All right folks, it is time to kick start the first DWT Poetry Competition. The response from our readers was fantastic, with over 150 entries!
Given this number we’ll have two qualifying rounds every week. The first one on Tuesdays, and the second one on Thursdays. The voting on each round will be open for 48 hours, and the poem with the highest number of votes goes to the semi-final, to be held at the end. If you are an email or RSS subscriber you’ll need to visit the website to cast your vote (just click on the title of this post).
Now to the first ten poems. Enjoy!
1. The Road Not Taken by K Alexander
What road is this of stone and strife?
What pain has built can hearts ignite?
Love is here then it is gone.
We curse the lost forever,alone.
Of our glory days together gone by
we talk and smile and in private we cry
“God,what have you done?”Why,why,why?”
Give me a taste of happier days gone by.
Broken here with out direction
No love for me – no love for me
No sun to warm,the wind sings a durge
You took my love, forever,was your word.
My heart is cold my feet are stone.
My bed no comfort when I am alone.
My soul my wealth my body too
they are bitter, broken and of no use.
The road I chose, the one I walk
is miles and miles of pain and dark.
Where does love grow when no ground will sooth?
Where does the heart put down new roots?
My heart is breaking no love I see.
My body will not give up their memory.
The spirit fumbles to rise and praise.
This road is endless both night or day.
That rose you left for me to see.
The one just barely surviving by our tree.
It spoke to me this empty morn.
It said your name and bowed forlorn .
I stopped to hear more it would say.
I wandered close, had my sanity strayed?
Could this tender flower know more then I?
More then me, of higher mind and power.
Again the breeze went by and sighed.
The trees bowed too at the knowing flower.
Beauty it breathed and its love I felt.
No form, no kiss, but passion of an ilk.
Love grows here by my old oak tree.
Love grows where you want it to be.
The road we chose was meant for two.
Now alone, I know just what to do
The road not taken, banned from our talk
is the one left for mourners to walk.
Love does not die but lets us grieve.
Love lives and heals,a blessed reprieve.
2. You by Rohit Singh
A moment of passion, a moment so blue,
I would have slept forever, had the night been you,
A smile of your eyes makes me gay,
A twinkle in your eyes makes my day,
A song on my lips, a still in my arms,
A wish in my heart , all of them had your charm,
you kissed my lips but you touched my heart,
A tear in your eyes and I would set the world apart,
A cushion besides me takes a breath or two,
I give her every ease thinking it was you,
Its only you I need to gaze the star,
as you are my sight to look so far…
3. These Ancient Mountains by Maartje Oppel
I´m riding the bus back home
a sodden, flat landscape whizzing past
But I am thinking of how ancient these mountains are
No matter how modern we are
riding the bus
These mountains are ancient
They were formed when the earth was still young
It doesn’t matter where we are
Or if we think about mountains at all
These mountains will remain ancient
So be at ease
You don´t have to worry anymore
Sleep deeply knowing this
These mountains are ancient
4. The Firmament by Janice Gainer
I wandered inertly along the sea coast
The earth came drolling upon me dear
I listened with all ears as a host
My eyes were shut out from vision of fear.
As the waves were coming in,
I had an aversion for sin.
The disapprobation of all around,
Seemed to conciliate all to be found.
What could this vociferation be?
Could it not be converting me?
The sun tried to thwart me from all doubt
That this was the beleaguers of all about
It left no appall on me
For as it was, I couldn’t see.
The unfaltering sky from above,
Seemed as though to whisper a word of love.
5. Be Still by Cindy Story
I’ve seen a glimpse into the lake trees
Covered blanket shore it slowly reveals one’s self
The moon the sun set on the reflection- shore
People pass to look a silent ripple of the wave
The wind whispers it’s name
A quiet whisper shhh no more
A look around – no one around
A sound of relief
A secret, a big exhale. Breathe life again
I look across the horizon to see a reflection, Come, come be still
Listen no more to the rage the torrent, the crazy no more
Please, Please, be still.. Look unto the horizon- see yourself the Beauty the still.
God… Has giving the Universe… Still
Please be silent please be still
6. Flipping it on the Dipper by Calvin Prestwich
If you decide to flip it on the dipper one day
You really have to wonder which way
Your life goes up or down,
Because flipping it always brings you back around,
Or maybe right or left the dipper will leave you with nothing left.
Either way flipping it gets you around.
When the dipper flips there’s no telling
The your life is very compelling.
Life isn’t what is seems,
The flipper dips in your life and turns it into a dream.
Scary as it may seems,
Ones goal in life is but to flip it on the dipper.
When Jack The Ripper was at his best,
It was the flipping on the dipper that brought him to rest.
The best is the best but when the time comes,
Flipping it on the dipper can leave you with all thumbs.
Really that’s all right as long as you put up a FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!!
Just remember one thing, when you are in trouble do what my friend and I do.
Stay true to the dipper.
7. Untitled by John Kipling Lewis
birchous slender felted cove.
knock tick-tock a cocking load.
ferrous crafted hafted shout.
fibrous clotted sauna spout.
splendorous pollack petal spray.
emancipating conscious grey.
whisper marbled vented cruft.
slumping silent scented snuff.
8. Oh my only! by Hana Al- Bayyati
Oh my only son!
Could you tell me why?
You like to say high
To my tears
And goodbye
To my smiling days
If this, to have my care
How would you dare
Making me share
Your cheating there
Where is your ear
When I asked you to be near?
Where are my tips?
When you hide them behind your ribs.
Tell them to go up to your mind
The ribs are not kind
The ribs are bars of prison
My tips are sweet, not poison
Ambition is my aim.
You have no shame
To tell me you need no fame,
And your carpe diem
Has no place in your heart
When I asked you to be right
To God I pray
Day after day,
Night after night
Show my son the way
That leads to the ray
Of shining ambition.
Let him start
His first steps in Art.
When you tear me apart,
I ask God
To make you sick.
God answer
My prayer.
You are sick,
God’s punishment is so quick
‘Sorry mum’ is not enough,
When your words are rough.
When you cough,
My chest cries enough.
The peasants in my heart plough
To God I pray:
“These are not words of heart,
These are words of anger”
When my son is in danger,
Satan dwells in his min:
‘Tell your Mom and Dad
You are as free as birds
To choose your words,
To choose your friend.
Tell your Mom and Dad
Why you are sad. Your mum and Dad
The good and bad,
And let you alone
In this world.’
Oh my only son!
You are to me the moon,
You are to me the sun,
You are to me the noon
You are the only one,
From Mom and Dad has run.
Oh my only son!
To Mom and Dad
You should run.
A new day
Has begun
With love and joy
Oh my only son!
Oh my only son!
9. Shapes by Tanja Cilia
Ellipse, evolute, vertex and curve,
Humdrum circle or ricochet swerve
Astroids or cusps, arcs or sectors;
What have those got to do with vectors?
Curvature, cone, Cartesian plane…
Oval, deltoid… what’s in a name?
Geoid oscillation, pedal, radial, rose…
What on earth do I know of those?
Hypocycloid, cruciform, Sierpinski carpet…
Inverse tangent or Apollonian gasket?
Snowflake, hypercube, space-time dimension
Pressured, gauged, or under tension?
Trammel of Archimedes, planes, rotations –
Congruence, right angles, equivalence relation;
Conchoid curve, Orthoptic, Lemoine hexagon,
Triangle, star or good old pentagon.
Crescent, rhombus, magatama, square,
Caustic curves, salinon, ying-yang or sphere!
About whichever’s the shape that you talk,
Basically, it’s taking a line for a walk!
10. I can’t and I won’t by Sudharm Baxi
I can’t and I won’t,
Won’t because of my ego,
Can’t because of hers,
I face this dilemma, not
due to God’s blessings
or some devil’s curse.
This is my life, and
I hereby declare:
I choose
booze over muse,
apathy over empathy,
bile over smile,
plight over light,
and finally
knife over life.
My ego, comes
in my way,
whenever I try
to patch the bay.
My attitude finds an
alternate path and
jumps into the oceanic ego
just to have another
self-soothing bath.
Once I’ve had that bath,
I am the master,
I am the king but
she does not have
a slightest inkling.
She still feels I am
humble, modest and
sweet at heart.
But hey girl!
I have also learnt
that art.
The art that is famous
and is widely seen,
amongst the teen.
Now, I too can bitch,
I too can dump,
I too can let my morale
face a sudden slump.
So girl stay away
and be aware coz’
I don’t give a damn now
and I don’t even care.
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Type in “6. Flipping it on the Dipper by Calvin Prestwich”
…
When the dipper flips there’s no telling
The your life is very compelling.
…
The second line starts with “the” but is more likely “that”.
Janice,
I enjoyed your word choices in The Firmament.
Very descriptive – gave me good ‘mind pictures.’
I cannot believe that all of these poems were submitted centre-justified. So why did you post them this way? Any good poet knows that the way the poem looks on the page is part of the experience of reading it. Makes me thankful I didn’t submit any of my own poetry.
@ Peter. I wondered that myself. It works well for Flipping it on the Dipper, makes it look like an hourglass.
@Peter Garner,
They were not submitted center-justified, I just figured it looked better this way. But I’ll talk to Maeve (our editor) to see if it would be better to align them on the left.
Either way I am also thankful you didn’t submit any of your own poetry. That is because of your attitude. I am no expert in poetry. Just a blog owner trying to create something entertaining for our readers. I would have taken your suggestion/criticism in consideration even if you had put it in a friendly way. But hey, for each his own!
Than you Tanja for reminding us that poetry needn’t be all tortured-soul-y 🙂
i wish if i dint miss the deadline… 🙁
anyways congrats dwt its a great initiative!!
my fav poem here is “you”
I am enjoying this.
Daniel,
There is always someone who has to complain about good things. It just is too bad when we have to hear it. Don’t worry about those people, they are greatly outnumbered by the people whom actually appreciate what you’ve done. This was an awesome idea and a chance for people to submit their poetry.
Yeah Daniel, I didn’t mean to sound like I was complaining about it, and I especially don’t agree with the “any good poet knows…” bit. That was a bit arrogant and weird.
We appreciate you putting this together!
Thanks for your votes everyone!!! The hourglass shape of my poem is great, don’t change a thing!!! It’s all about the individual’s expression and NOT one’s opinion!!! Its been a rough year for me, but this little competition has made my week! The typo is an expression of myself and my imperfections. Again Thanks to all voted for the Dipper it means a lot.
@Daniel,
Sorry if I sound a little exasperated. As a poet, I’m sick of seeing all poetry lumped in with the Hallmark material. The poems should definitely be displayed as they were submitted. Perhaps I could have been more tactful; the comment box does say “speak your mind.” So I did.
I do appreciate your putting this together. Poetry doesn’t get enough exposure. I would expect you, as the owner of a pretty popular blog, to have developed a thicker skin, but hey, to each his own. And forgive me for expecting the owner of a blog about writing to at least do some homework before starting a “contest.”
Oops. There I go again, speaking my mind.
“I would expect you, as the owner of a pretty popular blog, to have developed a thicker skin, but hey, to each his own. And forgive me for expecting the owner of a blog about writing to at least do some homework before starting a “contest.””
Wow… the condescending tone never ends. He even threw in the quotation marks for extra sarcasm.
Peter, I can’t wait to see your “poetry”.
@Brandon, indeed.
@Doug, no worries, I got the meaning of your comment.
@Peter, publishing each poem as it was submitted would be practically impossible, given the time it would take to format the 150 entries individually. That is why it was not a matter of doing my “homework” before starting it. I needed to go with what was feasible. It was either all poems left aligned, or centered.
I appreciate all feedback, though, so thanks for your comments and for reading the blog.
@Daniel, That doesn’t cut it. You ask for submissions of people’s art but aren’t willing to take the time to do it justice? That hardly seems fair to either the submitters or to the spirit of your contest.
What if e. e. cummings, after he finished spinning in his grave, came back from the dead and (anonymously) submitted this poem?
Can you imagine his reaction upon seeing it centre justified? I know that if it had been me, I would have flipped my lid.
If my tone is forceful, it’s because I think poetry is the most refined form of written art we have and deserves to be treated as such. As poets, we are taught to “make every word tell.” Please don’t undermine this by saying it’s too much work to present the poems as the were submitted.
@Doug, if you google my name and poetry or poems, you’ll find my blog and other links to my work. I doubt it will be to your liking, but you and anyone else are welcome to comment.
Daniel,
Thanks for the poetry contest! Love it and the idea to being a community of poets together:) REMEMBER:
“One, two bad apples doesn’t spoil the whole bunch!”
Clara.
@peter: Actually, your “poetry” is “not bad”! 🙂
Sounds like peter likes to get the last word in, just wait its coming!!!
I love rides by myself on mirrored lakes too!!
Now, now, boys – play nice…
Let’s get back to the inspirations of the poetry!
Thank you so much for this poetry contest.
I think, however, it was long overdue. That much is as clear as day.
You should hold such poetry contests in the future too. Many more.
And short story, plays, essays, and other types of contests as well.
You have an excellent blog, which I read on a regular basis.
You have no idea how much I appreciate all the hard work.
I think all the poems posted so far are fabulous. I can’t find any faults at all, and really enjoyed the reading experience.
Art is a treasure: it is like finding a pearl at the bottom of an ocean.
What a pleasure when some people like yourself take time out from your hectic schedules to do something creative like this.
It shows you have vision, a good heart and aesthetic sensitivity.
To Archan Mehta: All I can say is “WoW”! You have the gift of encouragement. If Everyone had Someone like you in their life, this world would be at peace with itself.
My poem (“untitled”) is about suicide. Enjoy.
PS (I agree with Peter, even if you don’t like his tone. Sometimes it’s all to easy to mix the message and the messenger.)
Very happy to have participated in this competition.