I try to think of comments for your poetry, I really do. I think of picking apart what I love and why, or summarizing, or really looking in depth into it.. but I feel it just doesn't do it justice. This poem is so incredible in so many different ways. From beginning to end you have me in this soft of lofty, lullaby feel. DANG IT I wish I could nominate poems! :( lol

There's something nostalgic about
dimly-lit roads and faded footpaths,
rickety lamp posts and over-shadowing
tree trunks, as though,

^^I love how you fit so much imagery into this sentence, it's incredible. I too, feel nostalgia in the presence/thoughts of these things and the ideas behind them.

they exude familiarity
like the scent of monsoon winds before it rains.

^^This is my favorite line, the idea that the wind in weather/future weather has different descernable scents. Earlier this morning I was thinking about that as it started raining while the sun was out, it's an interesting thought.

But, my own heart, would only pronounce
me a treasonist, for, over many summers
I learnt to love the peculiarities, the oddities,
and the nonsense of this land,
this foreign land...others call home.

^^It reminds me of coming home after you've been gone for many years and realizing that it was never really home to begin with, it was simply just where you grew up. I love the wording you use in this stanza.

I feel a strange connection to this poem, I am probably misinterpreting it in my mind, but still, I feel a connection to it. I apologize for the scattered thoughts, as I can't seem to find the right words. I've been reading your poetry for about an hour and this is the only poem I could find any words at all for. I do mean that in a good way, I really like your style and your way with words. I guess I could have just summed it up with: This poem is beautiful :)

Britt I understand you here completely, & I'd be happy to nominate it for you! I just hit the button but it is not showing up on the nominations list... I hope it's not too late! I love every fiber of this poem, from the form to the perfect placement of comma's to the imagery and talk of homeland.... "nostalgia" is a word that always reaches to me, I don't think it's overused and it conveys a depth that sometimes is hard to say or describe. It sums up emotion we hold. I love the opening image, it's something so calming, like this is what we have called home. Coming home at twilight to the street we live on, seeing those familiar lamp posts every night in the same spot, and watching footprints fade... it's like a past we know so well yet we are living on from. Then, I liked how you talked with your own voice about the oddities this land holds- maybe it's not where you were born or the soil you first set foot in, it's not the general 'home' others so often name it, but it's different for you, and you love it for those types of reasons. Such wonderful expression... brevity like this is just captivating and inspires me as a poet! Great job :]

Congrats on the win...

Well deserved :)

I really liked this poem, it is amazing, great job! It spokes out to people!!

Congrats on the win, really happy this won & you should be proud of this poem! Beautiful job!

I don't know what to say about this really because I thought I was Australian by now but...something just made me want to smell heather,..walk meandering paths that lead me to the ocean..find the sand that I can not find in Oz although we have many beaches here...

You have made me homesick slightly...I will admit!

Here is my comment from judging from Free Spirits. :)

First of all, let me start off by saying... I can't wait to know who wrote this poem ... they will get a nomination from me. :) I've absolutely fell in love with it.

With the lovely images, I see a park, maybe? at night time when the lamp posts are on and shadows are casting from the trees. Just what I picture. That metaphor...beyond amazing. It really captures the familiarity you are trying to express, because everyone knows when it's going to down pour, the smell just radiates into the air.

Over the summer, you have obviously spent a lot of time here... thinking, exploring...and have found yourself to love every single detail of this new place you call home. However, you feel like you are trespassing into others territory, maybe the animals that live there? Squirrels, birds, etc. This is their home and you feel out of place but yet at home.

I'm probably definitely wrong with my interpretation, however that's what I love about poetry... every reader reads it differently.

Again, fantastic job. A winner in my book! :)

--so glad you won the front page, i didn't get to it quick enough to nominate, so i was really happy to see it win! :)

I don't think I've ever seen a poet attack a persons mind like you do , your images are just so vivid it's like
A web catching every detail , I can't believe how strong the last few words were "others call home"
As a reader the build up and finish was amazing.

I admire you as a poetess and as a women, you
are one of the sites best, flawless

Congrats on the win, well deserved

This poem has soo much imagery! The dimly lit roads I can picture so well, there's an alleyway that I walk down to get to my boyfriends house, there are two old rusty trucks at the end of it, makes me think of how they look, how they are an oddity like you speak of, yet how beautiful of a picture they would make. Often in the morning before sunrise this alley way has that bit of glow to it that you speak of, yet it's so creepy at the same time. I loved 'faded footpaths' it emphasizes the fact that it's dark with a bit of light, but mostly it makes me feel as though someone is following me because sometimes it truly feels that way! Foreign places have always been quite interesting to look at in pictures and such. Makes you quite jealous sometimes that they get to call it their home and see it's beauty everyday. There are so many oddities in life we often do not appreciate, but they truly are lovely and beautiful in their own way. I love this, given that I can completely connect with your imagery! Well done :)

Short, sweet , simple, and oh so delicious! Nice write.

Congrats on the win! I hope you remembered me, Landy :) We were in the same club once and I am still so proud of your poems and how well you write! I loved the really articulate play of words, almost like a word-gasm after reading this piece. You do have a flair for writing and I hope you keep writing for the longest time :)

Wow. I should be reading more of your poems!

Judging comment:

"I hesitated voting for this to begin with as it left me in awe and I was originally unsure where I should even begin with my thoughts on this wonderfully beautiful poem, so bare with me whilst I try to rationalise and process the thoughts that I was left with after reading this.
First of all I really adored the title, such a simplistic one and yet one that already makes me want to dive into the poem just because of the imagery that is created within the title alone.
Upon reading the poem itself, I found I had to read it several times as the first time or two I was left completely speechless and yet I found myself enjoying it more each time I read it over.
My favourite part of this would be how the author uses such a simple vocabulary throughout and yet manages to ooze emotion and meaning from the beginning until the end. I believe everyone could find this poem very relateable, to me it seems the author is speaking of the place she now considers home yet without it being her original hometown. I found it to subtly state that the author has now made her own roots and foundations, and to do so with such profoundness and captivating elegant imagery throughout."

[Judging comment from week of 4/08/13]:

It's easy to fall in love simply with the title, and it automatically gives off a sentimental aroma, a place that gave birth to beauty. The ease and flow of the author's voice, especially concerning the opening lines, immediately is soothing and gentle. I feel as if I am sitting down at a fireside, never having been to this land, but being told it with almost a dreamy expression. I also get the notion whenever this author comes across roads that are just shy of twilight, they can reminiscence as if they have walked these roads, breathed on them.

The author's connection is the poem brought out a soft longing that makes me ponder where I have come from and what others view it has. I smiled at this line: "I learnt to love the peculiarities, the oddities, and the nonsense of this land,". There's a bond here, and it reminds me even objects or surroundings we might at first say we have nothing in common with, eventually it holds a small part of us, it becomes familiar even if we cannot come to understand it. What a nostalgic poem with such a beautiful presence!