The contest deadline will be April 12, 2010.
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The contest deadline will be April 12, 2010.
No Restraints, No Strings
You know that value marched aloud in song,
the one not gained until “we” bravely fought
with blood, the only gold with which it’s bought?
Well, ev’ry blessed thing we're told is wrong.
Like children, well-behaved, we played along.
Its truth veers off from the way we're taught:
that it’s kept captive --as if been caught --
let out to air at times with felons’ throng.
Real liberty’s no lady. It won't grab
on a cause, won't cheer, or don a shirt of brown;
defies detection in both sky and sea.
How fast it skitters, quicksilver on a slab!
No frame will hold, for nowhere can be found
a clue: at large, uncaged, in charge, and free.
This is so beautiful, AuntShecky. Thank you for joining the party with this lovely entry.
The Tin Woodman
A lumberjack should know nothing of loss
but that coward witch taught ol' Nick Chopper
replacement parts can only go so far.
Now my tin wears thin beneath vines and moss.
To be made of clockwork and love no more
To be entrapped by rusted over limbs
These branches! My wooden prison condemns
my heart, my heart, decayed by rain, my core
A bit of oil looses my aching joints.
Could this girl's wizard finish my repairs?
I muster not even halfhearted hope
Toward a city of emerald our road points
They say the path belongs to him who dares
Take heart, take heart you metal misanthrope.
Ps. AuntShecky That was awesome! Great unity of idea and form, given the restrictions of a sonnet.
Oh, wonderful, krymsonkyng! Thank you. I love "The Wizard of Oz."
Thank ya kindly qimissung!
This contest is now closed. I will be back with the results, hopefully this weekend. Thank you Pendragon, AuntShecky, and KrymsonKing, for your entries.
I would, first off, like to thank Pendragon, auntShecky, and KrymsonKyng for entering this contest and taking on the somewhat daunting feat of writing a sonnet. I have written a few myself. I'm not saying they're any good, just that, in writing at least, I try not to ask of others what I have not attempted myself.
All the entries were fine ones. Pendragon, I liked your downhome, touching homily to veterans. There is, unfortunately, so much truth in what you wrote. I actually recently visited a homeless shelter and while there spoke briefly to a vet who was seeking shelter for the night.
AuntShecky wrote on a similar theme, liberty. You "captured" very well the elusive quality of Lady Liberty. As KrymsonKyng said, "Great unity of idea and form." I agree.
Krysonkyng, yours isn't too shabby either. Your clever phrases do so much more than sum up the tin woodman's story. I love that last line, "Take heart, take heart you metal misanthrope."
But the winner is
AuntShecky!
You had me at "but liberty's no lady" and your concluding lines
"How fast it skitters, quicksilver on a slab!
No frame will hold, for nowhere can be found
a clue: at large, uncaged, in charge, and free."
Love the internal rhyme, and how you strive to delineate this most visceral ideal. Well done, AuntShecky.
Please choose the next form for us.
Called it ;) Great work everybody, especially Aunty!
Thank you Pendragon and KrymsonKyng for entering this contest, and thank you qimissung for selecting this.
I'm honored to choose the next form which will be an English variation of the rondeau called the "roundel." Here's how you make a roundel--it sounds complicated, but it really isn't.
-The poem is only 11 lines long with only 2 rhymes in three stanzas of 4, 3, and 4 lines.
-Lines # 4 and #11 consist of a refrain which repeats the poem's opening word or phrase.
-The refrain (R) may be rhymed with lines #2,#5, #7, and #9.
-The rhyme scheme is this:
abaR bab abaR
You can see the pattern with this poem by A.C. Swinburne, titled, appropriately enough, "Roundel":
A roundel is wrought as a ring or a star-bright sphere,
With craft of delight and with cunning of sound unsought,
That the heart of the hearer may smile if to pleasure his ear
A roundel is wrought.
It's jewel of music is carven of all or of aught--
Love, laughter, or mourning --remembrance of rapture or fear-
That fancy may fashion to hang in the ear of thought.
As a bird's quick song runs sound, and the hearts in us hear --
Pause answers to pause, and again the same strain caught,
So moves the device whence, round as a pearl or tear,
A roundel is wrought.
See? Not so hard. I really believe that LitNutters can rise to the roundel challenge. I'm also stipulating that the topic be a cheerful one.
Get your pencils and keyboards going and post an original roundel any time between now and May 10. Hope we get numerous entries!
{NOTE: After I read the notice from one of the moderators that she preferred the last day for entries in the poetry contests be closer to the 10th of the month. This way the winner won't escape mention in the newsletter!}
Now that is going to be a challange for me hahaQuote:
Originally Posted by AuntShecky
Oh, come now, Dark Muse, you've been light-hearted and witty! (Please note change to a week earlier.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark Muse
Love Song
The sand on the beach, the waves of the sea,
relaxing and waiting for a moment in time
Reflections of love just for you and me
Remembrance of who we are
To hurry such precious moments would be a crime
May our love last as long as the endless sea
Forever together, our hearts all entwined
Making our life contented, together we will be
Until the final burnout of eternity and time
Two hearts bound together who do not wish to be free
Rememberance of just who we are
Pendragon
VIVE LA DIFFERENCE
Oo-la-la, c'est magnifique, the way those French girls sway
Their hips and legs like poetry in motion, they're so chic;
Their hairstyles and their fashions, all the rest seem so passe -
Oo-lal-la, c'est magnifique!
I love it when they flash their eyes, the breathless way they speak,
And when they meet acquaintances along the street they say
'Bonjour' before embracing, then a kiss on either cheek.
Oo-la-la, c'est magnifique, I'm drawn by their display
But then a finger flip, a sneer, a sudden fit of pique,
A puff of cigarette smoke then a snarl drives me away -
Oo-la-la, c'est magnifique!
Lovely lilt to this - and then the surprising turnabout at the end!Quote:
Originally Posted by hillwalker