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Poetry Challenge 3!
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Poetry Challenge 3!
Poetry Challenge 3!
Hola, poets! Two summers ago, Leeli made a thread called the Poetry Challenge. Last summer, she made a second Poetry Challenge. This summer, I've been wanting to write more poetry, but I haven't had the motivation or ideas to do it. And I was thinking how the Poetry Challenges were fun, and then I realized that we've done them two summers in a row and haven't done one yet this summer, so (with permission that I got from Leeli) I'm making a Poetry Challenge for this summer!
If you haven't done this before, you might be wondering what the Poetry Challenge is. I linked the two previous threads up above, but here's a refresh of the guidelines too:
We all write as much poetry as we can in one week. You should aim to write one poem a day, although you can do more if you want (and don't stress if you can't write a poem every day). There will be an Announcer for each round, who before each round will post a main theme and an optional prompt (or two) for the poets to write about and take inspiration from. The theme should be something broad, something you could write a lot about; the prompt(s) can be anything, really--another theme, a poetry technique, a quote, whatever you want that you think would make a good prompt. Then, the Announcer and everyone else writes as much as they can in the following week, and posts it on this thread.
At the end of the week, everyone votes for their favorite poem, and after a week where you can vote, the poet with the most votes on their poetry becomes the new Announcer and can pick the next theme and prompt(s).
Some important things to remember: No voting for yourself, you can join/drop out at any time (although it's best to wait until the beginning of a new round to join), please don't choose a theme just because it's one you'd like to write off of, be nice, and have fun!
The purpose of this is to grow our writing skills and give ourselves a challenge! Like Leeli said, "It's a bit of a game, a bit of a prompt, and a bit of a competition all in one."
The first person who posts and says they would like to be the first Announcer can post the theme and prompt(s) for the first round, and we'll start soon, once we have at least five people who've said they'll participate.
I'm excited to do this!
submitted by Leafy, age No, not a cat
(July 23, 2019 - 2:43 pm)
(July 23, 2019 - 2:43 pm)
This one is for the prompt "unusual building materials!"
The Fabric House
The house is built from fabric.
The lawn is fluffy and green, a literal carpet of grass.
The cerulean sky is woven tightly, with puffy cotton clouds
sewn in.
The walls are built from flimsy linen, and the furniture is simple wool.
Polyester windows dot the linen walls,
letting little light in.
The fabric people mill around uselessly.
They laugh, make friends, help with the laundry--
that endless laundry!--
they live.
When the wind comes and blows away the cotton clouds
blows down the wool furniture and the linen walls
blows away the veneer of permanence and stability
the cloth people band together.
Unaware of their true nature, they
mourn, comfort, rebuild.
They never think beyond the moment,
never speculate for a reason,
never realize the impermanence of cloth.
(July 31, 2019 - 10:21 pm)
Prompt: Outfit of the day
Photographic Memory
i. when i first saw you you were wearing tight jeans that were stretched tight around your knees like they were ready to rip and a white shirt old and tattered like it had gone through the wash one time too many and your shoes these black ankle boots with heels and the wind was a child the way it tossed your hair all over the place and your sunglasses flashed mouth wide open
you wore happiness and it was beautiful
ii. when i first talked to you you were wearing winter like it was the most stunning fashion statement your scarf was bigger than your whole head it bunched all around your shoulders and your sweater was thick and cream-colored and you had these fluffy boots bursting with warmth and your hair was a gold fountain that sparkled with snowflakes lips lose smile
you wore wintry kindness and it was beautiful
iii. when i took you to a movie you were wearing cottom black leggings crossed legs and grey sneakers clean shoelaces bouncing rhythmically and a grey cardigan so soft and your hair was in a shiny ponytail straight but playfully bouncy vanilla lip balm lips open showing me teeth
you wore dark excitement and it was beautiful
iv. on the day you broke my heart you were wearing something so ordinary it didn't fit because shouldnt it have mirrored the words you were saying but it was just jean shorts and a t-shirt from a concert you saw before i knew you and you got your hair cut but it was still giving you a billowy halo feet exposed lips shut tight turning away
you wore independance and it was beautifully heartbreaking
(August 1, 2019 - 10:25 am)
Holy cow, I love this. Beautiful, beautful poem.
(August 1, 2019 - 7:06 pm)
Wow! I love everyone’s poems, as usual, especially Luna-Starr’s gritty friction and the lines from Summer’s that go “When the wind comes and blows away the cotton clouds / blows down the wool furniture and the linen walls / blows away the veneer of permanence and stability”
Wow.
And thanks to Leafy for your compliment! That really means a lot to me.
Okay, this poem is for the prompts “outfit of the day” and “hard things and soft things.”
—
you once asked me how you looked
you said please
be honest
i gave you the soft
truth i told you your shirt
might be better if it wasn’t
covered
in ketchup stains
so maybe you should change?
you asked me if
it was really that important
since your other clothes
were all packed away and you didn’t
really feel
like changing
i thought
for a second or two
(or three.
or four.)
and I gave you the
hard
truth
and i said you didn’t look
very good at all
in fact you looked distinctly
bad
and you really needed
to change, yes.
(i don’t know why you suddenly
got mad at me. i was just
giving you what you asked for)
(August 1, 2019 - 5:42 pm)
Thanks, Kitten! I really loved “Walls, Doors, and Other Objects of Love.” It gave a distinctly hopeful feeling. I also loved Leafy’s poem. You’re all such great poets!
Here’s a poem for the prompt “missing threads.”
Gone
He’s gone.
Yesterday, it seemed, he slept in his bed.
He sat in his favorite chair by the Xbox.
He wore his favorite sweatshirt
with the pawn and the queen and the words proclaiming him a chess champion.
Now, the bed is immaculate and empty.
The chair sits in the sunlight, gathering dust.
The sweatshirt hangs on its peg
empty of life, but smelling like him.
Now, I sleep in our room alone.
His bed looks lonely, across the room.
His dusty chair sags, the impression left by his rear end
no longer visible.
His sweatshirt droops from its peg, neglected, forgotten,
useless. I stare at the remnants of him
and tears slip from my eyes onto my pillow.
He’s gone.
And something is missing.
(August 1, 2019 - 10:12 pm)
I love this!
(August 2, 2019 - 2:48 pm)
Oof. I think I'm failing out of this round. I don't really have many ideas xP
(August 2, 2019 - 8:26 am)
@Leafy, something will come to you soon, I bet!
Here's one I wrote for the theme "Outfit of the day."
5 Outfits
Day 1: Long, mint green shirt (to match my eyes), black capris, sparkly indigo ballet flats, hair down. Awesome outfit for a first impression.
Day 2: Pale pink tank top, leggings adorned with flower patterns, Converse, hair up in braids. Great for trying to impress someone.
Day 3: Red t-shirt with chest pocket, denim skirt with embroidered rose, black leggings, maroon headband & boots. Confidence outfit for doing something tricky & bold (like asking someone out).
Day 4: Sky-blue elbow-sleeved shirt, favorite jeans, sparkly indigo ballet flats and plain leather purse. Perfect for a first date!!
Day 5: Teal zip up sweatshirt, jeans, Converse, and black headband. Great outfit for a cool, moonlit night together.
I realized this was similar to Luna-Starr's poem. I hope you don't take offense or anything, LS. :)
(August 2, 2019 - 4:35 pm)
I wrote one more! Oh boy, I'm so out of practice.
For the "sharp things/soft things" prompt (I took a screenshot because the formatting was being weird when I was trying to copy/paste.):
(August 3, 2019 - 11:58 am)
Thanks, Quill and Kitten! @Summer, no offense taken. :) I liked that poem, too, it had a sweet idea to it.
Oof, I'm blanking a little. Here's a maybe-something for sharp/soft, I really don't know how good it is.
volatile---
a riddon of red blossoming into
beads, darkening like the
center of a rose- once again, cut on something that's
supposed to be soft
(but is anything ever as it's "supposed" to be?)
(i mean, being a good kid was "supposed" to
reward me, but look at me now)
don't things just become such
beasts once you
come to trust them as innocent?
scarred fist to ratty hair, lip forming a
trembling chapped-lipped snarl
(rabid. unclean. the things i've been called.)
easy and hard. dark and light. orderly and chaotic.
the ways society tries to balance itself.
i am surrounded by the sharp. where is the
soft inside of me?
(August 3, 2019 - 6:20 pm)
This one isn't really for any prompt.
Tapestry
She sits in the corner, hands looped with thread.
Wraps thread around and around,
pouring her bitterness toward her employers
captors
into it.
Her loom, once empty, fills like a well
with colors and shadows.
Fills with
hands.
They reach for each other, connecting
into a knot, a web of fingers
feeling their way through the threads.
Center, gripped by others, barely visible
is a small, pale, cold hand.
Fingers reach for it, comfort it,
but none can stop
the scarlet flow of yarn that rushes from the palm.
She stops, looks at her own palm,
at the scars that slash the skin.
She continues, a tear whispering down her cheek.
(August 3, 2019 - 8:12 pm)
Wow.
(August 3, 2019 - 10:01 pm)
It's the last day of the challenge--good luck, everyone!
(August 4, 2019 - 8:15 am)
So, the week’s over: are we supposed to vote for our favorite poem?
I had a really hard time deciding, but I think my favorite is Gone by Summer.
(August 5, 2019 - 10:52 am)
@Kitten, yes!
So, it's the end of this round--congratulations everyone, whether you wrote a poem every day or (like me) only wrote one or two. I think it would work best if we actually voted from today through Friday, and then I'll tally the votes on Saturday and the new announcer can have time to post their theme and prompt(s) on Saturday/Sunday, before we start the new round on Monday. (I'm a little bit confused now about how this worked in the other Poetry Challenges, but we'll just do this.)
I'm going to vote for volatile, by Luna-Starr!
(August 5, 2019 - 3:30 pm)