Weekly Contest Results, 7 January 2019

Something about this new year that reflects a certain nostalgia, both for grieving and for immersing in the sacred sublime.
!!Michael swept the table: four '10' votes for Of Love So True, his magical dirge to a lost one, and the fifth '10' for Picture Perfect. Now his feat is impressive, but it is especially nice that he wins for a formed poem. Tanya's own Epilogue, which waxes about her future days of absence from the world, is actually soothing as it reminds the reader that life will go on peacefully without us. Finally, Andrea's magical basking in moonlight generates a wistful nostalgia even in it’s immediacy. Congratulations all of you and to the Honorably Mentioned as well. Thank you judges for your first week and to the substitute judge who agreed to do one week.

Front Page Winners:
Of love so true (Rondeau) by Michael - 10+10+10+10 = 40 points
Epilogue by Tanya Southey - 7+7 = 14 points
Curtsy to the Moon by Maple Tree - 7+4 = 11 points

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Honorably mentioned:
Picture Perfect by Michael - 10 points
A Costly Friend (senryu) by Ben Pickard - 7 points
Summer by Megan Chapman - 7 points
Brenda (Acrostic) - By Maple Tree - 4 points
Foundation by Abram Turner - 4 points
Instinct by Everlasting - 4 points
Masque by Daniel - 4 points

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Of love so true (Rondeau) by Michael - 10 points
This is stunning. The Rondeau is a strict form and Michael adheres to it effortlessly here. It is written in perfect iambic tetrameter (apart from the necessary shortened refrain) and the rhyming is a joy to read.
Anyone who has lost anyone of importance will relate to the moving content: life goes on - the 'sun still shines' and the blackbird sings - but almost cruelly. How can things be normal when, for you at least, the world has been turned on its head. Then, perhaps, it is death we look forward to most in life, simply so we can be reunited with the one we have lost.
This is easily the best Rondeau I have read on this site and one of the best full stop. It has meter, fluent rhyming and lines sprinkled with gold dust, all within the boundaries of a strict form. If I had 20 points, Michael, you would have them. Alas, it is only 10 I can offer... (10 points)

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Of love so true (Rondeau) By Michael - 10 points
"A wilted scene that's missing you", love this line, stirs the imagination! The whole writing is a true masterpiece.

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Of love so true (Rondeau) by Michael - 10 points.
Michael has such a beautiful way when he writes. In this piece he mourns a lost love, one he hopes to reunite with one day after his death. To be able to bring such descriptive together in the confines of this type of poetry style is truly wonderful.

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Of love so true (Rondeau) by Michael - 10 points
"The course of true love never did run smooth. " On the other hand, Michael proved Shakespeare wrong because this poem did run smooth. In this poem, I missed nothing. As a reader, I enjoyed it till the end. I love sad romantic poems, and this one was a bonus for me with nature involved in almost every line. Michael, how could one forget you after reading such a poetic gem?

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Epilogue by Tanya Southey - 7 points
A different style of writing altogether from Michael's fabulous Rondeau but a similar theme nevertheless: the ticking of the clock and the continuation of things despite our own demise.
This is a thoughtful piece of poetry which, like all good free verse, makes use of poetic tools like alliteration - 'velvety verdance' - personification - 'trim their wild ambitions' - and some wonderful metaphor throughout. Excellent piece that is fully deserving of my 7 points. (7 points)

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Epilogue - By Tanya Southey - 7 points
Very touching to me, it stirs melancholy thoughts from my boyhood, of my now empty home, great write.

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Curtsy to the moon by Maple Tree - 7 points.
Maple Tree's poems are always so lush with nature. She is able to take whatever she is feeling or what is happening in her life and gifting us all with these pieces. The moon with its mystical healing powers allows her to dream and hope for the future. So magical is this poem.

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Curtsy to the Moon by Maple Tree - 4 points
Now that's the reason I try not to become a part of judging process. I read so many wonderful poems this week, and honestly I didn't want to give this poem 4 points(sorry Andrea), but I had no choice. A short poem from Andrea left a big impact upon my heart this week. I think this is the best quality of great poets...

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Picture Perfect by Michael - 10 points
Michael’s poetry is at its best when it’s free verse. I much preferred this to the rondeau as this is the poet as his unshackled best. (10)

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A Costly Friend (senryu) by Ben Pickard - 7 points
This was the last poem I read this week, and it became dearest to me after consuming the first three drops. This much what Ben poured and to be honest this much was enough to fall in love with it. Forgive me guys but Ben offered something one couldn't easily resist.

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Summer by Megan Chapman - 7 points
This poem is full of great vocabulary and imagery. There is an effortlessness to the descriptions, and it’s definitely one of the best poems I’ve read here in a while. ‘powerful rough sex embrace of a dumper’ is genius. (7)

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Brenda (Acrostic) - By Maple Tree - 4 points
Very cleverly written Acrostic poem, to friend from friend.

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Foundation by Abram Turner - 4 points
The form of this poem was interesting. I loved the realness of this poem. It was original and enjoyable. (4)

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Instinct by Everlasting - 4 points
But the point is not to make sense
because sense is nonsense
if no one can make sense of it
And nonsense is sense
if even someone can make sense of it
^^
this stanza alone is worth my 4 points this week, but the content of the work as a whole caught my eye and Lucero documents her plan to write again in the quirky way that only Lucero can. She has a style of writing that is unique to this site - a bold and clear voice in her work that I believe we all appreciate. She is not afraid to be different and try different things and, as long as she is doing that, she needn't worry too much about how to get writing again as I believe it will come very naturally to her indeed. (4 points)

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Masque by Daniel - 4 points.
Daniel's poem is this huge treasure wrapped up in such a tiny free verse. It hooked me immediately with the first lines...giving us this shy shadow of a person who dons fangs to make them more bold, to be able to be another person who isn't afraid of what others think of them, to be able to do naughty things. Without this other person who drags them out of their comfort zone they are just another shadow in a crowd.

Some truly wonderful work this week. Well done to the winners and other hms.
Thank you judges for your valued time.

Congratulations to all the front page winners and HM's! Stellar writing all around ! Thank you Larry for hosting and our judges for your time. Andrea, thank you again for such a lovely acrostic, hugs my friend.

In my eyes Nature=Sexy <3

Thank you judges for highlighting my nature poem and the true honesty of your comments, I love it, thank you!

Congratulations to Tanya and Michael ---- Awesome!!

Congratulations to all Hm's and thank you to everyone involved.

Thank you for my HM as well... Brenda is a beautiful soul and friend of mine <3

Congrats to all! Thank you to our new term of judges and to Larry, for hosting.

Hi All:)

Firstly, I feel very overwhelmed by the judges for their votes and the most incredible comments on my poem. Thank you all so much, it surpasses any amount of appreciation:)
Thank you for your valuable time.
Congratulations to Andrea and Tanya, a pleasure to share the spotlight on the front page. To all the HMs awarded to all poets, with great pieces of writing.
To the poets for nominating me and Larry for hosting.
Much love, M :) x

Congratulations to everyone.

Moderators, judges, poets, thanks to all of you for making it possible.

For creating another wonderful week and reminding us how beautiful life could be.

Love you all!

All comments have been addef

Happy for the winners and HMs
Grateful to the judges for showering so much love on all of us.
Thanks to our hardworking Moderators and to all the beautiful members for their time to read, comment and obviously nomination.
Much love for pnq family..

S