April Madness 2021

94 posts1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
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veeren
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Gender Male
Points 5211
Reviews 184
Fri Apr 09, 2021 3:57 pm
veeren says... · Fri Apr 09, 2021 3:57 pm
here's my submission <3

Spoiler
what a waste


Image
"Love is the name for our pursuit of wholeness, for our desire to be complete."
-Plato's Symposium
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keystrings
Gender None specified
Points 31988
Reviews 417
Fri Apr 09, 2021 4:36 pm
keystrings says... · Fri Apr 09, 2021 4:36 pm
APRIL MADNESS


Just a reminder for everyone! Poems are due in 12 hours ~~

Pinging everyone who hasn't submitted yet: so that they get a notification:
Spoiler
@hannah0528 @LUNARGIRL @Charm @Magebird @rida @starlitmind @Spearmint @alliyah @Lavvie @MapleWay @looseleaf @fortis


Round One
Pairings will be announced April 5th, while poems must be posted by April 9th 10:00 pm PDT - results alongside the next round pairings will be announced on April 12th.

From this round, eight poets will move on, but there is a redemption round for everyone else (all thirteen of you), if you’d like to continue with the competition.

Please submit one poem below in this thread, either using a spoiler, plain text, or an image. You may edit your poem whenever or switch it with another at any time before the deadline. If you do edit your poem, please indicate that in your post, i.e., [EDITED] or something alike.

Ask any questions below and good luck!
name: key/string/perks
pronouns: she/her/hers and they/them/theirs

novel: dream-ish (camp novmo '25)
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Rook
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Gender non-binary
Points 4939
Reviews 621
Fri Apr 09, 2021 6:55 pm
Rook says... · Fri Apr 09, 2021 6:55 pm
Spoiler
Saying "Amen" Is Like Bursting Out From Deep Water
a villainelle

I go to the lake to say a prayer
and fill my pockets with rocks.
I do not need air.

The lake's slate crests are snowcapped with dawn's lilac glare.
Saying hello to God, I step off the dock.
I enter the lake to say a prayer.

My clothes are heavy, my feet are bare
and clusters of mussels cut them where I walk.
I do not need air.

I sit cross-legged in sand, and there
close my eyes against the murk. I talk.
"I've come to the lake to say a prayer."

The pulse of water tosses my hair.
If I cry, the lake does not mock.
I do not need air.

I'm empty of everything; the lake doesn't care.
So rise, rise! unloaded of rocks.
I went to the lake to say a prayer.
I scream "amen" into midnight air.
Instead, he said, Brother! I know your hunger.
To this, the Wolf answered, Lo!

-Elena Passarello, Animals Strike Curious Poses
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Mageheart
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Points 1234
Reviews 590
Fri Apr 09, 2021 8:08 pm
Mageheart says... · Fri Apr 09, 2021 8:08 pm
Spoiler
longing

can you feel homesick
for a place you never left?

you can still hear the crowing
of the neighborhood’s roosters
as the sun rises. there’s still puddles
littering gravel parking lot
that sits besides the fairgrounds.
the library always adorns
its windows with themed decorations
and the middle school always
congratulates its students
in pixelated purple
outside its asphalt gates.

when you stand in
the high school’s gym,
it still has the mustiness
of the old textbooks
locked away in
the storage closet.

but they’re tearing
down fifty years of history
and asbestos in the bathroom tiles
this summer.

you take a deep breath,
feeling longing settle heavy
in your chest,
and hope that your mind
will remember the sprawling halls
and mismatched lockers
that your body will someday
forget.
mage

[ they/them ]

queer and here.
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starlitmind
Gender Female
Points 29725
Reviews 465
Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:31 am
starlitmind says... · Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:31 am
EDIT: oh and I forgot to say this, but I just wanted to tell you, Editor, that I love the colour you chose for me on the brackets list haha xD OKAY BYE

Spoiler
GMO I FORGOT ABOUT THIS OOPS THANKS FOR THE REMINDER <333

Image
.--. --- - .- - ---
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junipers
Gender Female
Points 2569
Reviews 95
Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:33 am
junipers says... · Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:33 am
Spoiler
Ecosystem

A little brown deer
With white spots on her sides
Gracefully hops into a clearing
Sniffing the ground

Just born recently
Her mother walks behind her
Nudging her along
Showing her young
Right from wrong

A little blueberry bush sits off to one side.
The fawn hops over and nibbles on it.
A little bunny hops by
But the fawn leaves it.

This is an ecosystem
A land of peace and life and death and rebirth
This is life
psalm 147:3- he heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

love ya
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Charm
Gender Female
Points 1335
Reviews 277
Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:44 am
Charm says... · Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:44 am
Spoiler
Enclosed

The wind shudders,
shuffling the green-faced leaves.

Sunlight peers through
the cracks of blue sky

between the tree branches
that sway, bend, creak
in the breeze.

I sigh along with spring,
listen easefully to the bird songs
that fill the yard,

to the scurrying
feet of squirrels climbing bark,

and distance cars that whisper,
drifting along the highway,

their presence, a quiet reminder
of life outside these walls.
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MapleWay
Gender Male
Points 18
Reviews 93
Sat Apr 10, 2021 2:18 am
MapleWay says... · Sat Apr 10, 2021 2:18 am
Here's mine!
Spoiler
Pushing the Limits

Some people stay at the border.
Not me.
I break the limits that are put on me.
I color outside the lines
with my golden marker in hand.
I ride in the leather saddle of wonder
with freedom as my driver.
Nothing can hold me.
Not the deepest cave.
Not the highest cloud.
Not even a cage made of pure diamond.
I still follow the law.
And most of the rules,
But I don't let them define me.
I let them join me,
I let them come along for the ride.
Though the wheel always stays in my grasp.
"Writing is a place where you can be who you are."

-MapleWay
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alliyah
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Gender Female
Points 136272
Reviews 1283
Sat Apr 10, 2021 2:30 am
alliyah says... · Sat Apr 10, 2021 2:30 am
here we go!

Spoiler

days the sun stole
Image
you should know i am a time traveler &
there is no season as achingly temporary as now
but i have promised to return
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Spearmint
Gender Female
Points 35327
Reviews 315
Sat Apr 10, 2021 5:46 am
Spearmint says... · Sat Apr 10, 2021 5:46 am
Spoiler
i line the page with
bold threads of black
criss-crossing, cutting corners
geometry in 2D

the black and white contrast
like smooth keys of a piano
or the cream and cookie parts
of a packaged oreo

and monochrome is all well and good but
i think this paper needs
a little sparkle of something more

so laughing i uncap my golden pen
and streak a comet-tail of sunlight
across the boldly lined page

Spoiler
Oop so sorry this is late!! I've been kinda busy lately, but I'll still submit this, though it's totally fine if you don't accept late submissions!! <333
mint, she/her


.--. / ... ...- -.-. .-.. / - .--. ..- .- / .--- --- ...- .--- / .--- --- .--. .-- / .--. .--- .-.. / .--- -.-- .-.. .... -
=D
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rida
Gender None specified
Points 60
Reviews 47
Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:42 pm
rida says... · Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:42 pm
Here’s mine!
Spoiler
rida wrote:

Pillow Thoughts



Image


The lights dim into
Midnight
The sun slips down
Lost into the depthless ocean
Dreaming of mermaids and
A new beginning

The half-eaten moon
Climbs over the sky
Hanging itself
In misery

Tiny, unnoticeable pinpricks of light
Hidden by invisible clouds
Shine solemnly
As if they would rather burn out of existence
Than watch wide-eyed children
Dreaming
Hoping.

The stars are almost finite
The moon is almost dead

The blue hued sky darkens
Wetting our hearts
With hopelessness

But as my head
Plops into a thin pillow
And my hairs
Suffocate the pillow
Like little streaks of black....



A little gear whirs

A little key rotates into place

A tiny, audible mental click






And inside me...


Hundred bubbles burst,
A hundred stars alight
A hundred moons cartwheeling across the inky black me

A hundred trains of thoughts
Whirring and puffing past each other
Throwing crates of old memories

Forgotten to-do notes
Flying past my eyes
Memories replayed in my mind
Audio cassettes of my childhood
Little feelings to accompany,
Reeling in and out

A hundred oil lamps are lit
On tables of forgotten love letters
That still crack my heart
Every time they fly past my mind

Small pixies of yellowed mischief
Giggling and racing on forest meadows
Of my imagination

Each thought flies into my mind
And unfinished, it’s replaced by another
Each bizarre pattern
In my own wonderland of pillow thoughts

My head buzzes loudly
Overflowing with thoughts
Unfinished, scattered
My heart weighs down
Under all the weight

Overlapped chatter
Of million thoughts
Stretching into the lines of infinity
My head is buzzing
My ears are humming
My mind occupied by thoughts

Until....


‘DING DONG’

It’s 2 am.

And as those million thoughts are swiped
And cleaned away
By sleep

Another gear clicks into place

Another memory is placed

Ready to be replayed

Tomorrow night
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keystrings
Gender None specified
Points 31988
Reviews 417
Mon Apr 12, 2021 7:00 pm
keystrings says... · Mon Apr 12, 2021 7:00 pm
APRIL MADNESS:

ROUND ONE RESULTS


Hello everyone! We had an interesting round of voting, but here are the results:

Group A: TheScribe charlie4152 Yoshikrab
Group B: starlitmind fortis
Group C: ForeverYoung299 Magebird Spearmint
Group D: chikara, MapleWay

Spoiler
Pinging still active participants! @hannah0528 @yoshikrab @TheScribe @Charm @Magebird @rida @starlitmind @chikara @Spearmint @alliyah @veeren @Rydia @charlie4152 @MapleWay @ChrisCalaid @ForeverYoung299 @Buranko @fortis


The new bracket is below:
Spoiler
Screen Shot 2021-04-12 at 11.57.55 AM.png
Screen Shot 2021-04-12 at 11.57.55 AM.png (74.53 KiB) Viewed 2404 times


You may have noticed I modified it a bit -- it's only fair to allow for ties to fight it out in the next round, which ends up with an interesting combination of who ends up where -- in the first bracket or the redemption bracket. I hope this isn't too confusing, but I wanted to switch things out to make it the most even/balanced for everyone as there were a couple of entries not submitted!

Feel free to ask me any questions xD

Round Two
Poems must be posted by <span style="color: #8000BF"><span style="font-weight: bold">04/17/2021 05:00 GMT</span></span> - results alongside the next round pairings will be announced on April 19th. The poets who lost the first round will also write a poem for Round 2, for the "redemption bracket" and compete against each other for a spot in the next round.
name: key/string/perks
pronouns: she/her/hers and they/them/theirs

novel: dream-ish (camp novmo '25)
Quote




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Charm
Gender Female
Points 1335
Reviews 277




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keystrings
Gender None specified
Points 31988
Reviews 417
Mon Apr 12, 2021 7:36 pm
keystrings says... · Mon Apr 12, 2021 7:36 pm
@Charm Both Group A and C had three winners because of ties.
name: key/string/perks
pronouns: she/her/hers and they/them/theirs

novel: dream-ish (camp novmo '25)
Quote




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Mageheart
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Gender Other
Points 1234
Reviews 590
Tue Apr 13, 2021 12:18 am
Mageheart says... · Tue Apr 13, 2021 12:18 am
Here's my submission for Round #2! I can't believe I actually made it past the first round this time. ^^"

Spoiler
i became a visionary

standing in the shower
with the water
pounding on my skin,
i realized i had become
a visionary.

castles sprawled before
my closed eyes.
i could see the roughness
on the corners of each stone block.
i could follow
the neverending spiral
of forgotten passages
into the dark dungeons down below
and feel a chill
as a cold wind
blew through
a broken window.

i could stand in the streets
and listen to the chatter
of the elves selling
their wares as a group of
armor-clad guards
bumped into my shoulders
on the way to their
next shift.

i could feel the soft earth
underneath bare toes
and hear the humming of
the crickets as lightning bugs
swarmed the twilight
around me.
i could dance underneath
the moonlight and towering oak trees
and feel the forest swing with me, too.

and when i opened my eyes
and gripped the wet, metal faucet
in my wrinkled hands,
the forests and kingdoms and towns
were just as real
as the water dripping off
the hair plastered to my forehead.
mage

[ they/them ]

queer and here.
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The reason a boat sinks isn't the water around it. It sinks when water gets into it. Don't let what's happening around you weigh you down.
— dalisay