Weekly Contest Results June 10th

Good morning everyone, once again our judges have done a wonderful
job to make this contest a success and their continuous efforts are very much
appreciated! Thank you judges for your time and effort. This week our front
page winners are Everlasting with her poem Aww, Scott Cole –Bone to pick and
Linda Leavers poem Wife of Aries...congratulations and congratulations to all
those who received a HM for their outstanding poems!

WINNERS:

Bone To Pick by Scott Cole: 7+10=17

Aww ( 9 syllables) by Everlasting: 4 +7=11

Wife of Aries by Linda Leavers: 4+10=14

//COMMENTS//

Aww ( 9 syllables) by Everlasting (4 points)

Short but tells a story all people will understand no matter what. Great read
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Aww (9 syllables) by Everlasting (7 points)

Now call me what you may. However, I had to research this title being ‘Aww’
and so I was informed it is a ‘text language’ for a sort of ‘overjoyed’ expression. A
word used to give a feeling of one in such ‘awe’ of something (which is where I
thought it had derived from!). Anyway, now I understand this word on a deeper level,
it led me onto ‘why’ such a title was used. One of the shortest poems, I have ever
come across. But! The impact of such a scene, with mum and baby captured in a
moment of time- of life! An image of ‘bath-time’ where this author and their tiny joy
(being their baby) splashes and giggles, and mum is in pure wonderment of her tiny
joy, that holds such a beautiful, un-timed and un-rehearsed moment.
You had me after ‘9 syllables’ with this moment of purity!
Beautiful... beautiful!

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Bone to Pick by Scott Cole (7 points)

Scott's poem this week I'm sure many of us on this site can relate to, broken
hearts. He wishes his heart was made of a sturdier material so when heart
ache came it wouldn't hurt so much, it wouldn't break so easily. He does this
wonderfully rhymed and with a smoothly flowing write. Well done Scott!
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Bone to Pick: by Scott Cole (10 points)

This is an old song that always repeats and presents itself to every living hearts, and
poets, on the center of it: O, if I had a heart made of stone, (bone here) I would not
be heartbroken as often as I have been. Though the comparison of the muscle tone to
the bone, or stone, whichever, is that that the urge of survival and protection as a
greatest instinctive force, pushes us to heal our heart, mend the wounds and get strong.
But the paradoxical nature of love is always within us, exposes our tenderness to feelings,
our capacity to love to embrace the harsh reality!

But in this part: “It'd need less protection
To fight off false affection,
So steadfast and true

Hardly ever black and blue.” The poet is implying that the bone needed as some
kind of skeleton to give the soft tissues of feeling some back support, to stand
against everything that is harmful to the soft tissues. Though on the contrary
to the poet wish, love is like a pearl, it would never appear unless the soft tissues
are under attack by the harsh world representatives.

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Wife of Aries by Linda Leavers (4 points)

Linda writes unflinchingly the life of a stay at home mom with two small children.
It ain't easy that's for sure. You feel like you are losing your mind being the referee
to cherubic looking ninja assassin's that you are convinced will do you in one day.
The days are long, the tasks feel thankless. You are spent, unwashed and feeling brain
dead but when those little darlings are asleep in their beds, it all fades away. I can
relate to her thoughts as I'm sure many of us mom's and dad's in this site can. Thank
you for sharing this.
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Wife of Aries by Linda Leavers (10 points)

I read the title, and my first thought was this is about living with a partner who
was born under the sign ‘Aries’ and I would read an account of the personality of such
a star-sign. I started to think ‘ah okay, a fire-sign’ and I would come to read the traits
of such a sign, and how that impacts on the writer. However, as I read this poem, it
formed the image in my mind of how the writer gives an account of her role as a
‘mother’.
A mother-writer, (careful with that usage, as its closely related to another word used
in the swearing category!) that tells her story of how her daily routine unfolds. The
caring of little ones, and all such other chores. The start of this piece has a very powerful
opening, which sets the scene. A strength of intensity threads all through this poem,
and then unwinds at the end ‘his brown skin melts into me’. A mellow ending that I
could feel just from reading.

The writer has penned their piece with the use of language, that has such an edge
to it along with such strong emotions expressed by the writer.

One part of this poem that ‘lifted’ with force off the paper is: “The shower, that hasn’t
seen me in days, is bone-dry” which has such a significance with the theme here.
This kind of writing conveys such a ‘depth’ of feelings expressed by the author. It
need not hold any ‘frills’ just an honest account of how this mother writes of her
day, and all that comes with it! ( This could be a passage of a book, of a bigger picture,
in my thought!) A really powerful and emotional write.
A jolly fine job.

HM:

This Place (Rondeau) by Michael: 10

Being LGBTQ+by Poet on the Piano: 10

Ma Dawgs (collaboration with Chatterbox909 Sphynx): 7

A Magical Poetry Land by Ben Pickard Points: 10

My Lenore by Ben Pickard Points: 7

You Can't repay that debt by C.J. Maleney: 4

Peacefulness by Dagmar Wilson: 4

Winter tide (Haiku String) by Hellon: 7

Lost by Tanya Southey love: 4

//COMMENTS//

Being LGBTQ+ by Poet on the Piano (10 points)

I love lgbt poetry because it's just so grand it's like a tree's roots it's one being but
it can reach everywhere! We are, who we are and there shouldn't be a shame on
being what we are even though others don't approve! That's clearly the message
here and I hope that everyone can post this in their social media for pride month!!!

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Ma Dawgs (collaboration with Chatterbox909 Sphynx) (7 points)

I laughed from start to finish, that's cause life is, what it is with your
furry children, they have attitude, kindness, love and the best thing
loyalty to those of us they call best friends. I love reading everything
with pets in them. Great poem and pet your dogs for me they sound grand!
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Winter tide (Haiku String) by Hellon (7 points)

“Outside my window
a naked fig tree shivers:
as russet leaves dance”

I wonder if there are still russet leaves, left on the trees why are they called naked.
Maybe half-naked would be more proper, but the “syllabus count” would not
allow it. Besides that, this is breath-taking imagery of a wintertide. The use of the
fig and the specification of russet leaves brings the haiku to life:
“above, bleak sky frowns
storm clouds gather to gossip:
melancholy day”

In wintertide, the bleak sky gathers its storm clouds. They are silent but you could hear
the murmur of a whispering storm, conspiring, getting ready: a perfect metaphor
of the “silence before storm”
perched upon her limb
a robin heralds winter;
his presence welcomed.
But the winter inference is truly heralded by a robin. The presence of the robin
heralding the winter, storm clouds are gathering to whisper and the naked fig tree
with the russet leaves is so picturesque. It describes winter in a silent, Haiku
mood, that everything is as real as ethereal.
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Peacefulness by Dagmar Wilson (4 points).

I love the tranquility of this simple, but! an effective piece of writing. The author
I feel has an ‘artistic’ side to them, as I felt this was a painting I was looking at.
Some times its just how simple words are used, which brings such imagery to life.
The author reflects on how they watch the ‘night-time’ that gives them a sense of
well-being and calm, a place and a time for them to write their story, which holds
such peace and beauty.
Lovely!
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Lost by Tanya Southey love (4 points)

The poem starts with an emotional burst like this: “It’s not that you are lost
it’s that I am gone”
right away you feel the discrepancy between the two sides.

Then ‘gone’, turns to ‘no longer’, because the feeling is deepening and oolong
infests on that by pointing at the hollow of the absence she has made. Then the
poet introduces another curve to the string: “It’s not that you are lost
it’s just that I am found
in another place and time
but you return…”

Now it seems that she is slowly making it clearer that she is gone, she is no longer
there, not because she is lost, it is because she has really found herself without him
in the picture. Or maybe she has evolved to the present time where all the
experiences are applicable where he still lives in the mental gratifications of the
pasts. Though still, she wants to let him know that it was she who made the act
of disappearing, not his neglect or lost:
“…but you return
in the first three bars
of a favourite song”
It feels that man evolve slower than women. They get stalked to the sentimental
“first three bars of a favourite song”
The familiar places are to hold us behind perhaps, they are necessary, but on the
contrary they must make us move and to go ahead, not to keep us static in the
pasts.

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You can't repay that debt by C.J. Maleney (4 points)

There has been a lot in the news about the war recently and how many people
died for our freedom. So this is a topical piece. I can relate to the low tolerance
and frustration of the writer for people who sit comfortably in their homes with
no threat to life or lifestyle, whinging about their rights seemingly oblivious of
how many people died for us during the war and how many people still continue
today to suffer starvation, oppression, violence and death who barely have any
rights at all.

I wonder how we would fare now if we had to refight the same wars with the
technologies of their time but with the pampered people of today? Would we
still win I wonder or would they be high tailing it in the opposite direction.
(I'm not talking about the qualified soldiers but the thousands of young men
and civilians that were drafted in during the war)

The last stanza... "The sea may now look gentle. As it laps against the shore. Not
washing away the blood of men. Who died in thousands by the score" should
serve to us all as a vivid reminder of the thousands who died for us in the war
so that we could live without oppression. Yet even after the two great wars - as
a species we have failed to ensure basic human rights for all human beings.
There are still today people who continue to sufferer without those basic rights.

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My Lenore by Ben Pickard (7 points)

The haunting scenery sets a sad tale of lost love. Every stanza takes the reader
visually through the memories of the writer slowly revealing their relationship.
Each stanza punctuated with the recurring line "But she doesn’t come to the
beach any more creates a sense of foreboding in the readers mind and raises the
question... "Why doesn't she come to the beach any more?" It makes for a compelling
read that cannot be put down. Each line flows and delivers powerful imagery and
feeling. "Her lips used to quiver - oh she teased with her mirth, and she danced like
her feet were as one with the earth" is just sheer poetry. Then towards the end –
the mood changes the words of Dear Lenore become "callous and blisters - they
scratch and they irk" giving a more darker feel. As a reader it felt haunting and
left that hollow feeling of loss when he is left in a spiral constantly replaying the
ghostly memories of the love he has lost forever.
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A Magical Poetry Land by Ben Pickard (10 points)

This is a feast of a poem and feels like two poems for the price of one and both
send a powerful message. It asks people to draw a line in the sand and not let
others ruin what has been steadily built in your life. Don't let the spite or mean
spirit of people put out your light and cast you into the dark. Pettiness and
unreasonable grudges all push us further down into the sludge where you can
drown and there are people who would pull you into the mud but don't you let
them drag you down with them. Instead rise up, clean yourself off and get back
onto the land back into the sunshine

The second half of the poem takes a more personal slant. It helps puts everything
into perspective. The fears of the health of an as yet unborn baby makes petty
disagreements seem so unimportant. There can be no greater concern than that
of a parent for the health and life of their child. When you find out that finally
your child is safe then that must really feel like the spreading of magical gold dust.
The last stanza says it all. Life is far too short to waste time on pettiness and
disagreements - such things mean nothing when weighed against life, death and
health. Instead we should rise above such trivialities and move forward, grasp every
day, find the sunshine in things, to write and humbly give to others all that you can.
In an effort to make this world a better place - to build the ultimate magical poetry
land. For me in a world full of war and conflict this is a powerful and uplifting
message that asks that each of us consider what is really important and discard
that which is not.
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This Place (Rondeau) by Michael (10 points)

Michael's poem this week brings everything home why we love this site. We
come together as a collective to share our triumphs and failures. We share
loss and new beginnings, love and hate. From the heavens to the hell in our
own minds we are able to grace these pages with our written word. I, for one
love this site and adore Michael for writing this lovely tribute to P&Q!

Congratulations to all the front page winners and HM's! Beautiful writing everybody! Meena, thank you for hosting and thank you judges for making the hard choices.

Congratulations to this weeks winners and HMs and huge thanks as always to the moderators for hosting and the judges for judging best wishes Milly x

Hi all :)

Congratulations to the front page poets this week! Also all HMs awarded.

Thank you to all the fine judges, who spend time working through all the nominations and their time :)
Thank you to the judge who voted for my poem and your lovely words, much appreciated.
Thanks to Hellon for nominating

Much love, M :)x

Golly and gosh, what a week of poetry. Well done to winners and HM's and big, no, huge thanks to our judges and Meena for hosting. :O)

Thanks for the two wonderful comments on my poems, thank you to the judges for their time and a huge congratulations to the winners and other hms.

Congrats to the winners and other hms. This started out as a single haiku and I added the other two a couple of days later. I think I changed the last line in the first one and I probably didn't make it clear enough that the leaves were on the ground. sorry about that. Thank you for your lovely comment I really appreciate your time. Thank you to Dagmar for nominating it and thanks to the judges and mods for your time.

Thank you for the comments and for the nomination

Congratulations everyone

Congrats to all! Many thanks to Meena, for hosting, and for the judge's comment and vote. Yes, there should be no shame in being our authentic selves!

Congrats to Luce, Scott & Linda and to the HMs. Thanks to the judges and to Meena for hosting.

massive thanks to Meena for hosting and to all our judges.

Well done to all nominated, wins and HMs.

massive thanks to the judges who voted on both my poem and the collaboration with my Dani. she's well chuffed with the HM as an I.

respect one and all.

Craig

I am completely shook. Thank you guys so much. What a warm welcome. This just warmed my heart so much.