Poetry Contest June 2009

Hello, you all! Thanks for all your entries past month. Didn't think this alternative theme would actually work but I was pleasantly surprised.
We're going back to the traditional approach from now on though, but maybe I'll pull off something like this again so be sure to check back!

This month's winner, truth be told, was not too difficult to pick. I didn't really know what to expect from this month's "theme" but it certainly wasn't...that.
And thus, for sheer originality, clever rhyming and humor, this month's winner is Ioan. Congratulations, man!

This month's theme is...*drums*...a period in time. Choose any important era in the history of the universe and write a poem about it. Alternate histories ("what if A happened instead of B?") are allowed, as are futuristic poems. Good luck!

 

Congrats Ioan, awesome poem. I'll have to work on mine this month :)

 

Congratulations, John. I actually happened to enjoy your poem myself.

Something simple this month. I wasn't in the mood to post anything but I may as well for the sake of an attempt. Though I doubt this would get anywhere.

Roaring Twenties

Prohibition, the end of beer.
Downtown gangsters, the rise of fear.

Art Deco, flying to the top.
Everyone’s doing the Lindy Hop.

Women’s vote, female rejoice.
“Flapper” fashion, tubular choice.

Stock market crash, deafening fright.
Depression through a single night.

 

I did a poem on the Holocaust

Wandering Souls


Taken away, forced into trains, packed up with foul smells and crying souls.



Deaths unnoticed, left alone. Working down to the bone.

Our families gone forever, finding their remains from words spoken through the barbed wire.

Soldiers abuse, tell us false hopes, Showers given, gases released, slowly gone.

Our tattered uniforms are only our imprint on the earth forever more.


Our tears our only record of our pain, our peace, and our salvation.

But for out salvation, we shall be alone, and nobody can relate to our pain.​

 

Based on the fictional version of Oda Nobunaga's death, a daimyo in the Sengoku period.

Victorious Death

Slain by an arrow,
Upon a hill of bodies.
A head held high,
The head of the enemy,
From sitting to standing to fall.

My heart is black,
Like the blood on this arrow,
And the mark of my clan.

Frozen in shadow,
Freed in flame.
Fallen Victory,
Oda Nobunaga,
The Demon King.

 

My Light

Abandoned for ages, yet know by the world.
If I’m so recognizable, why can’t I be help?
My foundation is anchored in place,
Accompanying my right hand, a beacon.

Rain, wind, heat.
Every know element grates upon me as I stay strong,
A castaway lighting the way to freedom.

Masses flood from overseas, seeking my light,
Groveling upon my shores I can do nothing but stare on.
How can I save millions when I can’t save myself?
Turmoil ravages both worlds, but I radiate conditional strength.

Peace flows like air around my tiny sanctuary.
The every busy world rising higher and wider,
Till two partners in share for the top of the world.

My age shows in my joints as morning rises again,
I awaken, looking north I witness the horror
As both comrades in iconship crumble and die,
A silence covers this world, my light faulters.

The funeral’s finale end, the rustic tears brushed away.
Millions in sorrow turn to my candle,
A vision to behold as my humble landmark, has marveled the world over.
My true calling has been answered and I accept.
I am peace.
I am life and liberty.
I am the American Dream.

 

A silent sea of black and grey
Rain pattering from the sky
Women wait, dressed in black at the station
Did our husbands live or die?

Were they struck by gun or blade
Or cut down by a knife?
Were the warfields too much to handle
Did the enemy end his life?

The train pulled into the lonely station
Lovers held hands once more
But I was left alone that day
My sweetheart, I never saw.

Take a stroll through the fields of the Somme
There's not a single sound
No men left here to see today
They're all silent, underground.

 

END OF THE WORLD
Stare at the broken ground
The jagged rocks, bare trees
What has this world become?
What did we do?
...Never mind

Remember the guns
Shot after shot after painful shot
Listening to them fall
Where’s Daddy?
...Never mind

Stand on the battlefield
The endless bullets flying past you
Get on my knees and pray
Will it be over today?
...Never mind

Stay together with a broken family
My overwhelmed mum, my scarred sister
And me, clueless but crying
Why did we have to suffer?
...Never mind

 

Please! Please!
Dont kill that women!
Please! Please!
Dont drown that women!
Please! Please!
Listen to my words!
That women is no witch!
She is my mother!
She is only helping you!
Please! Please!
Do not kill her for making medicine to help you!
PLEASE! PLEASE!
SHE IS NO WITCH, ONLY BUT MY MOTHER!

made around the time the 13 colonies was established and people believed anyone who mixed herbs and spices was a witch. and they would drown them

 

NEVER

Never give up hope for the future,because you'll never survive.
Never understand the enemy,because then you'll be deprived...

Of all the dreams and feelings you thought you never had,
but now that you notice them, you just might feel a little sad...

That you didn't listen to them, not even a word.
And when you think about it, you don't think anyone else heard...

The cry for help you shouted out,in hope of finding your freedom again.
But, when it never showed up you just sat and wondered when...

Will this chapter in my life end?When will the wars and battles end?
And while you're asking these questions,you wonder who will defend...

The world,the skies,the people and most importantly you?
At the end of your story,who will be helpful enough to save the Jews...

And all the others who suffer at the enemie's will.
They think it's so easy to go for the kill...

~~~

That is about the Holocaust and WWII.
I wrote about this because it is one of the last topics we did in school,so it's still fresh in my mind.