Well! What was originally going to be my own little poetry challenge has turned into a major competition! Please read every word in this opening post very carefully as everything I say must be adhered to. I don't know if you know this, but I am very strict with my rules and regulations...
The general point of this competition
A few of us users have come up with a list of 50 themes which can be found below. The aim of this competition is to write a poem or a piece of short prose for each theme, just for fun! There are no deadlines (as of yet) for the submissions because I don't want the pieces to be hurriedly written, so don't let that put you off participating. Everyone is welcome to participate. There's no pressure to submit all 50 pieces, take your time, have fun!
Please remember to follow the basic rules of the AMW. All work must be your own. No flaming, trolling, spamming, etc. Only provide critique on a user's piece if they have asked for it specifically. Keep general discussion on this thread to a minimum so as to remain at least a little bit on topic.
Submissions
A list of rules that (hopefully) cover everything you need to know about submissions. Read carefully. If you have any questions, contact me on my profile.
*You do not need to submit the pieces in order. You may start with whichever theme you like.
* Once you have written and revised a piece, submit it!
*You may submit more than one piece at a time, although submitting too many at once will seem as though you've rushed them.
*I will keep track of how many submissions each participant has entered on my profile, so take a look once in a while.
*Only short prose pieces are accepted. Nothing too longwinded please. I am going to include a word limit of 1,500 words.
*There is a certain structure to submitting a piece in order to keep the thread nice and tidy: - Your piece must have the theme name and number as the title in bold. You may also include your own title in brackets next to it. - You must state which form you have written your piece in, for example, haiku, short prose, sonnet, standard verse, etc.
Here is an example post;
51. Insanity (Two Minds) - Haiku
Come here; don't be scared I am confined in both minds Stay away from me
List Of Themes 1. Innocence 2. Entombment 3. A Forgotten Name 4. Rising Tide 5. A Broken Picture 6. Leaves Falling In Autumn 7. Birth 8. Falling Into The Abyss 9. Near-death Experience 10. Beautiful Sunset 11. New School 12. Describing Colour To A Blind Person 13. Home Alone 14. Nightmare 15. Dreams 16. Inner strength 17. Self-Hatred 18. Martyrdom 19. Political Corruption 20. Self-Completion 21. Genius 22. Thanksgiving 23. Halloween 24. Christmas 25. Guilt 26. Daydreams 27. Orange Leaves In Autumn 28. A Shy Person In The Middle Of A Crowd 29. Unrequited love 30. Kraken 31. Memories 32. Revolution 33. The Shining Auroras 34. Poverty 35. A Hero Among Evil 36. An Entity Who Shows Itself 37. The 5th Dimension 38. Berserk Wildlife 39. A Light In The Black 40. Trial And Error 41. A Creation 42. Two-Faced 43. Disillusionment 44. Regular/Ordinary 45. The Mind Of A Villain 46. Someone Who Lives To Watch The World Burn. 47. Old Age 48. Something For The Girls 49. Something For The Boys 50. Go Crazy
And now for the fun part...
I am going to include a few features similar to Strop's 'erks and penalties' idea in the WoM. Some of them are preeeetty difficult, so good luck with that. Once you've completed one, I'll stick your name on my profile.
Here they are:
1) Theme-a-Rama!: Mention 15 separate themes in one piece.
2) Sonnet 130: Write a mock sonnet which relates to love and one other theme.
3) Total Overkill: Use the theme title 6 times in one piece.
4) Like a Freight Train: Be the first to complete the first 10 themes.
5) In The Dank And Dark Recesses Of The Mind...: Be the first to complete themes 8, 14, 17 and 46.
slayguy, number 5 wasn't an overkill because you only mentioned the theme 5 times. The title obviously doesn't count. Plus, it seems like you rushed most of them; shame on you!
I've got an incredible surprise for you guys once this thread nears its end around Christmas time
So innocent was the love you gave me, As pure as a flower under the sun, As innocent as the first love can be, I still knew that sadly I had to run.
My logical self said remain quiet, Or the king will slice your head with one blow. But my heart wanted to make one last bet, And love won the battle using his bow.
I disregarded all of the warnings, And,by midnight,to the castle I went, High in the sky the full moon was shining, When the soldiers took me into their tent.
My death broke the last true innocent mind, Cursing the future of the whole mankind.
16. Inner strength Just for kicks, I'm going to see how many themes I can put in here and make it seem like they belong xP.
I live forever in poverty A martyr to political corruption My innocence has entombed me My nightmare follows, destruction
I'm now disillusioned A light in the dark, hero among evil I will lead the revolution My inner strength stems from self-completion
No one will believe my words They say that I'm two-faced They say I live to watch the world burn They cause my guilt and self-hatred
I'll put it simply; genius sucks I have just one wish, one dream I want to be a forgettable name I want to be ordinary me
I remember the orange leaves falling in autumn But the picture is broken and shattered The beautiful sunset, wiped from my memory And now it doesn't matter
Now I sit and daydream As the rising tides approach From my birth on to my death I've tried to show them the way It's like describing color to someone blind They just can't grasp what I say
I'm home alone, thinking of my past Of Christmases, Halloweens, my first new school As old age wipes it clean fast I've had some near-death experiences But I have escaped from them all And yet now I don't want "near-death" For I am ready to fall
I fall into the abyss of senility And soon I've forgotten what I was Like a shy person in a crowd All I can think to say is "huh"?
I send my unrequited love to you But my death approaches like a kraken I just want you to know what I'm going through So you can understand what's happened
I was an entity that showed itself I was very misunderstood It seemed I lived in the fifth dimension I should not have been so curious Perhaps should have just stayed dumb But now I am a genius And now I'm simply numb
A creation from the mind of a villain Who lives to see the world burn Is not always such a bad thing Or so, I hope and yearn
For that is who I am An outcast, villain, genius all The shining aurora in something dull But for now, my mind is null Trial and error? Not for me I have never been wrong in eternity A little something for the girls And something for the boys... Just go batshit crazy, like berserk wildlife And live, live your life As long as you can And don't end up a sad old man Like me
Hah, that was pretty good amirite!? I gotta catch em all, and I did! I mean, it could've been a lot better but for 50 themes all in one poem, not bad at all.
What happens if you write a mock sonnet that relates to two other themes?
Either 49. Something For The Boys 48. Something For The Girls or several of the others.
You cannot pause to step the romance dance, The twosome waltz that hopefuls label Love. You crave the rhythmic jive that loses pants, But not the one embodied by the dove. Your hearts do not exist for feeling love; They palpitate to send blood through your veins!
Beauty is not without the turtle dove; It is within its grace that rivals cranes! The pairing dance is more than just your gains, It is entwined within your own romance. For without love there are no remains, Nor any source that causes one to dance.
To love and dance are one and twain the same To She who hopes and He who plays the game.
There is a ridiculous version of this 'sonnet' involving internal rhyming and assonance that make it sound more like a song than a 'oem', but pants dance, glance askance, prance stance, chance romance, France trance, and Lance advance are just too silly to post, especially since the last one is a double entendre in context.
Yes, it is one of the few I can partially recite. That and "Let me not to the marriage of true minds / admit impediments. Love is not love / which alters as it alterations finds / or bends with the remover to remove. / O no! It is an ever fix'ed mark / something something something." and "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day / though are more lovely and more temperate / Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May / and summer's lease has all too short a date / something something something." But what exactly are you looking for? There are a few direct parodies and references to that poem throughout this forum, but is it a direct parody just the words itself (such as the one Ricador once posted) or the essence of the poem which may be construed as a parody of love poems that exaggerate the beauty of a woman to deific standards that is sought?
The second one. A parody of exaggerated love poems which also ties into one other theme. For example, innocence & love or unrequited love & love go well together.
Envy of the poets. (I am a bit tired, an managed to catch myself before I wrote poetrist, but I guess I will share it anyway) Good works, all of it, better than I could do, if that meant anything.
Anyway, another super rushed, barely proofread short story, again with WARNING(:suicide attempt, mention of drugs, booze and possibly violence, murders and other fun stuff 13-year-olds see in games)
#17 Self Hatred - Short Story
So many times he had been standing there in front of them, waiting for their judgement, their tasks for him, their painful words to fall so that he could move on. So many times he did something wrong, proved them right in their concerns and impression of him. Why... It couldn't be that hard to do it right for ones, turn the tide of this... This disaster he assumed was to be his life till one of those tasks killed him. Their impossible goals, and his all forgotten ability to listen, to do as ordered, to listen to advice. To receive help. To ask for it. The pain so fully burning his soul, emerging into the physical realm and burning through his chest. Those punishments were all deserved, were they not? He did fail them, he did cause all the chaos he should bring to order. He did kill a man, a woman, a child... Too many to count, and if he hadn't stopped remembering them, he would never get to sleep. But they had ordered it, it was their responsibility, not his, it wasn't his... Was it? Some religions said you should not kill a creation of their god. He had met those gods, and they were not worth believing in, they were not worth the trust and respect their believers gave them. They were as bad as anyone, his masters that ordered destruction of those who opposed them, but why was it him who did not sleep in the night, who felt this pain that could not even be drowned in booze or drugs, that even the real physical sting of a knife, a shard of glass, against the skin could dull. At these moment he wanted to die, but not even death wanted him any more.
Theme 29 Tick tock goes the computer clock, One minute, sixty seconds to countdown, It's midnight, I'm in for a shock, It's your birthday where are the clowns.
Set off on six thousand nautical miles, Thousands of other fish you said, Throw me back, even my Chesire smile, But it's not everyday you catch a mermaid.
My poor head spins with the opium fumes, Oh God pity the drunken naive youth, As he tenderly cares for a rose once in bloom, Though it wilts, he denies the awful truth.
And break, just break the rusting chains, Before he can shed another ignored tear, Before he can murmur a hushed name, And stare back at nothing in the mirror.
Whisper the name that you once acknowledged, The one who now lies fast asleep, Hidden by more than deep snow and foliage, Whose dreams end at a needle's tip.
Time erodes all but itself; It frustrates and pushes to the edge, Rocking back and forth by himself, Murmuring a long forgotten pledge.
A word which escaped your attention, When it flitted faintly like a dying star, Struggling to invoke a sensation, But falls flat and painfully far.
Have you forgotten it that fast? As a wall stood when it was not before, When you kicked everything into the past, Shutting your ears to everything implored.
Nyeh.. I liked it. I like all of your drawings, even the 'sketchy' ones. One thing I noticed though, is that you spelt curiosity wrong :3
Wait.. I don't think I get it.. So they fell/jumped into the abyss without thinking of the consequences, they passed through a metaphorical barrier of fire, signifying.. what? To me, it signifies the realisation that the initially thrill-seeking plunge they took has turned sinister - the charred wings signify helplessness - and they're now doomed to fall into.. a metaphorical messy end at the bottom of the pit.. . Unless you have .. someone there .. to stop you.. I don't think I quite grasped the deeper meaning.
