Weekly Contest Results 2/6/17

I lost track with the site turnover. It's my turn to host. I am sooooo sorry for not posting sooner, and for being out of communication on the joint moderator account this past week. Sorry, judges! But also, thank you for your diligent efforts and for choosing our winners and honorable mentions this week. Excellent comments from our judges. Excellent poems from the members.
One judge decided to award pints (*glug glug glug*) instead of points this week, which I made sure to include with their comments :)
Also, Ben Pickard, I am so sorry: I don't know why your lovely poem is not gracing the front page this week. Rania's poem, as you mentioned in another thread, has entered its second week on the front page. I am going to post in the moderator forums right now to tell Janis about this issue. It's an obvious glitch. Thank you for your patience, and again, I apologize.
Also also, the current character limit forced me to separate results into two posts.

-Jane
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Winners of the weekly contest:

My Bucket is too Full
by Ben Pickard
-17 points

Burned Alive
by Maple Tree
-18 points

Calamity
by hiraeth
-20 points

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COMMENTS FOR WINNERS:
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My Bucket is too Full
by Ben Pickard
Total: 10 + 7 = 17

"This is a prose written piece that I enjoyed reading. The content is food for the thought. The author pondering if everyone receives the same quantity of emotions or rather that everyone receives different quantities of emotions will make people wonder about it as well.

As far as I am concerned, (to me) emotions are a mixed of feelings and feelings are thoughts that have not being fully processed or understood. In my opinion, someone who understands the emotions can feel a little less... or a little more ( it depends on other factors ) yet someone who allows the emotions to take control and does not make a huge effort to try to understand why they feel a certain way, will feel a lot, and often times what they'll feel is a lot of pain to the point they are consumed by these emotions.

I often hear people say "you shouldn't feel this way. There's no reason to feel like that," which in the process makes the individual feel worse but i think that is okay to feel a certain way even if there's no reason for us to feel the way we do. On the other hand, I do think that it's not okay to allow these feelings to dictate our every action, specially when these feelings are accompanied by anger. Anyhow, to not make this comment longer ( filled with my own opinion), I enjoyed this piece because it allows people to ponder, and, hopefully, to share ideas with one another. I liked how Ben managed to narrate a story with this much imagery. Thanks for sharing." (10 points)

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"A bucket, a container, a vessel to collect a multitude of things, or a metaphor for our emotional reservoir. . .

I like how this writer paints for us a scene. A field filled with everyone – the whole world perhaps? In this humongous field, there is corn, but this corn is a metaphor; it’s an absolute requirement for man, but what?

Then comes the emotion. This section made me feel the pity, and anger at the portrayal of an unfair distribution of such a necessity, that remains intriguing; it is all in the emotion and in the eye of the reader to determine what should be in this bucket. Is it happiness, is it love, is it money, maybe it’s a bucket full of bad luck? I personally like the first two.

The more I think about it, this bucket is full, so it can’t be a positive emotion, so it must be negative. A bucket full of sorrow, so full that the tears from the sky literally made the journey impossible.

The whole piece is well written and presented in a way that this story is captivating and creates the emotional response intended; that of destitution and despair. Leaving the reader with a question is like holding a mirror up, right?" (7 points)

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Burned Alive
by Andrea
Total: 7 + 7 + 4 = 18

"Andrea has this amazing way with words that keeps me reading over and over again. Indeed, some of her verses are cryptic but they hold a punch that hit us where we least expect it. Thank you for sharing. And always keep on writing." (7 points)

-

"What do we do when we come to terms with a rather mediocre lot in life? When we feel our share is always the smaller half? Well, at the very best, I suppose we can accept it, which is a sad sort of admission but the only brave and realistic choice. Keep our heads up and continue.
The author seems to be acknowledging that to us: she has accepted that life is cold but that she has grown 'comfortable' with the scenario of always being 'alone in a room full of people'. A sad admission indeed, but at least it's delivered in the wonderful and effortless verses that this lady seems to achieve so easily." (7 points)

-

"The title is so harsh. It draws a direct painful image.
Then the opening verse startles or startled me, as a reader,
it got me curious and I failed to make a "prejudgment" on the theme.

As I went through it, I got saddened and felt as though
I hold a heavy heart. This piece was written with
bitterness and honesty with a cutting edge.

Do not assume these cryptic verses
mean my heart belongs to no one-

^ The confirmation for the reader,
making sure you're not misunderstood,
confirming how real these feelings are, was striking.

The closing verse was written beautifully.
Sad but beautiful. Such a raw piece.

Well done." (4 points)

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Calamity
by Hiraeth
Total: 10 + 10 = 20

"The tragedy in the title, was what I was searching for
in this piece, but I found the contrary.

It's as though the simplicity in word choice
has so much depth and complexity behind.

At one point, there was so much comfort and serenity,
the feeling of security vibed towards me, and it
felt really good in the 2nd half.

The 1st half of the poem is mesmerizing - the scene
is somewhat relate-able , it has this typical yet
very sensual childhood vision which other readers
will possibly find .

Simply Epic." (10 points)

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"Lovely tone in this poem. There is very little that is more genuinely romantic than using a specific childhood memory (where everything is remembered so purely) to evoke the feeling of warmth, safety and hope that your loved one brings you. The level of detail is quite gorgeous. Descriptions are also gorgeous (loved the author’s ghost in a forest of words), excepting some that I felt could use some restraint – i.e. ‘chartreuse cosmos’, ‘amalgamated’, ‘epiphany’… I felt these imposed upon the shining use of ‘susurrous’ and the gentle, natural feel of the poem. But I understand that when it comes to love, it is hard to understate it!" (10 pints!)

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COMMENTS FOR HONORABLE MENTIONS:
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Choices
by Mr. Darcy
Total: 7 + 4 = 11

"Such a beautiful poem - Choices has a very
hopeful and kind message behind it.

I rarely come across this style formed
by - one word a line - and I really liked it.

I am a fan of the twist you successfully made
by writing this piece, without making it clear,
leaving it open for each to receive this piece differently.

I admire the dull vs bright aspects which you reflected
through the probable choices that could be made,
the closing like could be a reminder affirmed by the line
before it, that everything will be great again.

"Ensuring" "rainbows" life...

Beautiful genius piece. Thanks for sharing :)" (7 points)

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Fizzle
by Aegis
Total: 4 + 4 = 8

"Short but sweet. Brevity at its best. The poem is relatable specially those last lines. Well done." (4 points)

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"I give this poem points for the strong image it left me – steadfast eyes that are flickering and glowing from wild explosions within. Haven’t we all felt this way. Here are some punchy words, intriguing the reader. However, I felt there was a disconnection in contrasting the little vase and the matchsticks similes." (4 pints!)

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"A good acrostic is hard to achieve and like so many other forms on this site, they are ludicrously underrated, in my opinion.
Anyway, Mr Darcy is no stranger to formed poetry and he is one of the best on-site at it. What he is also very good at is taking current topics and using them for inspiration. Here, he rather bluntly but brilliantly compares our new poetic world to something 'cracked' and 'parched' and poses the question will any of us reach the poetic heights or be able to paint the same 'rainbows' we did before?
I'm sure many would have nodded along as they read this, although the powers that be may be less than impressed! Great write." (4 points)

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Behind the mask
by Mr. Darcy

"Ahaha, kudos to the poet for writing such an eloquent, uplifting, romantic sonnet about the icy new face (or mask) of PnQ. The last word put the poem off a bit, but otherwise it was great reading. Let our warmth crack the frost, indeed!" (7 pints!)

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Twilight Buffalo
by Naughtymose

"What I love about Naughtymouse's poetry is that, while it often deals with love and the nature of love, it is never trite or wet; it's what love poetry should be - dripping in imagery, fluent in its delivery and - above all, perhaps - honest in its content. And that's the thing with this poet: his poetry is a joy to read because you feel he means it.
Here the reader is almost given a privileged glimpse into the two lovers' worlds - but more than enough to see how much love is there." (10 points)

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Fabrication
by Everlasting

"Fabrication: the action or process of manufacturing or inventing something: (Oxford university press)

As writers’ we do this daily, if not in our mind, then by transferring these fabricated thoughts to paper.

Are all these thoughts fabricated? Is the idea that a clock could tick a new hour made up? No, of course not, but it does show a moment in time, where such a fabrication could take place.

Hiding by dusty shelves adds an element of interest that made this mind think of a library room, a room where hundreds, possibly thousands of such fabrications are immortalised. Then enters the spider crawling over strewn books, their pages flipping, revealing inked words that became more; like a series of animated stickman skipping as the quickly flip.

All of this in the darkened room of a mind – a mind like a dusty library, full of fabrications yet to become immortalised." (10 points)

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Certitude
by Em

"Certitude: absolute certainty or conviction that something is the case. (Oxford University Press)

This writer turns out poem after poem at in incredible rate. These are honest writes, where she shares her soul with us. This poem is no different, except it is, it is reflective and is written in a refreshing third person tense.

Being absolutely certain about past events and the course they took offers reassurance to the present self. It helps to not have regrets, hanging onto what could have been. After all, its superfluous, isn’t it?

And, yet, it is not. Despite owning a fortressed heart full of immense sadness love has somehow found its way in. Why now?

A man, not just any man though, he needed to be a special man, man of steel; steel armour that is, armour of a knight. I liked this imagery, a man with principles, a man of honour and a man that could scale her walls and make the impossible possible.

Though this maiden has lived and learned life’s lessons the hard way, the feat of this knight will not make her swoon into his lively arms. Instead she will ‘play it cool.’

But, with all this restraint, a ‘contorted’ mind will have the biological effect of heating a body up with desire. The result? Well, I am sure the knight would be the perfect gentleman and allow this princess the time she needs." (4 points)

Awesome pieces, I love this week's awesome pieces. Congrats everyone!

Thank you Jane for hosting. To be honest, I like a little tension, waiting for this weekly event. :P

Congratulations for the winning poems - all 4 of them! :P

Well done to my fellow HM - can I have a sticker, please, please, pleeeease *tugs repeatedly on Janis's arm*

and super comments judges.

Congratulations winners and HM's alike, wonderful poems this week!!

Also, Thank you so much for the comment on my poem, it was really nice to read and came at a perfect time when my writing confidence is a little shot.

PNQ rocks \m/

Well done to the other winners and hms and thank you Jane for hosting and explaining the glitch, which really doesn't matter at all.
Thank you to the judges for their continued time and efforts.

Congrats everyone, Ben, Andrea and Mark, and all honorable mentions. Thanks for posting Jane, and judges - you rock.

Congratulations to Ben, Mark and Andrea. Thanks Jane for hosting and thanks judges for your perseverance.

As I posted elsewhere, the only glitch is that Ben's poem "my bucket" is not displayed; "sour poems" is where it should be - listed with the other winners of last week.

EDIT: To clarify. The front page is configured to show the last three poems. Where one poem was not selected by the site, the third slot will be filled by one of the previous weeks winners.

Well done everyone. Some fantastic poems and great comments.

Congratulations to all the front page winners and HM's, awesome writing, wonderful commentary on all the poems.

Congrats to all of the winners and hm's of the week. There are some awesome poems up there. ^^

Thank you for the Hm and congrats winners.

Congratulations to Ben and Mark, and all the Hms...

Thank you judges for your wonderful comments..