Form Poem Contest

[alakungfu]

Lithe as the summer
Turning on a flippant dime's
Flight into slumber.

Rainbows haunt the climes:
Grainy background sheaf of dreams;
All-absorbing times.

Gold unicorn streams
Pepper glum quivering Snoop
With magic's raucous beams.

Letters on a stoop
Call attention to a love,
Delivered life's dupe

Sends the fragile turtledove,
Glimmered struggling above.

[autolycus]

Whoa... fast and sweet, with some scintillating lines!

[autolycus]

Urgh. One entry only, but it's a good one.

I award this win to alakungfu, but I have to say that although it's the only entry, it's well worthy of a prize on its own. So not a 'default' win, but a recognition that it's (yes, again) a good one.

PS: In the old days, I'd have innocently tried to extend the deadline. But just as with the Picture Poetry Contest, if there's only one entry, the choice is probably to award or not to award — not extend or not to extend. Best that way, I guess.

[alakungfu]

Thank you, autolycus.. I enjoyed writing this poem. As a matter of fact, I had planned on choosing the terza rima sonnet as my form. However, as it happens, and as I was just recently introduced to the tanka (my time was occupied instead with haiku), that's tha form I'll choose. You probably recognize the format -- 5-7-5-7-7. Write about whatever you like. Here's my example that I wrote myself:

wooden slivers drip
from the rafters borne aloft
in Thumbelinaland
a dimpled island of tunnels
in times seldom visited

I'm sure everyone else can do much better since this was my first try on the forum's "Japanese Tanka Game".

The contest deadline is June 30, 10 am..

[qimissung]

Congratultions, alakungfu. It's a lovely poem. I especially like "Golden unicorn streams..."I thought of giving it a try, but the end of school is an incredibly busy time-AND I was intimidated. Still, I might give the terza rima a try this summer.

alakungfu, your way with words is something that I will ever be striving for. I'll give the tanka a try!

[Pendragon]

The slaves revolted—
Desperate men sought freedom:
The Romans struck fast—
Crucifixion sentences pass—
Crosses line The Apian Way...

Pendragon

[alexar]

Took me a few days,
but now I've worked it all out.
The thing I wanted -
the best thing that could happen -
I let go - it went away.

It all added up -
I explained it so clearly -
She had to concur.
It made such sense. What else could
she do but agree. And go.

[alakungfu]

Talk about diversity -- This contest will be interesting. Keep the poems coming.

[qimissung]

the water glimmers
and willow kisses its' waves
such infinite love
the willow loves the water
so will I love you, always

[alakungfu]

Lovely, quimissung. I wish I had a book of just willow poems.

[qimissung]

Thank You, alakungfu. Willows are just naturally poetic, aren't they?

[TheFifthElement]

White as the walls, my
mind stilled to beating silence -
outside, the city:
fast-dancing, rapturous night -
a closed door. Sleep: not dreaming.

[alakungfu]

Thank you Fifth Element. I love reading contemporary poems - I feel like I'm learning something important.

[alakungfu]

Sorry for the delay. Here are the results of the contest:

Pendragoln, I liked the gravity you gave the tanka by ranking it with an epic poem's subject matter.

alexar, I especially liked your last line "she do but agree. And go." You get around to making a point, poetic.

quimissung, ,"the willow loves the water". What can't you read into that? The willow has always spoken to me of timelessness.

The Fifth Element, "mind stilled to beating silence -". You've succeeded in making the line tangible. For me, your poem is raised one step above music. It examines substance in the simplicity of poetry. Well done. You win.

[TheFifthElement]

Thanks alakungfu

For the next form I’d like to propose a Persian form of poetry called ruba’i,

This type of poem was first encountered in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, translated by Fitzgerald and from which it gains its name. Here’s an example of a poem from the Rubaiyat:

Ah, Love! could you and I with Him conspire
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,
Would not we shatter it to bits--and then
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!

The ruba’i is a fairly straightforward form consisting of a quatrain with the rhyme scheme AABA. It can be used in stanza form (i.e. multiple quatrains) in which case the rhyme scheme alters to AABA BBCB CCDC and so on; in theory you could go all the way to Z but that would surely take some willpower! A very well known example of the ruba’i form is the very eminent Robert Frost’s poem Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening which is below. In the poem you can see how Frost has followed this strict rhyming scheme quite effortlessly with a slight cheat in the final quatrain. No cheating will be permitted in this contest, I’m afraid

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

and with that most excellent poem in mind I leave you with a final request of my own:

Friend poets I ask you, turn your art
to the ruba'i, and please take part
in this small contest, but beware, you'll see
the ruba'i tests both mind and heart.

I look forward to reading your poems.


Deadline is 07th August.