Places to Chat
Poetry Challenge 3!
Chatterbox: Pudding's Place
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)
Oof.
They're all great; it was hard.
I finally decided to vote for "together, we are the world" by Leafy.
(August 5, 2019 - 6:43 pm)
I liked so many of them, but I'm voting for Walls, Doors, and Other Objects of Love by Kitten.
(Also, I realised that the four of us all voted for each other- I voted for Kitten, Kitten voted for Summer, Summer voted for Leafy, Leafy voted for me (and thanks Leafy!). Weird, right?)
(August 6, 2019 - 8:57 am)
Oh boy! Someone's going to have to break the tie. @Peoples, even if you didn't end up participating in this round, you can still vote, or if you want to join for the next round you can vote on this one.
(August 6, 2019 - 4:24 pm)
Wow, thanks!
Yeah, that is weird! There’s one more person who submitted a poem (Jaybells) and I think September could vote too, so hopefully the vote will end not on a tie. :)
(August 6, 2019 - 4:24 pm)
I’m voting for ‘sharp and soft’ by Leafy, even though I didn’t participate this round. I think I’m going to try and write at least a bit next round, though.
(August 6, 2019 - 5:30 pm)
Okay! It's Saturday, so I'm tallying up the votes and...I guess I won? Thanks, friends!
Since I'm here, I'll just post the next theme and prompts right now.
---
Theme: Yourself! I thought this would be a really cool theme to do. You can use this next round to explore yourself in your poems, describe yourself, find yourself!
Prompt 1: Take a line from a book and use it as a title, a theme, inspiration, or a jumping-off point for your poem.
Prompt 2: Air
-
Also, a note about the prompts: I was always a little bit confused about how to use them. I used to think that I could either write a poem centered on the main theme, or I could write a poem on the subject of one of the prompts; I think some people combine the theme and prompts together, the theme as what their poem should be mostly about and the prompts to help them write that. But I usually take it as: you write most of your poems about the main theme, but if you're not having good luck with that, you can write a poem that just focuses on what one of the prompts is about.
So we'll start on Monday!
(August 10, 2019 - 9:35 am)
TOP!
(August 11, 2019 - 2:58 pm)
Glasses
The glasses are round. A nice soft sort of gray. Have blingy bits on the edges. Like to slide down my nose when I look down.
The glasses are oval-ish, slightly... cat-eyed? Look good with most of my clothes. Can stand their own in a contest of uniqueness.
The glasses are sophisticated. Mature. Change the way my face appears in the mirror. Are large enough to showcase my eyes but not too too huge.
The glasses improve my look.
The glasses make my outside look more like my inside.
(August 11, 2019 - 4:13 pm)
This is my poem for yesterday--
transition forms
----
at four, a little girl digs her toes into the sand.
amidst the seagulls, the sand shovels,
the beach towels, she smiles as bright as the sun.
her short hair curls in the ocean wind.
at seven, the same girl, wearing a brightly striped
bathing suit, jumps over the waves.
she laughs and laughs
and laughs and chases her older siblings and
climbs rocks and turns cartwheels on the shore, sand
sticking to her wet hands.
at thirteen, she sits on a rock ledge,
dangling her legs down, between her friends.
their hair whips in the wind and she smiles,
and they joke about destinies and love and
the sea and the sky. she watches the waves
crash over and over the rocks down below.
the overcast sky turns the water to grey
as it stretches away and swirls.
and she loves all of it--the rocky shore and the wind
and the breaking waves and the way the ocean
is hers.
(August 13, 2019 - 9:23 am)
I'm not quite sure what this is... or if it's good... but anyways.
the grey parts of my eyes
i. resounding- cracking knuckles and
mouth-breathing, heart beating still,
a secret in crossed legs, fingers twisted---
what remains inside? words that
echo ever, yet my soul is no
cave
ii. you find me in the
broken lines of wisdom--- they're
just like me, beautiful and
shattered, belonging only with
themselves--- yet they still have
friends
iii. ideas blossoming yet
caged, tucked away into the
corner of my room--- solitude is where my light can
shine
(August 13, 2019 - 9:53 am)
Okay, here’s one I wrote.
Little Kid
”If you eat too much junk food,”
they always told me,
”you’ll grow in an unhealthy way.”
I used to wonder what that meant.
Would I grow curved instead of straight,
curling and twisting in on myself?
Would my back hunch,
my shoulders curl
my fingers gnarl themselves?
Now I know that
it’s possible to twist inward on yourself
after all.
“Monsters don’t exist,”
they would tell me.
”You’re completely safe.”
I never truly let go
of my imagined night horrors.
I lay in fear that they
would burst into the room
to feed on my blood.
Now I know that
there are more terrifying monsters
than my nightmares.
Those monsters live inside
the hearts of others
and my own.
”We’ll tell you when you’re older,”
they’d say. I’d storm
up to my room.
I’d count the days
the weeks
the months
until I grew old enough
to learn the secret.
I waited with mounting impatience
to turn one year older.
Time passed so slowly.
Now I know that
time passes quickly
whether you want it to or not.
”It’s important to be honest,”
they always said.
I followed the rules to the letter.
I was constantly honest
never having a second thought.
Lying was a horrid
deed in my mind.
I believed that
adults were completely honest
and I should return the favor.
Now I know that
lying is sometimes necessary
the rules may need to be broken
and grownups always seem
to slip away from the truth.
~~
Thank you, Admins, for your patience with this long poem!
(August 13, 2019 - 7:00 pm)
I was inspired today, I guess.
blue blue blue
flahses of black, stuck-together
eyelashes revealing eyes
blue blue blue---
crystalline fog, post-rain sky, yet
faded--- we feast upon
eyes beholding poetics, we long for
something beautiful to say--- but what if
something so blue blue blue
lacks the crisp edge of
something remarkable? extrodinarily
beautifully dull, looking at the
blue blue blue, searching for something---
wise? impactful? meaningful?---
to say.
(August 13, 2019 - 8:51 pm)
This one's from yesterday--I wrote a little poem about my eyes.
watch
----
smoldering brown eyes,
mascara-lined and shadow-rimmed,
create passageways to my mind
that have dripped with tears
more times than you would believe.
(selfish. and overemotional.)
pink-and-brown eyelids
hide me--
(August 14, 2019 - 9:05 am)
I'm here and I finally wrote a poem! Not my best, but I'm working on it.
nostalgia
all i am is thoughts and memories
swirling like a cyclone
people and places and things
in every corner of the circular room
up is down and you can’t think straight
or curved or any way at all
and sadness bubbles in your chest
like sweet acid
and burning ice fills your eyes
and you begin to think
maybe this is how alice felt
falling into wonderland
(August 14, 2019 - 3:58 pm)
This one is today's poem, for the "line from a book" prompt.
my fingertips kissing your palms goodbye
----
arms. wrists. fingers.
it's hard to tell you i will never see you again.
that from this day i will be gone, but i will always love you--
those things i could never put into words,
but i always carried in my heart--oh. i can't come with you
any longer, i hope you understand--
my fingers brush the soft silk skin of your
palm, slide down your fingers
and curl away. so many things i can't speak into the air,
i know you see in my face. but all i can do now is to
turn away.
(August 14, 2019 - 6:11 pm)