Holiday Poetry Contest 2016

Welcome to the Tanka Winter Contest, in which it is exactly what it sounds like!






Starts on 12/1/2016 00:00 GMT

Ends on 12/23/2016 00:00 GMT

* Automatically adjusted to your local time









You are to submit your poems below in this format. You must have a title, your username, and then the poem (preferrably in a spoiler). For example, this is how you would submit it:




Title: Blah

Username: Kaos

Poem:

Spoiler

Here is where you would submit or have your poem.

The Tanka Winter Contest is where you will be writing a tanka off the theme of, well, winter. It can be Christmas related, or just the season in general! It can be broad, it can be specific, as long as it has a relation to the prompt given. Anything winter will count towards the prompt; don't worry too much about missing it.


If you don't know what a tanka is, it's similar to a haiku, but two lines longer. There are five lines in a tanka with 5-7-5-7-5 OR 5-7-5-7-7 syllables accordingly; five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second, etc. After it is submitted it will be judged by a group of judges whom they are five of.









There are prizes too! The prizes are, 1,500 points for the third place winner, 3,000 points for the second, and the first place winner earns 5,000 points!




I hope you decide to participate and to see all the lovely poems that are submitted! If you have any questions about the contest, submit them in PM to me rather than below in the thread to avoid clutter. I look forward to seeing your submissions!

Title: I want Snows as Santa because he's not coming: I know it.
Username: NicolMemo
Poem: (Don't be surprised)

Spoiler

the snow smiles at me
as I walk on him, craving
my footsteps as tears.
tears that will not freeze that wants
the snow to become Santa.

Why not.

Title: Listen to the windowpanes
Username: Wolfical
Poem:

Spoiler

the blind man said to
Listen to the windowpanes --
hear the frosty bite.
turn your ear to peppermints
candied red and white.

Title: The Children

Username: Passenger

Poem:

Spoiler

We waste in the whip
of the wind, tucked in blank drifts
beneath a frayed spruce.
Groping for lost beguilement.
"Sir," I beg, frozen, "your coat?"

I have never written a tanka poem before, but I would love to participate:)

Title: the snow will soon be water.

Username: amelie

Poem:

Spoiler

my tears are snowflakes,
dripping down, melting the snow.
so i look up and-
the driver of that car looks
a little like you.

Title: Demeter's Grief
Username: SirLight
Poem:

Spoiler

Wear your sunglasses
to shield your eyes from the light -
a depressing ray
that blends with the falling snow.
This is Mother's grief;
until summer, Daughter’s gone.

Title: The Reward of Villiany
Username: Dracula
Poem:

Spoiler

I couldn't help it.
My fingers tore at the wrapping
Thirteen days early.
Woe- all I found inside was
A pair of knitted knickers.

Title: Presents
Username: OreosAreLife
Poem:

Spoiler

Put the Christmas tree up,
Lay down under the colorfully wrapped presents
And wait for the night
Before Christmas to see him, Santa Claus
Bringing more beautifully wrapped presents

Title: instead of complaining, recognize me at least
Username: Hannah
Poem:

Spoiler

not enough for gifts,
not enough for a bus trip,
not enough for lights,
but have we enough
strength to cherish what is here?

Title: Winter Cold Memories
Username: KAL
Poem:

Spoiler

The snow reminds me
of all the times we danced under
the bright winter stars,
while we tried hard to ignore
the bitter cold around us.

Title: Drunkard

Username: Sagitta

Poem:

Spoiler

south of paradise
cold against the windowpane
dipped in grey and white
notes of spice and warm champagne
and drenched in shimmering ice.

Title: hot ice//december sun
Username: Pompadour
Poem:

Spoiler

karachi, i mourn
your sun’s sweet naivety--
to float in tandem
to the furnaces that reap
heat within my glacial home.

And that ends the submissions for the contest! It is past the deadline as of now and the results of who won the contest will be out eventually. I'm hoping for it all to be done by the end of mid-January but it may come before/after that and that's just an estimate. Thanks to all who participated and I will try to get the results back to you as soon as possible!

This will be the concluding post of the Holiday Poetry Contest! This means the winners will be announced here and then their points will be delivered to them after they are all announced and the post as made. The judges are done evaluating all of the poems, and this leads us to our Top 3! Let us congratulate our three winners of this contest for their beautiful poems, as well as anyone else who participated because this was truly a hard choice for the judges and I to decide on!

In third place, we have the splendid @Pompadour, with her poem, hot ice//december sun receiving 1500 points!

In second place, we have the magnificent @Hannah, with her poem titled, instead of complaining, recognize me at least and she will be receiving 3000 points!

And last not but least, we have the wonderous @amelie, with her poem called the snow will soon be water and she will be receiving 5000 points for this!

Thank you to all who've participated because we've seen some wonderful poems and just because yours may not have been picked doesn't make it an exception for being beautiful.

Thanks for the fun contest, and congratulations, everyone!