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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 is for the promt air:
8/15/19
i. the airborne secrets, broken, inhaled up
worry-rimmed nostrils; hugging my dented
figure; sweet ever-present air, take me down
ii. ever keeper of the
whispered words, the eye-glanced behind cupped
hands; holding them dear, watching them be
carried from person to person, innocent letters carrying
virus; tight-lipped air, hold me tight
iii. all-knowing, scientific godhead, all that you hold
dear, cradle the broken pieces, catch all of the
beautifully strung words before they are
gone; ancient comforter, wipe away my tears and
surround me ever.
(August 15, 2019 - 1:48 pm)
I wrote another poem for the overall theme:
See
See—
do you see?
The answer’s obviously
1, 2, 3.
No, I think,
I don’t see!
Math comes naturally
to you, not me.
Sea—
tranquil sea.
Be calm, like the sea.
Don’t worry.
You’ll understand
eventually.
They can’t see
that the sea can also be
stormy.
C—
abc.
Writing comes naturally
to me.
Writing is my key
to possibility.
Words open my eyes
so I finally
see
see
see.
(August 15, 2019 - 6:39 pm)
Whirlwind
—
swirling round and round and round again infinitely on
down the drain; pulling others
down with me in a scream and a bite and a
hug too; anger swirls up then sadness and then
joy and laughter and embarrassment and
fear; a whirlwind of arms grabbing and
tugging and reaching out; then
calm for a while
the whirlwind
is but a breeze
rippling slowly
with every breath but
then a stone falls and stirs up the ripples and a whirlwind begins to rush
quickly pulling everyone down with it until i
calm it down again; words spill out words like “sorry” and
”i’m in a bad mood today” and it’s true. ish.
the whirlwind lurks under the surface and waits
for a moment to strike; i look in; i
see; slowly slowly slowly walls sketch up around it; i
breathe in and out and ripple the water; waves strike
the shore but not the walls standing strong
everything is okay
i say
(August 15, 2019 - 7:15 pm)
I have two now, one from yesterday and then today's. The first one is for the main theme, and the second one is for the air prompt.
--
what it feels like to die of uncreativity
----
my faucet drips water vapor.
a rusty tap, sputtering and damp,
choking and
failing and trying to spit out
what it has, but never succeeding.
i wish i could write more--i wish i
could turn my words and metaphors
into honey on the page and write
stories and find inspiration, not something
that turns to jealousy,
but my pen skips and falters
on the paper.
and my faucet sputters on.
friday
----
i breathe in: hear the rain on the ground
today the air smells like the ocean,
salty and fishy and like
every place i've ever loved,
and i can't help wondering if it's
the air that makes me think of you,
or just my own head
i breathe in, i breathe out
(August 16, 2019 - 9:36 am)
I'm doing the promt to use a quote from a book to inspire your poem, with the line "Closer to something true" from DEH (the novel) by Val Emmich.
cobwebbed
silk-spun lies, my
mouth is a spiderweb spout--- i have become
entangled, the way they
stick to me and how i
grit my teeth and try to brush them off--- when will
i be able to move? to
come out into a clearing, into the
sun, see the light and
never again be ensnared by
the words my lips have formed? when will i
come closer to something
true?
(August 16, 2019 - 5:30 pm)
Voting time! I'm going to vote for nostalgia by Quill.
(August 19, 2019 - 10:16 am)
I'm voting for "blue blue blue" by Luna-Starr.
(August 20, 2019 - 4:13 pm)
I'm voting for what it feels like to die of uncreativity by Leafy.
(August 20, 2019 - 6:31 pm)
I’m voting for nostalgia by Quill.
(It was REALLY hard to decide! If I could have voted for more, I would have also voted for Little Kid by Summer and transition forms by Leafy.)
(August 20, 2019 - 8:01 pm)
I'm voting for watch, by Leafy, but everyone's poems were amazing!
(August 21, 2019 - 5:40 pm)
So I'm tallying up the votes--Quill and I are tied, so Quill can post the next theme+prompts.
I was also thinking, though, that it doesn't feel like we have enough people participating to keep this going very well. Also, I'm going to be starting high school the week after next and I might not be able to continue participating much. If people want to keep doing this, we can, but I feel like we're a bit underpopulated...?
(August 24, 2019 - 10:54 am)
(August 25, 2019 - 8:04 am)
I was planning to join in this round, FYI. Don't know how much that changes anything, but I wanted to put it out there. I guess we'll see how participation goes.
(August 25, 2019 - 3:34 pm)
Cool, thanks! I guess I'll post a theme and prompts, and see how participation goes.
Theme: Trust, whether it be trusting other people or yourself.
Prompt 1: Street signs
Prompt 2: Write a poem in the form of a letter from your past self to your present self.
(August 26, 2019 - 4:35 pm)
I think I have to drop out of this for right now--I'm starting high school in less than a week, I need to do a summer reading thing and prepare myself for going to a real actual school :P And I'm kind of busy in general. So, instead of me tallying up votes at the end of each round, the announcer from that round can do it.
(August 28, 2019 - 9:57 am)