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.
I like that! It's very concise and sticks with the topic very well.
In the first stanza, second line, you say: "I feel bad." Maybe instead of "bad" you could use a different word, like "terrible" or something. Just saying "bad" doesn't give much weight to how the guilt affects you.
I really like this poem though. It's great except for what I just mentioned above, but even so, it's very good.
Sorry for the time between post, but rereading, I feel the need to explain:
Its about a person who continually searches their soul. They hate themself because they always end up seeing/finding dichotomic selves, hence the obvious placing of opposites throughout the poem:
There is no peace There is no war
It also says that said person feels betrayed by themself in that they can't figure their very person out, causing further hate. I linked this in through a reference to Big Brother (George Orwell) and the Ministry of Love (irony on purpose):
All for love; 4 is 5 Doubting myself
All in all, its a somewhat depressing tale that ends in a uplifting/further depressing ending. Did the person find peace? Did they end it all with suicide? I leave that for you to ponder.
Any and all feedback is welcome; if its out of place here, than on my profile.
My next poem in this series. 13. Home Alone- an attempted sonnet.
Darkness is upon the empty house empty of everyone but me this place seems quiet as a mouse the only movement; the shadow of a tree Suddenly there is creaking sounds coming from everywhere all around against the house, the wind, it pounds and sounds much like the howl of the hound the room seems to now be spinning lifted in the air, carried by the twister and now I see the devil is grinning I'll soon be joining this mister my death is now almost here and the thought strikes me with fear.
fades to black...nothing
This is my first attempt at a sonnet, and I don't know how good it is, but i can't learn without trying.
Alright, here is my next poem. I plan on taking on the "In the Dank and Dark Recesses of the Mind" challenge. Also, I have done the "Total Overkill" challenge.
14. Nightmare
In this dark room weapons everywhere what are they here for is this a nightmare?
Suddenly a man appears he looks at all his choices in my own nightmare
He finds the one that he likes and starts to load it up please be just a nightmare
He takes his aim looks down the sight eager to create pain I pray this is a nightmare
he shoots down towards my legs he missed wake up from this nightmare
he aims again and hits this time pain oh so real this is no nightmare
Nooo lols I was thinking about trying to get a Total Overkill with nightmare...I got like 4 so far in a work-in-progress...Owell guess I'll finish it and post it later
