Gather, a spring challenge

[butters]

Agreed; mine included among the 8. It wasn't a typo, but I lost a little sleep over a boner in it a few nights ago.

Yet isn't this fun? People are reading poems beyond the "atta boy, atta girl" 30 seconds plus or minus on "New Poems." 1201 was right. You wanna be a better poet? Read.

??? maybe you need to wait till tuesday before answering, or in pm but you've lost me


and yes! it's been cool having sometime off work resulting in me getting to spend more time reading and thinking.

 

[pelegrino]

"Bird's Nest" was my best. As it is out, I voted for "Snowmelt" which I also consider a very fine poem. I am waiting to read opinions on it.

 

[AMoveableBeast]

"Bird's Nest" was my best. As it is out, I voted for "Snowmelt" which I also consider a very fine poem. I am waiting to read opinions on it.

"Bird's Nest" was yours?

A great piece. As I've said a couple of times, my favorite of the competition. I was surprised when it didn't make the final cut.

May I ask what your inspiration for it was?

It was such an unusual piece, with so much packed into the lines. It manged to be both highly artistic--with phrases that, to my mind, sung in the peculiar key of transcendental poetry (nature as perfection), buffeted by post-modern despair--but wrapped and threaded so carefully around itself that it contained what amounted to a startlingly thick narrative.

Poetry, to me, is all about an economy of words. What can you evoke with six lines? What story can you tell? What impact can you deliver in a single stanza?

When I read "Bird's Nest," I immediately wanted to write a short story about it, about the way you can parcel together a life so neatly and meticulously, with such affection and care, and then have it broken by the winds of change so completely and irrevocably. And those winds turn what was once something magnificent and impregnable into this little strawman home. Not only that, but that failure stretches back in time to blow the dust off of all your previous failures, and into the future, gusting into other lives you won't have, nests you won't build, eggs that will never hatch.

And we, the would be life-builders, are just looking at the two halves, chirping our helplessness. Look what we made. Look at what we almost made.

I could see the whole story in my head, just from those scavenged bits of prose, only the best pieces of the tale worthy of inclusion. In the end, I'd never write it. It doesn't need to be written. You more than did it justice. That it is there, a negative space feathered by your pretty words is enough.

That's damn good poetry, in my opinion. Thank you for sharing it. I wish it were in front of me; I would dive further into it, but only the finalist are up now. A shame. I miss it already.

*Edit: todski was nice enough to show me where I could still find the original list of poems. On the day God handed out computer skills, I doubled-down on adjectives.

 

[Magnetron]

I could be wrong, but I think Pelegrino meant Birdsnest would have gotten his vote if it had made it to the final round.

 

[pelegrino]

I could be wrong, but I think Pelegrino meant Birdsnest would have gotten his vote if it had made it to the final round.

That's right, Mag.
Sorry AMouvableBeast, I wish it was mine. It was the closest to my heart, and I agree with your appreciation of it!

 

[AMoveableBeast]

My apologies.

I don't read so good.

Well, whoever wrote it, you rock. Will you go to prom with me?

Now, I do believe it is time for me to shuffle away awkwardly.

That's right, Mag.
Sorry AMouvableBeast, I wish it was mine. It was the closest to my heart, and I agree with your appreciation of it!

 

[legerdemer]

"Bird's Nest" was yours?

A great piece. As I've said a couple of times, my favorite of the competition. I was surprised when it didn't make the final cut.

May I ask what your inspiration for it was?

It was such an unusual piece, with so much packed into the lines. It manged to be both highly artistic--with phrases that, to my mind, sung in the peculiar key of transcendental poetry (nature as perfection), buffeted by post-modern despair--but wrapped and threaded so carefully around itself that it contained what amounted to a startlingly thick narrative.

Poetry, to me, is all about an economy of words. What can you evoke with six lines? What story can you tell? What impact can you deliver in a single stanza?

When I read "Bird's Nest," I immediately wanted to write a short story about it, about the way you can parcel together a life so neatly and meticulously, with such affection and care, and then have it broken by the winds of change so completely and irrevocably. And those winds turn what was once something magnificent and impregnable into this little strawman home. Not only that, but that failure stretches back in time to blow the dust off of all your previous failures, and into the future, gusting into other lives you won't have, nests you won't build, eggs that will never hatch.

And we, the would be life-builders, are just looking at the two halves, chirping our helplessness. Look what we made. Look at what we almost made.

I could see the whole story in my head, just from those scavenged bits of prose, only the best pieces of the tale worthy of inclusion. In the end, I'd never write it. It doesn't need to be written. You more than did it justice. That it is there, a negative space feathered by your pretty words is enough.

That's damn good poetry, in my opinion. Thank you for sharing it. I wish it were in front of me; I would dive further into it, but only the finalist are up now. A shame. I miss it already.

Perfectly said.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

In Dd, are Tepals the same thing as Sepals? Because the first time I read it I saw it as a typo, but perhaps it isn't.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

No. Living as I do in northern New England, I found that it resonates. ""Snowbelt" is common here. I often joke that southern New England is the "banana belt." You "London Fog" folks might not see it in the same way (I've stacked my share of firewood. LOL)

It's either a typo or an imaginative convolution. I gave the benefit of the doubt to the latter. If the former, sorry poet of Snowmelt, no offense intended, but I would have miscast my vote because at this level of competition with so much quality, the winner IMO opinion should be flawless.

As a matter of interest and nothing to do with the competition do you American's still see us as being shrouded in London Fog?

 

[AMoveableBeast]

In Dd, are Tepals the same thing as Sepals? Because the first time I read it I saw it as a typo, but perhaps it isn't.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepal

I might as well fess up to this one. todski already nailed me on it. It's mine.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepal

I might as well fess up to this one. todski already nailed me on it. It's mine.

Aha I see, well it's a very original description, something we all strive for!

 

[Seanathon]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepal

I might as well fess up to this one. todski already nailed me on it. It's mine.

I figured both Snowmelt and Paperwhites and Pomegranate Seed to be yours with their mentions of Persephone, Odysseus and Poseidon. I know from reading your stories you have a penchant for mythology. Great poem btw! Loved the language and imagery.

 

[todski28]

I had stlgoddessfreya pegged for snowmelt

 

[Magnetron]

As a matter of interest and nothing to do with the competition do you American's still see us as being shrouded in London Fog?

And Basil Rathbone running about with his magnifying glass.

 

[Dianthus]

And Basil Rathbone running about with his magnifying glass.

tsk....Sherlock Holmes is Benedict Cumberbatch!

 

[Lyricalli]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepal

I might as well fess up to this one. todski already nailed me on it. It's mine.

And I will fess up that is was one of my favorites. It broke my heart, and very nearly got my vote.

 

[AMoveableBeast]

And I will fess up that is was one of my favorites. It broke my heart, and very nearly got my vote.

Thank you for the compliment. Which one did get your vote, if I might ask?

 

[Lyricalli]

Thank you for the compliment. Which one did get your vote, if I might ask?

Well, since we're doing confessions...

Cc, "Bloom", is the poem that won me over in the end. It said a lot with so little, and it resonated with me on a really personal level. Not an easy decision, though, believe me.

 

[AMoveableBeast]

I figured both Snowmelt and Paperwhites and Pomegranate Seed to be yours with their mentions of Persephone, Odysseus and Poseidon. I know from reading your stories you have a penchant for mythology. Great poem btw! Loved the language and imagery.

*chuckle*

Where I'm from, Seanathon, we call that a "creative weakness".

And I will cop to no further poems until the finish.

But I will say that I tried, unsuccessfully, I think, to interlace my three entries so they tell a kind of tragic love story. If you stack them in the right order, they should play like a Shakesperean folly.

*shrug*

Not sure it worked, but it excited me to try.

 

[butters]

i want to post comments on all the top 8 once the winner's announced. and, if i have time, on some that fell by the wayside earlier.

it'd be good to see people posting their own thoughts too - looking forward to it!

p.s i thought tepals to be a typo till i went looking; it (as illustrated by your consequent link) was the perfect choice of word to create that image!

 

[butters]

left another nudge over on the geebee reminding people that today's the final day to cast their vote

 

[greenmountaineer]

No. Living as I do in northern New England, I found that it resonates. ""Snowbelt" is common here. I often joke that southern New England is the "banana belt." You "London Fog" folks might not see it in the same way (I've stacked my share of firewood. LOL)

.............

As a matter of interest and nothing to do with the competition do you American's still see us as being shrouded in London Fog?

No. An exaggeration, Annie, perhaps a poor attempt to contrast it with "snowbelt," American slang for a place that gets a lot of snow. Maybe that's why I liked "Snowmelt" as much as I did. A little more than a month ago, there was still a foot of snow in my backyard; today the trees are almost in full bloom.

 

[HarryHill]

As a matter of interest and nothing to do with the competition do you American's still see us as being shrouded in London Fog?

That's what butters was wearing first time I saw her

 

[butters]

That's what butters was wearing first time I saw her

i was?

 

[Remec]

As a matter of interest and nothing to do with the competition do you American's still see us as being shrouded in London Fog?

Not constantly, just much of the time.

I spent a little over three weeks in London back in 92, and it literally rained for at least a short while for most, if not all, of that time. It was like a mix of being in Washington state and here in Virginia. You would get small showers several times a day, almost every day, but they would spring up out of nowhere--no dark clouds rolling in, or similar--and disappear just as quickly.