Weekly Contest Winners - March 29, 2021!

Hello and happy Monday! Many thanks to our two judges this week, for their time and dedication. It's wonderful to see two sonnets grace the front page, one by Ben and one by Everlasting, which both speak of love in varying ways. We also have Jane's beautiful piece about the presence of music, nature, and taking the time to listen and be reminded of, and closer to, those we love. Congrats to all! I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy, and has a great start to their week.

- MA

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WINNERS:

"Cracked Hulls And Bloody Flags" (English sonnet)" by: Ben Pickard

"Does a poet/pirate write from the heart, or does he write as a knowing man, stood in a crow’s nest, looking down on all the sorry sailors below, who make endless mistakes? Well, if he does, he does here, in the form of a sonnet. As we should all know, this form is full of iambs. Yes, these ‘iambs’ are musical beats that help this form sing, but, only if written well! I found that in the main, it reads extremely well. Small critique here: The word ‘claret’ jarred against its neighbours when spoken aloud. This is no big issue and when a word’s meaning is important for the poet, it should be left. It is like that old adage, learn the rules before you decide to break them. In the 2nd quatrain, I felt some punctuation was needed at the end of the 1st line to help the flow into the 2nd. Overall, this poem was written extremely well, and it told a story with a moral: If we continue to look for love before we are ready to receive it, we will, undoubtedly, fail." (10)

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"I could see a ship upon the sea, and visualized a man standing upon deck reading this beautiful sonnet. Thoughts contemplating as I read this. The flow of this sonnet had a rich tone and was very pretty to read." (4)

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"A Declaration In Bloom ( Shadow English Sonnet)" by: Everlasting

"This is a beautifully written Shadow English Sonnet, filled with nature tones and romance, it swept me off my feet. Each line flowed and the word usage and display was mesmerizing! Just lovely." (10)

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"Nature's Opus" by: Jane Do-Re-Mi

"Mourning the loss of someone you love makes for a powerful poem all in itself and then Jane added elegance with each line and filled it with nature's beautiful song. I was left with comfort after reading this poem." (7)

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HM's:

"Autonomy." by: Poet on the Piano

"How does a poet make a point, so as to make a meaningful impact? Well, they first have to grab their attention and then grab harder and then harder still. The poem consists of 4 stanzas, each one starting with “I’m tired of…” and in that same line an opinion of a person and/or people, such as: “sad” etc… Interestingly, in the last stanza ‘hold on’ is not punctuated – deliberate or not, I am not sure? Anyway, each example shows off this poet’s skills, using pleasing similes and metaphors to explain her point of view. How can any of us, truly, know another’s difficulties? This poem is not only a way of saying “back off! You don’t know me, so just stop!” It is also questioning why we feel we have the right to label others. Any piece of writing that provokes lasting insight is a worthy of my vote." (7)

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"Nestling songbirds." by: hiraeth

"I dearly wanted to like this more. This poet has tremendous talent, and this poem does, indeed, showcase this. Like in this section: “we both tremble like we heard the dying calls of blackbirds on a night that was meant to be…” Where I feel it lost some impact was in areas like “y/our” and words, such as: amorphous and auspicious. I have no doubt we all know their meaning, but they were, to me, out of place and so interrupted my enjoyment; choosing another synonym would have prevented me from butting against them. In the main, poetry should flow along a riverbed. As for “y/our” I understand its meaning, but again is it needed, or is it, just overly stylised?" (4)

Congratulations, everyone! thank you to MA for hosting and the judges for their time.

Thank you MA for hosting:)

Well done to the front page poets, and HMs.
To the judges for their time as always

Thank you to Mr. Darcy for nominating my poem

Much love, M x

Thank you to the two judges for judging, and MA for hosting. Thank you for the nominator for nominating my poem. Sorry, I don’t know who nominated it. But thank you. I had a great surprised when I saw the private message that my sonnet won, and even more surprised to see it’s sharing the front page with Ben’s sonnet. Sweet! Thanks

Thanks, MA for posting and to the judges for their time. Congratulations to our winners and those with an HM. Jolly nice to see two sonnets on the front page!

Thank you to the judges for their thoughtful comments and insight. Well done to all.

Thanks judges for taking your own time to judge the competition and to MA for hosting.

Well done to all front page and HM's

Good luck for this week everyone
Take care xx

Thank you judges for your hard work, and congrats to the winners and the others who picked up a HM! Thank you judge for your comment as well, and thank you MA for hosting!