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Bonus: Poetry - Quatrain

Quatrain

Contest ended 4 years ago 7/29/2007 12:00:00 AM EDT

Contest Info

Cost: 10 credits
Jackpot: 100 credits

Contest Options

21 Contest Entries

Sponsored by wannabe

# 1

Will Power

By whazzat (Score: 6.738)

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As simple as it is to come
To concrete resolution
It’s typical that to succumb
Will hamper execution.

I try to do the thing that’s right
With every good intention
But often times I fail in spite
Of efforts toward abstention.

I set out on an even line
Eyes forward, one direction
And then as if it’s by design
I’ll reach an intersection.

I tell myself I shouldn’t turn
I shouldn’t even glance
I listen, yet, I do not learn
I halt in my advance.

Familiar is that path apart
I’ve travelled it before
As well-worn as it is, I start
To want it more and more.

The hardest step is not the first
It’s just what I regret
Turning back, well, THAT’S the worst
And hardest to forget.

In wishes I am worthy, wise
In theory I’m mature
In practice, though, it’s no surprise
Resolve is not a cure.

Word count: 150

# 2

Clandestine Tryst

By bevissimo (Score: 6.728)

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Today I'll keep the candle lit
And memorize the time of it.
Then later I will write it down,
Remembering each sight and sound.

Of stolen time with my fair love
As we, together, hand in glove
Will roll together and entwine,
My heart with his, and his with mine.

I know I am committing sin
By stepping even further in;
But to recapture his sweet face
So close to mine, in our embrace;

To feel his hands caress my flesh
As we, our bodies do enmesh.
I hunger for the passion bold,
As much as for those feelings old.

And then I'll have to let him go,
Back to a life I do not know.
Uncertain if I'll ever see
My love again. When will it be?

Word count: 128

# 3

The View from 41st Street, Between 3rd and Lex

By DinaFelice (Score: 6.686)

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While working in my office nook,
The stable world around me shook.
From outside, a noise so loud,
I ran to the window to take a look.

I saw nothing but a billowing cloud.
I froze a moment: hands folded, head bowed...
Then a voice yelled out, “Evacuate”
I swiftly left with the fleeing crowd.

Flashbacks from another date...
Was this an end decreed by fate?
I’d even left my glasses behind,
Since I’d gone in such a state.

I stumbled down the stairs half blind,
With painful memories fresh in my mind.
To a tragedy, I’d been resigned,
But this time, it seems, fate had been kind.

Word count: 108

Preservation

By YMSYMS (Score: 6.133)

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A photo album shows such life
Of Father, Mother, man, and wife
Beginnings, middles, and the ends
How they evolve, well that depends

A start may come from love and hope
(My lovely Aunt she did elope)
Her day, it was one of rapture
(Also, one of Kodak capture)

Filmed colour glory, blacks and whites
Chronicled being, dared delights
(Digital shots they have a place)
Photogs thrive in this human race

Time, it passes, more pages fill
We live forward, no chance for still
Memories collect, age does grow
If not for keepsakes, how to know?

Images thus will form my shroud
Future me is this way allowed
Of past-us and us-now, a link
Gaze, and of this family think…

Word count: 120

To Miss Dickinson,

By karmalilly (Score: 6.105)

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O' why were you hiding sweet Emily,
such vim within your letters?
Could tragedy have cursed thee
as an angel bereft of feathers?

Twas' Death so gallant you shied to breach
beyond the pearls - the wild night seas,
to convey the aim thou sought to teach;
and caress the soul with euphonic esprit?

Did you finally seek thy love,
where but the birds are bold to go?
Or too failed of it above
had your Eden just come to slow?

Pronunciation guide:

Cursed = kur-sid, not kurst.
Esprit = es-pree

ps. If you can name several of her poems I referenced, you sir or madam are super.

Word count: 105