing,
You've got it all figured out
Check off the list,
Leaving no doubt.

As the day wears on,
There's one thing amiss
Then another and another,
Who says ignorance is bliss?

Suddenly it seems that
You're losing your mind,
And you thought that your memory
Was one of a kind

Well,
Turns out you were right. :D

Finally Getting Over It

Remembering what Joey did
With his sweet Suzy lingers on
Except he's now no longer mad
But glad that crazy Suzy's gone.

in the beginning there was nothing
in the middle there was something
and in the end it was little but known
that remembering synergies of love
is everything that meant,went and
faded against a sentinelle of laughter
the make up of faster safer and better
if only the end was lighter
it would make a figure say louder
the words that lay hidden in jouster
if only the middle was later
the beginning would have waited
longer
remembering each moment that
spheres around us
for us
and reaches up to us
in motions of slow
in time for a new
end

Good and bad the laden spirit carries through its time,
and through its time the laden spirit carries right and wrong.

It reads those rights, it rights those wrongs,
it tries, it falls, it makes up songs.

The laden spirit carries these.

Of swings or things,
she wore an abundance of sunflower rings,

her love was that of a dove,
when she hugged me,
we were as snug as a slug in a miniature golfers glove,

But once upon a stormy afternoon,
I sat till dusk and let my hopes flutter high like a balloon,
my devotion was met with no one but a silence which was that of doom,
and so she left me and my heart would begin to stutter,

so now i sit and recollect,
of days gone and when emotions did collide,
and how my love is now a sunken wreck,
which is why i am alone,

becuase no matter how far anyone will trek,
no one may ever resurrect a defected heart like mine,

______________________________________________
whoever made this post is awesome...

Hello, so I'm very uncreative so please forgive my amateurish attempt:


Thinking of that summertime
How I wish I could forget
You made me a daisy-chain
That night I ran and left
Now, when my memories fade
And my wish is coming true
I take out your wild gift
To remember me and you.



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Very nice entries, and wonderful to hear from new poets! Contest ends March 31. Keep 'em coming!

I don't know where to start.
If I start at the beginning
I'll have nothing to tell for a while
but then it'll end with a bang. But
if I start at the end the story will
slowly fizzle out like life
and hope and endings.

Dreams of the Dead

A remembrance
of the sunlight,
now becomes but a distant memory
muted and beyond reach,
a soft saffron dream
which seems ever more to begin
to abandon me, while existing
in eternal night.

Where there is silence
once there were voices,
a tickle like the rain never more seen,
or at moments a roar as the long
ago seas.

And how vivid was the color blue,
it was endless, but do I still
remember the subtle shades,
of has it been reduced now only
to a word within my mind,
an impression that once in the world
something known as blue existed.

There is no color here, there is nothing,
but the dark earthy smell of decay
and the cold comfort of solitude,
do I yet still remember childhood
aromas that lingered through the kitchen.

So it seems that the dead still do dream.

Oh, my dear girl,
My mother whispers softly,
How I miss those sweet days
When you were so young
And I would sing to you
To make you go to sleep.

Oh, dearest mother,
I think but do not say,
How I miss those lost days
When you were so pretty
And knew very well
That you'd never sung to me.

Contest now closed. Extremely close race, hardest decision I've ever made in a poetry judging! Here goes:

BookBeauty Welcome to the contest 1Loved these lines:

Quote:

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As the day wears on,
There's one thing amiss
Then another and another,
Who says ignorance is bliss?

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YesNo A captivating hilarious poem! :rofl:

Quote:

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Remembering what Joey did
With his sweet Suzy lingers on
Except he's now no longer mad
But glad that crazy Suzy's gone.

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cacian Wonderful beginning!

Quote:

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in the beginning there was nothing
in the middle there was something
and in the end it was little but known

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jajdude

Great lines here:

Quote:

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Good and bad the laden spirit carries through its time,
and through its time the laden spirit carries right and wrong
....The laden spirit carries these.

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Thomas Novosel First, welcome to the competition! you had some fantastic lines:

Quote:

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so now i sit and recollect,
of days gone and when emotions did collide,
and how my love is now a sunken wreck,
which is why i am alone,

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Veho Welcome to the competition, good to have you! Not the least bit amateurish! Loved this:

Quote:

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I take out your wild gift
To remember me and you.

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breathtest Very strong beginning:

Quote:

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I don't know where to start.
If I start at the beginning
I'll have nothing to tell for a while
but then it'll end with a bang.

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Dark Muse Always your sweet, lovable, macabre self!

Quote:

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There is no color here, there is nothing,
but the dark earthy smell of decay
and the cold comfort of solitude,
do I yet still remember childhood
aromas that lingered through the kitchen.

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moonbird I won't hesitate to declare your poem virtually perfect for this contest. Two memories, same event, differing perspective! Bravo! :hurray::hurray::hurray:YOU ARE THE WINNER! :hurray::hurray::hurray:

And moonbird's winning poem once more:

Quote:

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Oh, my dear girl,
My mother whispers softly,
How I miss those sweet days
When you were so young
And I would sing to you
To make you go to sleep.

Oh, dearest mother,
I think but do not say,
How I miss those lost days
When you were so pretty
And knew very well
That you'd never sung to me.

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Pendragon thank you for the feedback.
moonbird well done and congratulations!!!:hurray:

Yes, thank you for your comments, Pendragon. :)
Well done, moonbird! Well-deserved!

Thank you! Wow, I almost didn't enter this one, but I'm glad I did.

Our next subject will be macabre.
Deadline April 20.

I hope to get lots of entires. Good luck everyone!

Disposing of the Remains After the Interrogation

The lack of sleep wakes sadness to its grind
Of nervous pacing, wishing he were fed.
He's blamed but then he can't hear what they said
And words that weaken spirits are not kind.
His anus opens as they hope to find
If they could squeeze some shame into his head,
And blows make sure that sleeping on the bed
Would make him wish they'd knife him from behind.

And then there comes that final contact on
His head which breaks without a warning shout.
Their spit now stains his blood that flows around.
His wife's in pain and wonders where he's gone,
But should they care if she cannot find out?
They'll lay him where he never will be found.

Danse Macabre

Around the silent headstones
in the cold moonlight,
burnished bones gleaming with unearthly glow;
they dance to the beating
of each fearful heart that’s pleading
for this nightmare to simply vanish! Enough!
But as the rat-tat-tat of the heart continues
and the blue lights flicker
on the top of every tomb,
the shades weave in and out of shadows
in a ghastly tarantella,
the moonbeams dancing with them
in unrestrained revelry.
The heartbeats pick up the tempo
and the dancers keep the rhythm,
finger bones all clattering, clinking
like Spanish castanets;
whirling, spinning, bowing
‘til the heart reaches a crescendo,
and the sleeper jerks awake
with a horror filled scream!

Pendragon

Lost Beyond the Sea

Annabel Lee, she haunts me
in my dreams, her name a whisper
within the night, the death bringer
upon owl wings, hath stolen her
soul away.

Yet her eyes, as dark as the
waters of the sea, drawing me forth
into the abyss, burn through me
in accusation, and as I breathe
I know I am condemned.

The Hanged Man, my shadow
waits upon the black sands of the
hour glass, he grins contemptuously,
bitter the laughter of the Fool of the Damned.

What I have lost, that can never be found,
I watched her slip away from me,
my Annabel Lee, a wisp in the wind.

They came for her as I knew they would,
it had been foretold by the gypsy's fortune,
and the night before I awoke amid raven
feathers.

Rather would I embrace oblivion
than move corpse like through another
day, while the nights are a torment to me
for how her name, my Annabel Lee haunts
my sleep.....

These are your bones, I presume,
and those of your children

While I step over them and recall
how well they tasted,
I feel no sympathy.

I was hungry then and I still am,
the meat was good but they were rude.

They cried while I enjoyed the food.

Reminder that the contest ends April 20th. Keep those macabre entries flowing in!

Last Will

Weave a hammock
Out of my hair
For the oak tree.

Then Pull my skin,
And write on it
My saddest poem.

Dry my guts
And make leis
Of sweet marigolds.

Into the sea,
Let my blood flow
With the waves.

Leave my flesh
For the garden ants
Not for the vultures.

With my bones,
Grow roses and lilies
For my dead eyes.

Results time!

YesNo: That may be the creepiest sonnet I have ever read. Not a form I would have expected for this subject. Way to think outside the box.

Pendragon: I actually was thinking of Danse Macabre when I suggested this subject. Great minds think alike! I definitely enjoyed your poem.

Dark Muse: I expected you to do well with this subject, and I wasn't disappointed. Very grim, very dark. Well done.

jajdude: Is it just me, or it is impossible to read this poem without picturing it being recited from Hannibal Lector in "Silence of the Lambs"? I love how you completely made it work with so few words.

And the winner is...

mikayo73: The other pieces were great but yours stood out to me. By far the creepiest, most macabre entry, in my opinion. I simply loved it. I look forward to reading many more of your pieces in the future!