A hundred azure butterflies fluttering away

A hundred butterflies, sapphire wings fleeting

A thousand glistening tears silently dripping 

A thousand tears not wasted but not wanted

A million crystal rivers run crimson with blood

A million rivers that were once memoirs of the sea

A billion people going away, beaten backs turned

A trillion people who wouldn't return.

Is this not what the consequences of the sinister actions of others prove?

A child’s broken soul to match the broken sobs

A mourning dove’s sad melody to harmonize

With the overpowering demand of war

A mother’s broken heart mourning for a lost son

Breaking like so many others who had lost a losing war

A pain-wracked scream, a heart wrenched mind

Is this not a fragmented,hollowed future’s anguished,uncomplete tune?

I wish I were a deer and  from this marred, tarnished world

I wish I were a fox so I could find an all-solving solution

I wish I were a sparrow so my glorious song could tune it all out

I wish I were a falcon so I could fly high up in the great blue

 -and never come down

I wish, I wish, I wish

But wishing gets you nowhere

Is this not such a cruel, forsaken destiny for our disillusioned world? 

Flowers seem to be a theme of mine lol :) Even if here they're more of a symbol. @Luna-Starr, thanks for your feedback!

It looked forsaken, like me, the tiny dry blossom lying in my path that I almost stepped on.

Like it had known once what it meant to be beautiful, what it meant to have the sun love you,

but that somehow everything had been destroyed, and because it was perfect it was fragile, and it had fallen and lost everything.

That now it was crumpled and alone, its splendor faded, lying insignificantly in the path of life, to be trampled on.

And that nothing was the way it should be, and that I should have blossomed forever but life was imperfect and unfair, and so everything ended, leaving me forsaken.

I couldn't bear to leave it alone, that tiny blossom that never achieved what it should have,

because good fortune had abandoned it, but was that any reason why I should?

so holding my breath, afraid that it would crumble at my kindness and lose itself in colored dust and never be found again,

I picked it up from my path so that no one would step on it,

and took it home with me, because two forsaken hearts are better than one.

It never recaptured its life and sparkle, because it had been forsaken in earnest, but because I did not forsake it it gave me two tiny seeds;

I planted them, and they bloomed, new life and chances and promises,

and while I gave them all my strength they seemed to give strength to me,

and my forsaken heart grew hopeful again.

all the trees around my house are dead. 

the funny thing is that 

the fire didn't slink into the canopy of leaves, 

but rather snaked around the trunks like 

a boa constrictor

slowly draining the color from the forest

until the world was painted  

with a coat of ashes--

messy, 

like the strokes of a child 

abandoned with a pot of soot. 

our shoelaces are stained black as 

we trudge through the wreckage with 

painfully slow steps and 

we can't help but feel 

forsaken 

standing in this

twisted imitation of a forest.  

above us, 

a songbird serenades us with a

weary tune 

but its voice is so ragged,

the song sounds more like a 

scream. 

We were always together.

It was perfect.

Unless it wasn't

I fit with you,

You fit with me.

Except for the

Sharp, broken edges

That didn't fit anywhere.

I held your hand,

And your

Smooth, cool fingers

Felt good in mine.

But did mine feel the same in yours?

When you left me

I cried,

But not for too long.

How long is too long?

Is forever too long?

It was for the best,

They said.

But why does the best

Feel so bad?

So I was okay.

Or was I just forsaken? 

~

Critique welcome!  

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO JUDGE THIS?! literally everyone's poems are amazing like what am i supposed to do?! 

also i'm probably going to be a bit late with judging, bear with me, i'm horrible with deadlines and also: literally everyone's poems deserve like honorable 3rd place at least?? 

Did you know

That I'm still waiting 

For you to turn around 

For you to call me

Acknowledge me

Remember me 

Again?

The day you left 

This lonely place 

Without a word 

Was the day my world crumbled 

Of all color and sound 

My throat closed up

I still can't speak 

The only sparkle in my eyes

Are unshed tears

My footsteps are heavy 

If I move at all

A stormcloud follows me around 

But no rain ever

Seems to fall 

The dry ground cracks 

Matching my lips

Earth tries to swallow me whole

And though you obviously 

Refuse to remember 

I can't seem to forget

That I was abandoned 

In this forsaken desert 

Of pure heartbreak 

Critique is fine!

just so you know i won't be able to have judging out until the afternoon - i'll aim for posting the judging on the afternoon of July 17. Sorry, i hadn't realized the timing of one of my orchestra camps when i made the date

still working on finishing writing everything up! i didn't forget about this, it's just not finished

okay so last night i had a health thing come up so this still isn't finished but the winners! Sorry for all the times i try to explain things in musical terms XD and i just want to be clear that everyone’s poems were awesome, so even if you only got honorable mention you still did great. i'll try to post all the honorable mentions quickly - i only have a few more to write.

~

1st place: Pangolin - you’re drawn in from the first line. The format is so cool also. And it's so vivid and the story is so clear at the same time. It’s definitely good enough as is, but i did find some of the switches in tense confusing. like switching from “and the people screamed” to “firecrackers erupting from their throats”, or “and a thousand hands grabbed at me”/ “scratching my skin”. I think the issue isn’t that it happens once, but there's so many that it makes it disorienting. Anyway great job, and congrats!

2nd place: Jaybells - to be honest, I almost gave you first, but I think Pangolin makes better use of poetic devices. this poem is stunning. It’s so clear and visceral, and the imagery is so clear and idk how to put it but it’s amazing. The line breaks are perfect too, just the right mixture of short emphasis and longer ones. No criticism honestly because i don’t care enough to look hard enough because i still have a lot of honorable mentions to finish; if you want some i can return to it! (also, as far as I know there are churches that do accept queer people and are even largely made up of them, but i also respect if you want to give up Christianity as a whole. *optional hugs*) 

3rd place: Periwinkle - The first stanza says it all. And “alone is an ordinary tragedy and it happens/again and again and again”. Also the repetition - the “temporarily experiencing… but rather” and “and the truth is my actions do not represent an attempt to do so/but rather my hope that someday” and then all the other more obvious ones. This is really well crafted, and it just feels so hopeless in a good way. My only critique is that the second stanza feels a bit tangential, and less related to the main concept or whatnot. It also makes you want to ask more about the world, and the questions it raises are largely not answered. Oh, and also I love the details of the last stanza.