Minimalist Poetry Contest

Thanks very much, phoenixtears, glad you liked the poem and well done to everyone who entered. And thanks also, cacian.

If anyone wants to read a master at work on the subject, I can recommend Charles Simic’s ‘Brooms’, which begins: ‘Only brooms | Know the devil | Still exists’, and has other remarkable lines like: ‘A broom is also a tree | In the orchard of the poor’ and ‘The secret teaching of brooms | Excludes optimism’ – dark but incredible. I can strongly recommend Simic as a poet.

I’ve not contributed to the Minimalist competition for a while, so I’ll set the following subject and deadline, but if the topic’s been covered recently, or you think the deadline should be different, please let me know.

Subject: Mountains
Deadline: Wednesday 31st July, 2013.

Best of luck, and I look forward to reading the entries.

Balance

Eagles flight,
your voice
echoes
off canyon walls
here we escape
here we disappear
beneath the white
and gray,
beauty
which sometimes
means death

so the wind laments,
uncovering
unexpected
moments of joy.

Mountains made of molehills
Barriers created by fear
Let us cut the mountain down
Tear down another Berlin Wall
Practice war no more...

i like the topic so much i have here two offerings pieces i hope you do not mind :)

heighest

to highest mountain
the peak is sending
messages blending
signals of lending
belowing views
to valleys and hues
spectacular fuse


blending

the landscape
blends
valleys to mountains
balancing fountains
of mouth watering
source to seas
and corse
beauty is dorsed

Congratulations blank verse! Good poem.

Mountains mark our boundaries though we live next door,
Though our beds butt on one wall and share a single floor.

Mountains

Mountains
rise above
Breathe deep the
rarefied air...
and chill

7/27/2013

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

Mountains have seen
more sunrises
more sunsets
more thunderstorms
more rainbows.

Mountains are
God's cathedrals.

When a lonesome cry
out to the mountains
came back,
then why don't you?

Thank you to everyone who entered - there were some good entries and I enjoyed them all, including the emotion of the poems by Dark Muse and phoenixtears, and Pendragon's more political take on things (although I was slightly disappointed that someone from Blue Ridge Mountains chose not to write about them - too obvious perhaps? :)).

Anyway, the winner is...

YesNo for the metaphorical transformation of the topic into a simple-but-effective couplet. Well done.

Thanks again to everyone who entered. b|v

I agree! WTG YesNo! The metaphor was delightfully clever.

Congratulations YesNo !

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

Thank you, blank|verse! And thank you, Melanie and tailor_STATELY!

The next topic for the minimalist competition is Patience.

Deadline in three weeks: August 23

Swiftly! Patience -
abide with me

Steel me against
anger's niggle;
frustration's maw

Feed my spirit
with delight; calm

8/9/2013

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

patience
your name
has ancient
written to
mention
keep it
a function
who knows
what tension
may rouse
attention