“the wist i knew would never allow a straight boy in their stories” ~Omni “Hi Omni can I request wist get the role mom friend :]" ~winter “ah yes, fear Wist's smile :) <- speaks of layers and layers of secrets” ~mint
The entries for this round were very all strong! Here are the final results: Group A: SilverNight, Rook Group B: Shady, niteowl, lliyah Group C: mothbroth
Round Three Due to a small number of entries into the redemption bracket, you'll see that only one winner from that group has advanced onto the next round. There was also a tie in Group B, which is why 3 competitors from that group are going into the third round! For this round, poems must be posted by 04/25/2022 0:00 GMT. The results, as well as the next round's pairings, will be announced by April 26th. The two winners will compete in the final round to see who the Best YWS Poet of 2022 is!
Please submit one poem in this thread, as plain text or an image. You can spoiler it if you like, but you don't have to. At any point before the deadline, you can edit and/or switch your entry, but please make sure to indicate that it's been changed at the top of your post with something like "EDITED".
If you have any questions, ask them below! Good luck and happy poeting!
When you're faced with something you don't understand, I think the most natural thing but also least interesting thing you can be is afraid.
Do @Stringbean and I not count as a separate group? I wasn't aware we were also competing against SilverNight and Rook. Or were we competing against mothbroth?
They/he
“the wist i knew would never allow a straight boy in their stories” ~Omni “Hi Omni can I request wist get the role mom friend :]" ~winter “ah yes, fear Wist's smile :) <- speaks of layers and layers of secrets” ~mint
@AlmostImmortal sorry, that might have been a bit unclear! You, Stringbean, Rook and SilverNight were all part of one group. mothbroth was part of the redemption bracket, meaning he was competing against others in that bracket. Since he advanced, Rook and SilverNight will be "competing" against him this round. I hope that makes more sense!
When you're faced with something you don't understand, I think the most natural thing but also least interesting thing you can be is afraid.
hours ago, there was a particular projector-shine cast on your skin, turning on and off as campfire flickered admonishingly, tempting you away from the dream sequence that was about to begin. most of it comes to me in fractals here, flaking off from the memory and flashing forefront, blinking per countdown beat, like smoke following the curl of your eyelashes in slow-motion, so you'll forgive me now. if the slideshow doesn't run comprehensively, if the sequence occasionally falls flat before we move onto the next scene, maybe it could mean something. hours ago we made a movie, a stop motion film. of course, the film reels watch, hungry for chemistry, for some pretense of development, from strangers, to friends, to star-crossed lovers, so this became the kind of tagline. the perfect rom-com needed, the throwback, a hook pulling us into screen-worthy love; a fan-favourite, ready for pop culture immortalisation.
In a shadow there is the blessing of a shadow. — Kuki Shūzō
plain text: they told me you abandoned the sea to attempt to find the edge of the world somewhere else perhaps someday i’ll hear that you dove head-first into a canyon and learned to fly or became human-dynamite, thinking your lungs would become a parachute and you’d finally find what you’d been looking for at one time i so admired how optimistic you were about a human’s inherent capacity for flight, it's easy to fall in love with people who think they can fly but i’ve fallen enough times, to know it’s also dangerous to jump from cliffs, and boats, and mountain-ranges when the mood strikes because the ground it seems is just as infinite as the sky.
you would probably call me cynical now; or travel-weary, or maybe just older i suppose, but i can’t help but be bothered that even in all your make-believe, dream-searching, you’re still always running away.
you should know i am a time traveler & there is no season as achingly temporary as now
I'm super excited to see the entries for the semi-finals! This is just a reminder that the deadline for this round's poems is in approximately 24 hours! Good luck, poets :D @SilverNight @Rook@Shady@niteowl @lliyah @mothbroth
When you're faced with something you don't understand, I think the most natural thing but also least interesting thing you can be is afraid.
i think i’m starting to drag you in too close: there is poison spilling out of me like hawking radiation, and i’m worried that gravity’s going to tear you apart. it might be that it’s too late for you to escape. it might be that i don’t ever want you to.
i should start by picking a spot in the galaxy and chaining myself to it, then tell you that some disasters are meant to be watched from a distance.
confessions don’t last long with the oxygen gone, but i’ll get this one out of my lungs: i’m not sure that you can ever know peace as long as you know me.
some disasters shouldn’t be saved.
Democracy dies in darkness. Also at 4:30PM in Pacific Standard Time, apparently.
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
After some very intense competition, two finalists have emerged from this round: mothbroth and lliyah! Well done to everyone who made it this far, and an extra big congrats to you two for making it to the final round!
Spoiler
A tag for the competitors, so you don't miss this message ~ @lliyah @mothbroth @niteowl @SilverNight @Rook@Shady
Here are the brackets for round 4:
Round Four For the final round, the last two poets will compete directly against each other, and must submit their poems by 05/02/2022 0:00 GMT. The final results will be announced by May 3rd.
Please submit one poem in this thread, as plain text or an image. You can spoiler it if you like, but you don't have to. At any point before the deadline, you can edit and/or switch your entry, but please make sure to indicate that it's been changed at the top of your post with something like "EDITED". Good luck and happy poeting - may the odds be ever in your favour!
When you're faced with something you don't understand, I think the most natural thing but also least interesting thing you can be is afraid.
This is really exciting! <3 Congratulations to everyone who competed this month, I didn't know how that last round would turn out; there's been some really strong pieces this month! Good luck @mothbroth!
Here's what I have for now, will indicate if I edit the entry. Spoiler
"i promise to return,"
you should know i am a time traveler & there is no season as achingly temporary as now
sometimes i'm like "I should say something quotable to make it into the quote gen" but then I feel bad because quote gen quotes are very spontaneous — theromanticchemist
