Subject Poetry Contest.

I taught this word to the kids the other day,
told them it was from the Japanese,
to Chinese 15 year olds with sparse English

Some frowned

I know others smiled.

Some themes that seem to recur through all the poems on the subject seem to resonate with the motifs occuring in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Kublai Khan" especially the following :

"Caves of ice" , "The shadow of the Dome of Pleasure Floated midway on the waves" (allusions to a boat or rather raft like craft ??).

The sunless sea seems to evoke images of a submerged river / ocean which is the bare remanant of a much vaster ocean of an earlier age

Also, the chasm seems to evoke images of cities / monasteries etc within mountains

I suppose there could be psychological allusions to the unconscious, both collective and individual.

Reminder: Contest ends Saturday, April 2nd! You still have time to enter on the subject tsunami.

Thanks for the submissions moonbird, Dark Muse, sundarramchand and jajdude!

Thanks, moonbird, Dark Muse, sundarramchand and jajdude for your entries.

moonbird, I liked the way you made the "I" character remain calm, waiting for the wave and describing it, while the others screamed.

Dark Muse, you provided a very interesting contrast between the single drop representing love in the first stanza and then the tsunami of love in the second.

sundarramchand, you introduced both a Hindu deity at the beginning with the "nataraja" and then ended with "Mohammed" and the ice mountain crossing the waters that I found intriguing.

jajdude, I sensed in the smiling and frowning of the different Chinese children as you explained the word "tsunami" to them that they represented different attitudes that the Chinese might have toward the Japanese today, although I might be reading too much into this.

They were all good, all worthy to win, but since I have to make a choice, the winner for this round is moonbird. Something about waiting patiently while the destructive water approached seemed particularly nice to me.

Congratulations, moonbird!

Well done moonbird.

Thank you! I will start thinking up a new subject...

Okay, here we go...

The next subject is Easter traditions.

And let's set the deadline for April 24, aka Easter Sunday!

Good luck everyone!

There wasn't much to eat that spring.
On Easter still she made a cake
Shaped like a lamb for them to eat
With hope for all this year would bring.
Although they don't hear angels sing,
They know they do. She made it sweet.

Ostara's Blessing

Beneath the first
full bloom of the moon
upon the Sabbath
of the vernal equinox
maidens blossomed in their
youth gather round
and diligently set about
painting Ostara's eggs
in colors more vibrant than
their beauty.

Her altar they arrange
decked in the flowers
of Spring, the first colors
to paint the world
out of the winter gloom.

Upon their sweet honey lips
they sing a melody
to their Goddess of Fertility,
with the hopes that they
may become so blessed
so like the moon their
wombs may grow.

Incarnates of the Goddess
creators of new life
to be brought from darkness
into the light.

Started with a cross, a place of pain
Death hovering close with its dreadful sting
The spirit flees, the body dies
A tomb is waiting to receive the body
Then came the dawn of Easter morn
Stone rolled away by angelic hands
They came to mourn, but they left rejoicing
Death could not conquer the risen Christ
He died for the world, erasing their sin
He lay in the grave to experience death
He rose victorious over sin, death, and the grave
To show us all that dying is not the end
"Living He loved me, dying He saved me,
Buried He carried my sins far away
Rising He justified freed me forever
One day He's coming, oh, glorious day!"


(The quote is from an old hymn know variously as "Glorious Day" or "Living He Loved Me" I do not know who the original author was. Casting Crowns does a wonderful version of the song.)

Three great entries so far!

Just a reminder, Sunday's your last day to submit poems. Keep em coming!

Thanks to everyone who participated. Each piece seemed to give its own original take on my vague challenge of "Easter traditions."

YesNo: Short, sweet, and to the point. Many words were not necessary to portray your pure message of Easter hope. I liked your original rhyme scheme, it gave the piece a nice structure. I especailly liked their simple hope as they couldn't hear the angels singing but "They know they do."

Pendragon: You took the religious route, and although personally I am agnostic I could still appreciate the pureness of your words. My mother is always saying that people get so caught up with the Easter bunny they forget the real reason for celebrating Easter, and you brought it all back nicely. Your quote from "Glorious Day" completed the piece's biblical feeling. Very well done.

All entries were beautiful, but one stood out just a little more for me, and the winner I must declare to be......

DARK MUSE! I must say your choice to base your poem on the goddess Ostara was a stroke of genius and really made your poem stand out for me with its originality. I actually had to Google her name before I remembered the whole story, and after that your whole piece made perfect sense to be. Seems no one really knows why we dye eggs on Easter. Your words were beautiful and mystical, and the third stanza espacially was simply breathtaking. Congrats on the win, and I look forward to your next subject!

Thank you very much!

I shall have the new subject posted shortly.

Ok the next subject is

"Tainted Love"

Deadline May 30th