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All Arenas \ Writing \ Writing Advanced

Poetry Tournament II Stage 1 - Places

(This contest is part of the Tournament.)

The woods, on a snowy evening.

Contest ended 9 months ago 8/11/2012 12:00:00 AM EDT

Contest Info

Cost: 10 credits
Jackpot: 100 credits

Contest Options

10 Contest Entries

# 1

Where Beauty Lies

By akhenatenator (Score: 7.298)

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With melancholy in my heart I lie
Amid the stones where as a child I'd play;
A ruined castle under twilit sky—
Embraced by evensong and fall of day.

The ghosts of once–majestic walls they sing
Their songs of Knights and quests and dragons slain;
Those days gone by when we were Queen and King—
When shining grace and glory swathed our reign.

But shattered now lies battlement and spire,
The magic of the fairytale falls dark;
A mirror to my soul consumed by fire—
I mourn for love—my hope, my light my spark.

So now a fractured beauty haunts this place—
As darkness falls old stones are draped in grace.

Word count: 111

An English sonnet.
I spent my childhood exploring Wales' ruined castles, I guess they will always be a part of me.

# 2

Hoodoo Majesty

By Merbley (Score: 6.913)

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Silence.
A harsh cry rings out
Black shadows circle overhead
Ravens dancing on the wind.

Grasping
Fingers of red rock
Clawing towards sky of cloudless blue.
Hoodoos dream of leaving earth.

Shadows
Cast by setting sun
Make cities rise from lifeless rock.
Ravens sleep and wait for dawn.

Word count: 48

Inspired by Bryce Canyon, Utah.

# 3

The Woods

By namestolen (Score: 6.898)

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A snowy evening homeward bound,
With promises to keep.
No farmhouse near can yet be found,
It's miles before I sleep.

I stopped beside the Woods today,
Because I'd heard so much;
To see if they were dark and deep,
And all that other stuff.

I hoped, per chance, that I might muse,
And let the spirit run.
Then maybe try my hand at verse,
As someone else had done.

But all that former loveliness,
Has met the wrecking ball.
It's now a fast-food restaurant,
And parking for the mall.

Word count: 90

The Haunted House

By boofhead (Score: 6.749)

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Hammer Horror sets the scene
Bloody prints where hands have been
Frankenstein set against full moon
Vampires bite and maidens swoon
The Mummy walks with bandage trailing
In the haunted house
The Wolfman’s wailing

A lightning flash lights up your face
The furniture won’t stay in place
A monster growls behind the scenes
The dear departed have the means
To make your hair stand up on end
In the haunted house
You have no friend

Cobwebs cling onto your hair
Floorboards creak upon the stair
Black cats spit and cross your path
The odds are bad you do the math
You want to scream but you don’t dare
In the haunted house
You’d best beware

Word count: 115

My Town

By figmentt (Score: 6.621)

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Empty streets, empty faces
Empty buildings, empty spaces
Graffiti tags on crumbling walls
Empty stores in empty malls

20% unemployment

Closed factories, closed stores
Closed minds, closed doors
Led by a bunch of fools
Closed chances in closed schools

26% did not complete high school

Lost generation, lost jobs,
Lost boys, lost mobs
Turn away and draw the blinds
Lost dreams in lost minds

6% teen pregnancy rate

Hungry bodies, hungry eyes
Hungry souls, hungry lies
Rot in jail for all your crimes
Hungry appetites in hungry times

48% receive supplemental nutritional assistance

Depressed
Demoralized
Defeated
Destroyed

Empty streets, empty faces
Empty buildings, empty spaces
I can't find any hope in
Empty souls

Word count: 121

Unfortunately all the statistics are accurate and taken from the 2010 census.

Our World, Our Mother

By Brendan (Score: 6.601)

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It begins with an explosion.

In formless nothing, it appears.
Sphere of matter, coalescing,
early history progressing.
An orange spot winks in darkness.

She is fashioned in a cataclysm.
Liquid landscape: flaming, seething,
roaring like a dragon breathing.
Falling stars arc across ashen skies.

Her face is battered relentlessly.
Molten rock and metal glowing,
twisting, churning, burning, flowing.
Laboring in the agony of her own birth.

Bombardment slows, then ceases.
Rocks now cooling, surface steaming,
billowing, a body dreaming,
her future painted in shades of white.

Water came with falling visitors.
In it, chemicals are stewing,
frothing, boiling, roiling, brewing.
Deep in blue recesses, something stirs.

Time passes, for time is patient.
Oceans lap on rocky shore.
A billion years, a billion more.
Time takes its time. It has no need to rush.

We begin with an explosion.

Word count: 138

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian_explosion

Las Vegas

By KatDanson (Score: 6.37)

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Sparkling beacon in the desert heat
Huge casinos boasting riches sweet
Playing to a never-ending beat
Shining light
Future bright

Crowded tables, triple dice caress
Rows of slotted, flashing game excess
Wealth increasing every button press
Spin the plates
Fortune waits

What's gone wrong? My luck has turned away
All my winnings gone, now disarray
Determined yet to win it back today
Lost the knack
Get it back

Grinning demons masquerading fun
Promises of winnings never won
Fated loss before I've yet begun
Evil spawn
Money gone

Word count: 87

The Pit of my Stomach

By 6feetunder (Score: 6.018)

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The pit of my stomach, a churning Hell
Of burning acids and swallowed pride
Deep inside to where my heart fell
And now resides; a love one died.

Putrid mess, of waste to digest
Bloody ulcers and erupting bile
Launching last night’s pleasure up my chest
A reaction both honest and vile.

When guts are wrenched, no one’s immune
To withholding spewed gastro stains
Of putrefied stench mournfully strewn
Ill-timed distraction from loss that pains.

Word count: 75

The Shield

By celticfrog (Score: 5.841)

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Cold blue lakes and ancient rock
High in dark spruce ravens mock
Those who its wealth would unlock

Swamps are filled with water fowl
Moose and bear through forest prowl
While blood is chilled by wolves' howl

The north can be a cruel place
Where the vanished leave no trace
But echoes that fade in space

Yet under night skies that dance
Courageous will seize the chance
And live stories that entrance

Word count: 72

An Englyn Milwr

World's Edge

By Zonagirl (Score: 5.282)

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There was no sound save for the wind and waves. The sky was dark, pregnant with rain, and strange colors roiled within the darkness. This was a place where time had stopped; save for the granules of sand on the beach, save for the steady wash of the waves. No gull cried here, no mollusk twisted within its shell and spat sand upon the shore.

Perhaps no eye of man or beast had ever seen this place before; it would be easy to believe, the desolation was immense. Yet off in the distance, out past the shore on a bit of rocky tumble stood a tower, obscured by the spray and the sea. A goliath, it seemed out of place in this landscape, like and overgrown sandcastle left to the waves by a defiant child. Water lapped upon its crusted base. It was caked with salt and grime; gifts offered up by the sea. It lunged skyward in twisted spirals, a blackened husk, a madman's dream.

The air here smells, not of salt, nor the sharp musk if the sea. It is heavy and encompassing, thick with pungency, the heady scent of rot and decay. Heaven bent, a shrill wind brays, but no cool breeze can reach this place, no solace comes to sooth the fevered sand.

Word count: 217

Part 1 of something, I suppose.