Dear Me Challenge Poll

[todski28]

Congratulations Calli and Angeline

Those two pieces were in my top three

I had all of you down ask Calli I spoke to her about it yesterday, damn it why didnt I let the other two names fly

 

[Ashesh9]

Hearty Congrats , Angie 'n Calli !!! Worthy Champions both of you !

 

[Lyricalli]

Hearty Congrats , Angie 'n Calli !!! Worthy Champions both of you !

Thank you.

Congratulations Calli and Angeline

Those two pieces were in my top three

I had all of you down ask Calli I spoke to her about it yesterday, damn it why didnt I let the other two names fly

Hmm... did you? I don't seem to recall...


Or maybe I do, and maybe you figured them all out correctly. It's not like you to be so timid.


Oh, and thank you.

 

[Lyricalli]

Thank you to those who like my piece enough to vote for it. I'm touched.

Angie, I really like your piece, and thought it the likely winner.

Mags, yours was one of my favorites.


I enjoyed all the poems. Thanks for coming up with the challenge, GP; it was a really good one.

 

[Angeline]

My post disappeared!

Let me try this again. Congrats to Calli and thank you to those who voted for my poem. I thought all the contenders were strong. I resisted the urge to vote for my own lol. I voted for Junior because it's so evocative for me and reminds me of home. GM understands, I'm sure.

I really like Ash's poem, too. Very strong writing and a great ending.

Many thanks to GP (who wrote a sestina ) for yeoman's work on the challenge. And thanks for posting Sin's poem. I enjoyed reading it.

s all round!

 

[legerdemer]

Congratulations, Angeline and Calli - lovely poems both. Together with Junior - those three were my top picks and it was really hard to decide. I felt that I could have written Ange's and Calli's poems - NOT the words or the style but the sentiments - they were so close, so close.

I flamed out on this one - started but couldn't make the poem come together in time.

I enjoyed reading all of these - there wasn't a single one that didn't have something special to offer.

Thanks, GP, for running the challenge!

 

[greenmountaineer]

A lot of fun. Congrats to the winners and to everyone for participating.

Angie, I was tempted to use "Douglas" but needed 4 syllables

 

[Magnetron]

I voted for #1.

My 2nd Place would be Sinseria's.

Which bumps Calli's to 3rd Place.

And I was happy to see I got at least one vote.

 

[Trixareforkids]

I voted for Ash, the piece tickled me to no end
My second was Calli, third GP a sestina very nicely done m'lady!

 

[legerdemer]

I just saw Sinseria's - I missed it earlier, somehow.

I really like it, it's a beautiful poem. Well done, Miss Sin!

 

[Angeline]

A lot of fun. Congrats to the winners and to everyone for participating.

Angie, I was tempted to use "Douglas" but needed 4 syllables

Apparently Glassboro was enough to melt me. Who'd a thunk it?

 

[champagne1982]

I really did enjoy these poems. You rawk it!

GP I did write a response to your challenge, but it was on a day when I was pressed for time and used it as one of my 7 in 7 poems...

Here it is.

Here There Be Regrets

You knew going into it
there would be a messy
ending. Married men bring
a freedom to a single girl
just past that shadowy line
of old enough to call adult.

They don't want twenty-year
old brides. You'll never mother
their "legitimate" children.
They don't need to love you.
You don't want them to.

So when the music changed
from hard, pounding rock
to ballads and love songs,
the affair was over-ripened,
ready to swing free of cherry
stained lips and fall on its ass.

Thin-skinned and easily bruised
you explain that it's time
to put this to an end.
He grumbled, and in a passive
aggressive strike back, called
you whore, a fool, and a tramp.

You stood and told him all he spoke
revealled his flaws and fears. He
couldn't risk you saying things
to his wife so he cut all ties.
You knew going in, it would get messy.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

I enjoyed all the poems. Thanks for coming up with the challenge, GP; it was a really good one.

It was great fun to do, I had Ange, who's done it all before, on stand-by in case of emergencies.

Many thanks to GP (who wrote a sestina ) for yeoman's work on the challenge. And thanks for posting Sin's poem. I enjoyed reading it.

I must have been MAD to try a sestina!!! Many thanks to who ever it was that voted for me. and thank you to Ange for your support. Sinseria so nearly made it in, there's another lovely poem from Champ, one that also didn't make the mix.

I flamed out on this one - started but couldn't make the poem come together in time.
Thanks, GP, for running the challenge!

You're welcome and as for flaming out, I have another up my sleeve so....

in closing.....a haiku for the challenge....

What was is.
What is was woven by your past.
Wear it well.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

.....third GP a sestina very nicely done m'lady!

Thank you.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

BTW, after some thought about which order to post the poems I decided to do it alphabetically.

 

[Neonurotic]

Drats, rats. I forgot about this. I had really wanted to do it too! I would've been in such good company. Your poems are all wonderful.

 

[Lyricalli]

Drats, rats. I forgot about this. I had really wanted to do it too! I would've been in such good company. Your poems are all wonderful.

Well, you can still write it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd love to read it.

 

[Lyricalli]

I really did enjoy these poems. You rawk it!

GP I did write a response to your challenge, but it was on a day when I was pressed for time and used it as one of my 7 in 7 poems...

Here it is.

Here There Be Regrets

I like this one a lot.

 

[Magnetron]

Is Poeming While You Are Poeming Like Dreaming While You Are Dreaming?

Recently given the challenging task of
writing a poem to my younger self
I have to ask
is it considered a paradox if my message
was actually received?

Here is the poem I volunteered

Jurassic Farce

I really have nothing to say to you

but that is not to say
you shouldn't be listening
so pay attention

especially to your dreams;
those poems penned by the Higher Self
when this prehistoric Lower Life Form
fictional character you currently play
sleeps the night away after day
long doubt and angst filled struggles
to write great American novels that
aside from a third word processor crash
literally end up going nowhere*

*with the exception of the trash

for more can be said
in a mere few words
than entire library shelves
or cave illustrations can convey
if you would just stop panicking
long enough to stand your ground
and use your words to subdue the beast
rather than run away from the Saurus Rex
hunting you through recurring nightmares

Now, that earlier version of me?

He did end up paying more attention to his dreams
And through reverse engineering of their construction
he translated what his subconscious was saying
and learned to create associations with words;

even dreamt one night of a person's name
he'd never heard before!
who as it turned out
was not only an actual human being
but also an author of several books on
how to be a more efficient writer

These events helped shape my poetry today
making my aforementioned competition entry a reality

Everyone else wrote to themselves about
what was going to happen later in life

I wrote to myself about the need to
change his behavior

how to become the writer I am today



You may cue The X-Files theme now

 

[Neonurotic]

Well, you can still write it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd love to read it.

And so I did!




I Got Somethin' To Say:

Gunter gleiben glauchen globen
all right.
I got somethin' to say
Yeah, it's better to burn out
Yeah, than fade away
All right ¹

Ya Boy, hey, just so you know,
that's depression your feeling,
it's not teenage heartache,
not teenage angst.
It's not somethin' you can grow
out of like those favorite skinny
legged Levis, you know them,
those with the frayed knees.

No. It's somethin' more sinister,
somethin' bigger that'll pull a trigger.
Don't be scared, trust me,
you won't die because
that last split second will count
for somethin'
and realize it's somethin'
you have to go through to find
your higher power.

I wish I could tell you not to
take the Xanax, as it really doesn't do
what the Doc promises it will do;
it does at first, but not entirely.
You'll discover it too late, somethin'
that's supposed to fix you
is more nightmares, flashbacks,
anxiety, makes you into an addict.

And ya, that detox's a motherfucker.
Just sayin'. It's sixty-six days of hell
of can't sleep and sleeping all day,
too hot, too cold,
flashback, PTSD all over again,
again.

But I say again, it's also somethin'
you have to live through
to know your higher love
and hint, they have nothin' to do
with your youth, mistakes or regrets.

They're somethin' in your now
that makes you grateful
to be alive today, but it's a surprise,
Boy, it's somethin' to know on your own.



¹ Rock of Ages
Def Leppard

 

[legerdemer]

Is Poeming While You Are Poeming Like Dreaming While You Are Dreaming?
...

even dreamt one night of a person's name
he'd never heard before!
who as it turned out
was not only an actual human being
but also an author of several books on
how to be a more efficient writer

These events helped shape my poetry today
making my aforementioned competition entry a reality

Everyone else wrote to themselves about
what was going to happen later in life

I wrote to myself about the need to
change his behavior

how to become the writer I am today



You may cue The X-Files theme now

But... do we have to dream the guy who inspired you, or will you take pity on our curiosity and offer him up to inspire others as well?

PS I had wondered how many different ways people would interpret the mission statement of the challenge - my own, still unfinished write, is a blend.

 

[Lyricalli]

And so I did!

Yay! And so good, too.


Just a trivial bit: the 80's rocker chick in me loved the opening. Def Leppard was my first real concert.

 

[Angeline]

I am loving the additions to this thread and can relate to them all.

 

[Magnetron]

But... do we have to dream the guy who inspired you, or will you take pity on our curiosity and offer him up to inspire others as well?

PS I had wondered how many different ways people would interpret the mission statement of the challenge - my own, still unfinished write, is a blend.

http://www.amazon.com/Jefferson-D.-Bates/e/B001IU4NYA/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

When I dreamt his name, it was Jeffery Bates.

And I never knew it until now, but it seems he wrote a poetry book as well.

 

[AlwaysHungry]

Dreaming while dreaming, yadda yadda

You may cue The X-Files theme now

May I offer an alternate suggestion? Watch "Inception."