Contest Poems!

Hey, again. Five awesome poets (or six maybe) submitted their poems, and I love each one of them. Now I'm going to post them here, so that any member can vote for the poem they liked the most, and say why in just a line or two (no long comment needed, just a few words). I already made my choice! I will post the result next week! Please send your vote to me through a private message. Thank you, and here are the entries:

- Poem Number One:

Title: Depression

once,
I was a balloon
pumped up
with life

with each pump,
i was elevated
almost like floating
going
everywhere
yet nowhere

until
suddenly

BOOM!!

I became
d e f l a t e d

waiting
on grounds of loneliness
for God knows what
to fill me up
with hopes and dreams
that could help me float
once more

-

- Poem Number Two:

Title: Dimming

Slow decay of particles light the stage
quick repartee has faded into rage
where lightning wit once glowed bright
now mind’s confused by eternal blight.

Once remembered faces block the sun
pester with persistent urges every one
refusing to accept that they are gone
like verses love forgot from a song.

Pleading to be left in solitude for good
shadows loom where friends had stood
memory gained in each day’s struggle
is erased each night leaving muddle.

Cry all you might that it’s unfair
there’s no retrieval from despair
turn away, child, turn away
no one will ever be home today.

-

- Poem Number Three:

Title: Journal

You are the silence that drapes over my soul,
but you brought me no serenity just uncertainty.
A painful and torturing truth slowly sipping my
sanity, like you're the calm before the storm.

You mask yourself with jokes and songs, offer
me a dance as a celebration of being young.
With you there is no crashing just landing on
my feet, counting the times life had been sweet.

Your pages greet me with a smile, so gracious
yet curious of what's on my mind. Your empty
spaces steal my thoughts, and this heart feels
heavy though there is nothing to hold.

-

- Poem Number Five:

Title: Badlands

We're running out of water.

It's been two weeks and we've
stocked up at the store,
recycling, conserving any
water we can

deciding what is essential;
our thirst comes first.
Our skin can wait a few days,
as we pray for nature
to provide us with
complimentary drops.

I've been hyper-aware of
how much I drink,
trying to find the balance
between dehydration
and over-saturation.

I keep bottles next to me.
I count them every day,
knowing I should be
grateful but at the same time,
wanting to starve my
lungs.

We're running out of water,
waiting on a new well.

They've been drilling and
drilling, desperate to find
a proper location

but I'm still contaminated.

I've been poorly drained
before, always left with
mildew and heartache.

Now, you've eroded me.
I'm begging to be replaced.

I'm running out of water,
though everyone around me
is free to shower and drink
and wash in luxury,

I am depleted

(I've done this to myself).

-Poem Number Six:

Title: Stem

A snake hangs limply from a
knotted branch, its
stomach gorged and full;
its ribcage yawning
open around a globular
mass of meat –
it is not normal,
how

at one point, it seems as if
its skin may split open,
spilling its meal onto
the dirt
or choke,
choke and regurgitate
until it is free -
how slender she is
now

how she snakes
around the protruding
limbs of the tree
almost
seductively
free
but no,
it droops limply
from the twisted
naked boughs
bloated,
weak,

hungry.

-

-Poem Number Seven:

Title: depression as my morning routine

it is only when the water begins
to seep through my socks that
i realize the bathroom sink is
overflowing again and that no

matter how far the handles are
turned the tap never closes

i have tried to convince myself
that this is a happy accident
that 'plink' translates to 'good
morning' in fixture language

that i will not let this happen
again. the dryer begins to laugh.

------------------------------------------

SO. Enjoy reading through these beauties, then VOTE. Thank you, and good luck, all participants!

Thanks for running this contest Noura! Some great poetry here :)

You're welcome, Danny! I loved reading them.

Two generous poets voted and gave comments.

Other members, what are you waiting for?

Thank you so much for this contest, Noura, these are literally mind-blowing.

Bumping in hopes others can read and send in their votes, doing so now :)