Young Writers Society

One of the beautiful things about poetry is that it can come in any shape and any size. It can be pretty versatile! In an effort to bridge the prose writers and the poets on YWS, for this contest you're challenged to write a prose poem of any length on a topic of your choice.

So what's a prose poem?

Good question! A prose poem is written in prose format but maintains those lovely qualities that make a poem a poem: strong emotions, great imagery, and all that fun freedom of experimentation. In other words, a poem not in verse form. Remember, you're not writing a story. For examples of prose poetry, check out the Poetry Foundation's excellent collection or a few selections of my own listed below:

• Ars Poetica by José Olivarez
• I Go Back to Berryman's by Vincent Scarpa
• At the airport security checkpoint... by Claudia Rankine
• The morning coffee by Ron Padgett

How to Submit

You have two options: 1) post the poem anywhere on YWS and link it here; or 2) post it directly in this thread.

Rules

You can submit only one poem. You are allowed (in fact, encouraged!) to submit poems inspired by the Camp Napo Daily Challenges and related write-ins. You cannot submit poems that were written prior to the announcement of this contest and you cannot submit poems co-written with someone else. The work must be entirely your own.

Prizes

First place: 1000 points
Second place: 500 points
Third place: 200 points



If you have any questions, feel free to PM Lavvie or leave a message below!

Inspired by Daily Challenge #2, with the item being a pencil box:



Inscrutability

Conversation about me centres around the cloth pencil box: soft, metallic, old, modern, printed with cats - like an almanac? About that pencil box is a point of questioning. It says "Cat person". Says "Dog person - with a hint of bulldoggish irony!". Then there are the shadows. Watercolour strokes sometimes Prussian blue - sometimes! - pitch-black-tinted, they glide across the dirty white body, and make it cream. The cloth pencil box is the cream of conversation - but whose? Teacher's? Who insists on the weary quality of the thread, the stains, marketh a devotee? "Cat person - most definitely!" Mother's? It is an old ratty thing "only a dog would keep": chew-toys. Chewed bones. Owners, chewing me out overlooking their ransacked burial grounds. Conversation froths like cream - going sour now, strait is the gate that leads to losing interest. The cloth will always - be there! - however, with the eyes of cats inscrutable.

my entry:

it feels like this

This is quite a bit rambly, but I figured I would toss my hat into the ring c:

title: changing opinions one bag at a time

my parents and i had been talking about getting
a new backpack a while back, and one day they
came back from costco, with something in their
hands: a really nice quality messenger bag, sturdy,
made from leather -- and i never thought i would
be so overwhelmed by holding that bag, thinking
how it was pure leather, even though i've never
been vegan or even vegetarian, and i still have
meat, probably at least a meal a day, yet there's
something trickling in the back of my mind, and
i'm going over all of the movies i've watched
about animal slaughter and horrible places for
these poor creatures to survive in, (and i think
i would like to not eat meat once i'm at college)
and that determined i didn't want the leather bag;
instead, we looked online for a cheaper, lighter
messenger over-the-shoulder-kind-of-luggage,
and i came across this cute, hot pink flower
decorations splashed on top, and i said, "yes."
and we smiled, both inward and outward,
while i tried not to overthink my new values.

Here's my attempt! Hopefully it counts as a prose-poem, though it's kind of in list form too. :]

making lists and other good intentions

I'm convinced you can get a lot done just by making lists.

1)
2)
3)

and so on and so forth. Even if there's not much behind such a list, isn't half of accomplishing something acting as if you have? or intending to do better? or maybe that's just another way to say making lists is an easy way to cover up how we never do what we say we will. 1) I remember asking you what you dreamed of and you told me I was there. If making space for each other isn't falling in love, I don't know why I rearranged my furniture so many times for you to lie. 2) I think we had a lot of mutual-good-intentions, but intentions only go so far. They might name stars, or make plans in maps and dreams, but they don't get much past list-making. 3) We tried and that should have counted for something. At least in theory.

Can I post still?
I think I can get my entry ready in a few hours

@Traves if you can get it to me by noon EST, go for it!

There is an ingratiating isolation on side lower seats.
Each one is different, and they’re all the same. Sometimes there are chatty co-passengers, loud babies, and loud sceneries outside singing to my city eyes with their unending greenery. Sometimes I am all alone, and I can feel the stale air susurrating the stories of past passengers. I can always put enough distance between us though, just like dozens of people up and down the train. The only solidarity I feel as we move toward the same distant places, is none at all.
Usually I stretch and lie down.

If I look outside to my right, I’m leaving people behind in a blur. People walk by me on my left. If I look up, I’m alone, rocking gently with the motions of the train. If I look down into a book, everyone’s with me.
Usually, I shut my eyes.

Sleeping during the day allows me to glide with the moon at night, letting it beam to me all that’d require neck craning in its reflected glory. All that I could have seen during the day, bathed in enough darkness for me to see imagined histories and futures in the moment, in dusty barns and rusty tractors.
Usually, I forget I’m there.

I get on as part of a variegated uniform mass, swirling onboard, getting deposited piece by piece onto their seats. As we lurch onward, starting and stopping like the breaths of someone unable to control their laughter, more bits of humanity float through. I wonder which worrying winds whip them into their frenzied hurry to dislodge and disboard.
Usually, I get out slowly.

They’ll take you everywhere you want, but also where you got away from. When I do look at people I like to wonder why they are forcing an unnatural sleep in a (possibly) constricting space, and I feel like an undertaker entombed momentarily within a communal hearse. Perhaps they don’t care about where they go, just that they are moving at all.
Usually, I go back to sleeping or watching the moon.

Usually, I get where I want to be.
But not always.

It definitely took me a lot longer to announce results than I anticipated, and I do apologize for the wait! Partial blame is on how much COVID-19 had recently disrupted my life, but also because I have been finding it extremely difficult to decide on 3 winners.

I genuinely enjoyed each of the poems submitted. They were all relatable. They all hit home in some way. The magic of well-written poetry is that everyone finds a way for it to resonate with them in some way. So, well done all. I encourage everyone who may be reading this thread quietly to also spend time revisiting how each of the submitted poems impacts them. Which lines stick out to you in particular? What did you learn? After reading, how might one, a few, or all of these poems influence your writing, be that prose or poetry?

Before I announce the winners, I would like to spend a moment highlighting my favourite lines from each poem.

From @Liminality:

Conversation about me centres around the cloth pencil box: soft, metallic, old, modern, printed with cats - like an almanac? About that pencil box is a point of questioning. It says "Cat person". Says "Dog person - with a hint of bulldoggish irony!".

From @hiraeth:

and did you know I've got you mapped? From that dimple to this wrinkle, I know you like my way home - I know that bump, and I know this valley; here, here, and here.

From @fraey:

instead, we looked online for a cheaper, lighter
messenger over-the-shoulder-kind-of-luggage,
and i came across this cute, hot pink flower
decorations splashed on top, and i said, "yes."

From @alliyah:

I'm convinced you can get a lot done just by making lists.

1)
2)
3)

and so on and so forth.

From @Traves:

I get on as part of a variegated uniform mass, swirling onboard, getting deposited piece by piece onto their seats. As we lurch onward, starting and stopping like the breaths of someone unable to control their laughter, more bits of humanity float through.

But now, without further ado...

Third place goes to: @hiraeth

Second place goes to: @fraey

First place goes to: @alliyah

And, because I felt the competition was really close, I am also awarding 100 points each to @Liminality and @Traves as Honourable Mentions.

Congratulations to all!