Update: I just realized I put July 13 for the judging date, but what I meant is June 13. Sorry about that! Get writing, everyone! :)

Ah, I thought so :)

The List Of Books

I have a.list of books,

So many books to choose from,

What to read, what to read from that list,

I could read Harry Potter, or Percy Jackson,

Maybe, Anne of Green Gables, or Little Women,

I could read something like, Taylor Before and After,

There is so many books on my list, what should I read,

What should I read from that list? 

Things to do

one: water Kat's flowers

(oh how terrbily dry they are, how terribly dry)

two: clean what was once my room

(now its a war zone of books

and the shorts that dont fit anymore.

now its a metaphor of my desires,

depressions,

and- goodness get back to the list!)

three: learn to focus

scratch that. 

three: buy a new pen

(this ones run out)

four: finish this god forsaken list

five: write that french essay

(wasn't it due like a month ago?)

six: pretend im at the ocean

(sit in the yard with lemonade and watch the pigeons fly)

seven: plan out the things I'll never do

(like an outer movie-too many bugs-

or a hike through the appalacians- why is nature

so pretty but terribly annoying at the

same

exact 

time)

eight: i could do math, but i also could sleep

(and gosh doesnt that sound nice)

nine: or i guess i could sit and just watch the world spin

listen to music and cry within

or pretend im a princess

come to take back what i've lost

ten: burn this list.  

I might be past the deadline, ignore this if it is. I honestly don’t know if this even counts as a poem, but I was feeling incredibly sad for no reason the other day and just started writing it~

~~~

Snapshots from my life to prove that the world is a beautiful place:

i. the flowers that emerge for only a few weeks during the springtime when the weather is just starting to turn and their petals fall like tears from branches

ii. mango smoothies with sticky straws from hole-in-the-wall stores in chinatown

iii. small bookstores with chalk signs handwritten with care and spiderwebbed with fairy lights 

iv. the sky right before the sun sets, when it looks like watercolor paint in shades of irises and blackberry juice spread across the faint stars

v. churches with rainbow flags hanging over their open doorways

vi. listening to music so loud that it’s the central point of your entire world and you can’t hear anything else

vii. holding your best friend’s hand and making her laugh so hard that she can’t breathe and kissing her on the forehead and resting your head on her shoulder on the bus

viii. watching bootlegs of musicals during gym class and trying not to sing along or laugh

ix. the smell of the summer air when it rains softly without any thunder

x. the sidewalk during autumn when it’s strewn with fallen leaves in every shade of red and orange and yellow and brown and the breeze rustles them like a symphony of nature

xi. reading an old library book with soft pages and finding a four leaved clover pressed inside by someone who wanted to pass along some good luck to a complete stranger

Many apologies for not doing this sooner- JUDGING TIME!

Honorable Mentions

Book Girl! This is such a relatable feeling- not knowing where to start when there's so many great options. (Plus the books you mentioned are all great ones). I think to improve you might want to add details and description of how this feeling feels, or about the books themselves.

Hawkstar!  I love how lighthearted and fun this poem is, and yet so relatable. Your rhythm is also very good considering there's not much rhyming, and the last 2 lines of the poem are my favorite!

3rd Place: Silver Crystal! I just love your writing, honestly. This feels so comforting and uplifting to read, and your imagery is so simple yet specific and evoking a lovely feeling. Even if this poem doesn't have some super deep meaning, it's always good to just write for the sake of writing something beautiful.

2nd Place: Pointsetta! I love how this poem tells a really sweet story and circles back from beginning to end. The comparisons between a shopping list and the "essentials" of life are quite nice and clever, too. "the thing most worth buying in your shopping mall,/ the sun in the sunrise/ the water in the waterfall" is my favorite line.

1st Place: oldish books! I think I'm partial to this poem because I see myself in it- the unsureness of what I really want to do, the constant getting off track from the real "list". I like all the details- they are scattered and unexplained, but add realism; a life that we don't fully know but are getting a glimpse into. the speaker starts out writing everyday tasks, but flows so easily into a deeper look at their mental state and the conflict of their inner desires. The last line takes a darker turn, but I love the air of finished-yet-unfinished mystery it brings. My only criticism is maybe to look over it for spelling/grammar/formatting errors- but that might be purposeful which would make sense for this one.

great job everyone!!!

oh jeez I'm so sorry! School just ended for me so i didnt have much tim eot checj the CB! The next theme will be loneliness

Lonely

The steady drip-drip-drop of the rain

Seems to be a representation of

How my mood is, how gray

It is without someone to love

All around it seems that

Everyone else is fine

Like I am the only one alone

Like it was by design

When I walk down the street

I keep my head down

So I won’t see anyone else

Together, everywhere, all around

Yet even when I am with

Others, and I’m not alone

How can it be that

I still feel on my own?

This loneliness, a heavy burden

From when I watch the sun rise

To when it sets, I feel

That I need someone, I realize

To be there with me

So that I can be

Not alone

Not lonely

@oldish books when is judging day? 

The streets are empty

Doors are closed

Windows are shuttered

The sky is gray

The town is gloom

And

Oh

So

Lonely

Empty of people

Of animals and life

Not a single weed peeks through the cobblestones

Not a single bird peeps

I walk under a raincloud

Tears of loneliness fall

No friends

No family

No place to call home

My sad face reflects to me 

When through a window I peek

But beyond it I see

Here the curtains are drawn

And on the bed sits

Me 

But not me

Shoulders that sag, and back that is hunched

But different

Like the eyes that are now looking

At me

A slight smile

A bit of hope

The door opens

Both to the house

And our hearts

Ill be judging Juy 2nd

solivagant

there is a stranger, tales tell of her

the one who wanders, alone as if lost, but she is not lost, but she is found

petrichor, the scent of freshness and faith;

the swishing of wind in the trees, steps going forwards into the raw power of each aeolian swirl;

starry night skies, company even in the darkest hours, the north star lights the way;

dark branches and leaves twining upwards, arboreal mossy mountains in their own right;

terra incognita, into the unknown, but it is not unknown, but it is home;

because being alone

doesn’t mean

you’re lonely.