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: the clocktower (camp nano apr 24) poetry: the beauty of the untold (napo 2024)
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!
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.
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
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
she/her————pro-life————Christian————climber of rocks, trees, and rooftops----reader of poetry, Antoine de Saint Exupery, Pam Munoz Ryan, and Anthony Doerr "She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain." -Louisa May Alcott
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."
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
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
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 - 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: the clocktower (camp nano apr 24) poetry: the beauty of the untold (napo 2024)
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.
Gender:
Points: 5211
Reviews: 184