Taylor Swift Contest Entries - Please vote by PM!

NOTE: THE LAST TWO STANZAS OF POEM 6 WERE INADVERTENTLY OMITED.
Please reread the poem.
If you'd like to change your vote that's okay.

Here it is folks!
8 fluent and melodious poets took the challenge and boy did you all deliver!
These entries are ordered alphabetically by the phrase chosen.
Please send me a PM with your top three poems. I assign 3 points for your first choice, 2 points for the second & 1 point for the third. I don't care if you vote for your own poem. PM to https://www.poems-and-quotes.com/poets/343827

Have fun reading - you'll rack your brains choosing.

Taylor Swift Contest Entries

1 ~ The Great Expanse - I think I’ve seen this film before and I didn’t like the ending
2 ~ Who Is the Victim - I’ve been the archer; I’ve been the prey
3 ~ Some things you just can’t speak about - Some things you just can't speak about
4 ~ Holding a candle to her shadow - Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die
5 ~ They are the hunters, we are the foxes - They are the hunters, we are the foxes
6 ~ The haunting in the blood (acrostic) - We gather stones, never knowing what they'll mean
7 ~ Stockholm - you drew stars around my scars
8 ~ You Shoulda Said No - You Shoulda Said No

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1 - The Great Expanse.

How I wished you walked away
sooner -

did I self-sabotage the love
I felt was too direct
for a fragile stem like me?

But then again, the absence of you
amazes me in its scope.

You held back the
space I needed to grow.

You corroded, corrupted
the roots I'd taken centuries
to care for.

I had nowhere I could
turn; rosemary and
thyme never bloomed
within me.

I gave birth to nothing
but stale baby's breath
and false memories.

The bitterness has exiled;
now, my tastebuds hold
richer desires.

You were dead on my
tongue for years.

I should have realized,

and you know,

you should have, too.

*****************************
2 - Who Is the Victim

Archer:
Watching takes patience
waiting takes endurance
keeping an arrow notched
is a waste of vigilance.

Prey:
Walking free in the open is foolish
watching everywhere makes you afraid
putting one foot safely down improbable
but food does not grow in sheltered glade.

Archer:
Living as one who takes
robs one of the quiet lull
of reaping what is near
resting on stomach full.

Prey:
Feasting only on green plants quietly
pilfers away your time for dreaming
makes you sloven, open to attack
leaves your orphaned kids wandering.

I’ve been the archer;
I’ve been the prey.
I choose to live now
free of the game.

*******************************
3 - Some things you just can’t speak about

Autumn comes after a hot Summer,
the leaves dry up and fall
emotions become like blood
hemorrhaging through open wound
leaving you anemic
Your strength turns into a knot in throat,
a quivering voice, a tear in cheek
fighting against gravity

the light in your eyes dim
but you are strong

[ Y o u A r e S t r o n g ]

You rise like the sun then bite your tongue
‘Cause some things you just can’t speak about

You breath in
You breath out

You let the trees grow new leaves
You let the breeze calm your mind
You let emotions turn into a spring
Into an oasis overflowing with freshness

but even still you bite your tongue
‘Cause some things you can’t speak about
with just anyone

***********************************
4 - Holding a candle to her shadow

December approaches its end,
clouds trail mountain tips,
and my soul barely holding
onto me as she shivers
aggressively.

I don’t belong,
and neither does she.

She keeps transiting
from the lines of reality,
to the abyss within me.

I thrive in nature,
that’s when
we become
one,

but

she yearns for the
night shining clouds,
that’s how we
lose balance,

for the world I live in
has yet to experience
them.

December approaches
its end,

twenty seven candles
huffed this year,

we drift from each other
she roams on her own.

Another candle is lit now,
but I don’t belong to myself
anymore.

She will
persevere
the coldness
that I fear,

so

take me to the lakes
where all the poets
went to die,

maybe then
we will
just be
me.

*****************************
5 - They are the Hunters, We are the Foxes.

We're running swiftly, through the forest at night,
Their weapons drawn, their prey in sight.
We watch quietly, from our hidden dens,
Their eyes big and bright, from their binocular lens.

No matter how much, they think they know us,
We'll never lose the fight, we'll never lose focus.
They're running in circles, trying to put us in boxes,
They'll never catch us, we're the slyest foxes.

They may have strength, and power on their side,
But we have cunning, and wit to keep us alive.
Our bond so strong, it can't be bought,
If we stay one step ahead, we'll never be caught.

We'll outsmart the hunters, every single time,
Our wit and speed, at the drop of a dime.
So let the hunt continue, a hunter's test,
But the foxes will always, come out the best.

For in the end, it's the foxes who'll survive,
Our cunning ways, will keep us alive.
They can keep trying, we'll ravage their boxes,
They are the hunters, we are the foxes.

**********************************
6 - The haunting in the blood (acrostic)

Withered clocks connect these streets of dreams,
each one the same, each one depraved and mean.

Go now and dig with fingers gouged and torn
and keep the pills in graves of mothers mourn.
Try as you may their screams are ev’rywhere,
here in the crooked mirrors that you stare.
Eat off the floor like dogs lick up their sick.
Return the halo dim, no longer lit.

Sacrificial rope is there to swing,
to mock, to goad, to chant there in the wings!
Oh dear, I say, is there a lighter way:
Nay, they say, but still I think there may?
Evolution’s taught us civil rest,
so surely death by rope is nay the best?

Newton knew a thing or two ‘bout life, like
eloquent young men use guns not knifes.
Victory is sought if there’s a fight, Christ
even he would Prey for longer life…
Remorse, a dead man’s plea for one more night.

Killers’ remove all teeth behind their smiles.
Never a festered frame hath reeked so vile.
Overlaid are fields of beaming pastures.
Wandering unseen our lord and master.
Ink that skin to etch the very bone.
Nibble ‘til you reach the danger zone,
grunt when you find a sack of gavelled stones.

Wade out where the waters have no end;
hidden in the depths are friendless friends.
A mirror journeys through to vagrancy
to busy street providing absentees.

Tonight, the moon it shines upon the lake,
heaven known the sins that mortals make.
Evil eyes now burn with lightening force,
yes, see them now escape from ev’ry pore.
'
Like rats, they know the tide is on its way,
lamenting all those left out on the bay.

Moments define a life lived in the past,
events knuckled a rope about that mask.
As heavy sack was sucked into the lake,
Night shut for good the evil that was made.

*********************************
7 - Stockholm

Withering into the quiet,
I no longer keep track of the nights
I've merged into the dark
and we've become indistinguishable.
You drew stars around my scars,
scraping golden memories
across the dimness that covers me,
making me fall in love with agony.
Like weary patterns
like a single entity of endless blues.
I swallow my voice
and it consumes me.
As black gradually overhauls the sky
at the peak of sunset,
all the rage I tame
implicitly pulls me into silence.
I grasp my resentments,
those that wreak vengeance on my peace,
and they weigh me deep down to the bottom
where all I could see is you.
You flare, and I disappear in your presence.

**********************************
8 - You Shoulda Said No

Love ain’t what it used to be,
and the air is thicker.
Where once were
shoes; empty space by the door.
All the fur has been cleaned up.
Drawers are empty—
goodbye. Hello.

Weakness! It’s been a while
since you’ve held hands.
Let the music play; dance
out the door. The rain
hasn’t fallen yet but it will.
Those birds used to fly
didn’t they? Who clipped
their abalone wings?

Love ain’t what it used to be,
and the people are sicker.
Where once were
voices; the scream of a freight train
whistle in a deaf man’s ear,
faded paint and stained carpet.
Brick walls indoors.

Food left out as long as possible.
The stench makes you sick.

What a judgement call.

By Mr. Darcy:
“No, but that's alarming!“

^ lol, alarming was the goal. Now, let me snooze myself out of this thread.

Love reading all of these! Thanks for hosting this contest, Larry :)

Waaaah how can we just choose 3?

You can choose as many as you like. Ill assign points to the first three & announce "there were also votes for . . . "