Official DUP NaPo/GloPoWrimo Competition

The SS NaPo/GloPoWriMo has set sail, DUP'rs!  29 participants and five countries have hit the high seas of poetry, making this one of the largest and best NaPo/GloPoWriMo's ever!

HOSTS: Ahavati & JohnnyBlaze

TEAM: Jade-Pandora, Earth_Child, Amorous_Tryst, yelluw_always, SummerRain75, JusTim_  

Those who finish will receive honorable mention on facebook and instagram!  

THE RULZ!  

1.  Each Poem must be posted within the allotted time frame between 12:01 AM and 11:59 PM each day in your time zone.

Only one entry per day. This is NOT a competition to see who can post or finish first.   Amoryst_Tryst and Earth_Child will be monitoring your daily post times closely.

2.  You must copy and paste your entries into this competition forum. Linking directly to Your Submitted Poems is not be allowed. This is to ensure each comp entry is not edited beyond the 24 hour deadline you are given to edit. Jade-Pandora will be monitoring your editing activity closely.

3.  Your poem must have a Bolded Title for the NaPo team members to easily identify.  This is necessary, as the title is NOT included in your unique word count. Johnny and I will be monitoring this.

4.  Your entries must be a minimum of 50 "unique" words, not including the title.  yelluw_always will be monitoring your word count closely.

5.  Your entries must be numbered sequentially so YOU know and WE know exactly how many poems you have submitted to date. Your final poem numbered #30 must be submitted on April 30th before Midnight in your Timezone. SummerRain75 and JusTim_ will be monitoring your count closely.

RULE CLARIFICATIONS AND GUIDELINES!

1.  Valid Excuses:

Provided Life doesn't throw you a catastrophic curveball during April, we are confident you will make it to the finish line. We've modified the "write one new poem every day" rule as typical of the NaPoWriMo competition recognized globally to ensure as many participants as possible living and breathing the spirit of the competition could achieve this goal.

Life gets in the way and no one deserves to miss out because you took a Ford Bronco passenger mirror at 55 mph to the back of your head while minding your own business riding a bicycle. Long story. Don't ask.

We encourage you to complete at least a few poems ahead of schedule in the event you are prevented from writing and posting for whatever reason.

If you are aware of a date in which you will not be available to write and post a poem, alert us to when and why in the NaPo Speakeasy thread or in a private message.

Upon your return after the day or days you missed, you must post a maximum of 2 poems per date until you are caught up. At the very top of your post, attach a brief explanation stating you are posting 2 poems for whatever reason.

If you experience an unexpected event such as a power or Internet failure or other act of God or personal crisis that prevents you from writing and posting, then follow the same protocol minus the advance warning.  

2.  Editing Rule:  This rule is meant for you to correct any major flaws in your post such as having forgotten to include the title, poem number, or the minimum 50 unique words necessary to be considered a viable entry.

Otherwise, we don't care if your poems have typos or grammatical errors in them. They do not have to be perfect to qualify.

This is NOT a competition to see who can write the best poem.

Time stamps in forum posts will expose any attempts to cheat the editing rule. Returning after 24 hours to edit for ANY reason will result in disqualification of that entry. No trophy for you!

3.  50 Unique Word Rule

Every poem must contain a minimum of 50 unique words.

Contractions such as "can't" count as 1 unique word. Ampersands count as 1 unique word. One letter words such as "a" or "I" each count as 1 unique word. Numbers such as "4" count as 1 unique word. Hyphenated words such as "sugar-free" count as 1 unique word.

You can repeat any word as many times as you wish, but it will only count as 1 unique word. For example, using the word "deep" 5 times will count as 1 unique word.

The words comprising your poem's title do not count towards anything.

GUIDELINES

1.  Multiple Accounts: If you have additional member accounts used for creative purposes that are named in your profile(s) and forum signature(s) may enter as well. They must register separately. Each account must individually deliver 30 poems.

2.  Previous Notes:  You may convert any notes you jotted down into poems.  You may write as many poems you care to in a single day; however, remember, you can submit NO MORE than one poem per day unless excused for a valid reason.

3.  Off Topic/Spam Posts:  In previous years, we've had several  non-registrants as well as spam posts. Any such posts will be removed.

4.  NEEDLESS DRAMA PROHIBITED: If you have any issue, please use the private message function and notify JohnnyBlaze or me immediately.  DUP is on the Global NaPo registry, which means we will be watched. Such posts will be removed.

5.  Writing Prompt Comp: While we are providing writing prompts in the alternate NaPo Prompt Competition, you still have the complete freedom to write about anything you want. You will not be disqualified based on content or quality, with the exceptions of plagiarism of course or posting similar "copy and paste" extracted from text you yourselves did not write.

However, please use common sense regarding the content you choose to post. Your poetry, unpolished or otherwise, will be a reflection of the overall  talent being fostered by DUP. We would hate to see outside readers who are potential DUP members or even publishers turned away by material meant to garner attention purely from shock value.

6.  Final Award Check:  After the final entry is submitted,  JohnnyBlaze and I will double check entries to ensure they are 50+ words in length, titled, numbered, and unedited after the deadline. It only takes 1 ineligible entry out of 30 to negate your acquisition of the trophy. Be sure your work adheres to the Rules.

We'd hate to see you go through all that hard work to come up empty handed: however, we will not grant you something the other participants sacrificed and worked hard to achieve by following these rules and guidelines.

What the heck ... non-compliances risking disqualification!?

While this may sound harsh, such rules accompanied with penalties are necessary to offset the fact that our NaPo/GloProWriMo challenge is extremely flexible ( as opposed to the "standard" international challenge of writing and posting 1 poem within each 24 hour increment no matter what obstacles Life throws your way ).

There are rules to EVERY competition on DUP which, if violated, run the risk of forfeiting the trophy. This competition is no different. If you aren't going to concern yourself with reading and thus knowing the rules, then you should avoid entering any competitions. We are very flexible regarding real life situations that may hinder your ability to write and post at any given moment; everything else is completely in your power to control.  
_______________

A special thank you to all braving this challenge! Particularly to our team members for donating their valuable time to assist us in making this the LARGEST and BEST NaPo EVER!

Sincerely Good Writing To All,

Ahavati & JohnnyBlaze  

And for those of you living in areas of the world where it isn't April 1st yet, you still have the opportunity to join in the Speakeasy companion thread:

https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/speakeasy/read/10651/

Be sure to register there by posting the declaration, "I'm in!" along with your location and time zone.

JohnnyBlaze said:And for those of you living in areas of the world where it isn't April 1st yet, you still have the opportunity to join in the Speakeasy companion thread:

https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/speakeasy/read/10651/

Be sure to register there by posting the declaration, "I'm in!" along with your location and time zone.

And registration has closed in most of the world except for the United States for 5-8 more hours only!  You have until midnight ( your time zone ), March 31, to register in the speakeasy thread linked above!

Who will inaugurate this thread?! It's always exciting to see! Will it be the Philippines, Portugal, or England?! Perhaps even the east coast USA!

1/30

Gateway

The story starts:
Swaying on a street dark and lonely
Under rain, barely in it, very out of it.
I hum along
To the songs I keep
For moments like this -
I twisted my hands -
Scraped and bloodied and I tried
To catch
My breath
In the freezing.

I sat down to hold the sobs in,
And old neon lights and dreams taunt me,
Then -
Darkness.

In front of me, blocking glaring
Lights -
He offered a hand -
Sinister smile knowing -
And I took it.

Eyes,
They know something.
Hands,
They could choke me.
The monster,
It must have recognized mine.

He whispered and
Made fun of our deaths,
I walked away with him,

"What do you want from me, where do we go?"*

113 unique words
*bury a friend, lyrics by FINNEAS and Billie Eilish

the niña's song broke her heart
poem 1 ov 30

& so she condemned herself to finding warmth in stolen flame
which bore no reflection ov his light

[iii]
how quickly the buoyancy disappeared beneath my breast
as tho i had pressed a knife between my ribs to
remove my stained glass heart,
sever the artery & bleed hollow theory.
in the silence twixt one breath & the next, when realization pressed itself
into the schism between hope & doubt, suddenly tired to the bone yet unable to
close my eyes just in case i wake here again

lie to me, please, daddy

[ii]
seeking nourishment from stale thought in a stagnant mind, i
stagger thru the truths ov my fractured psyche...
i must & i cannot because ov you
... choosing to immerse myself in black fluidity,   inhale
the faux solace ov another exercise in futility, a last hope
ov excising the seed from which the sick tree grew

[i]
so very different to the girl who danced around the kitchen,
a cup of tea in one hand, stockinged feet gliding across the tile
singing japanese harmonies with her papi before noon_
i straddle an ocean ov grief, fuck the night, kiss the dawn
scream one enraged release after another at the sun
& remain unburned

1/30

Proverbs [ NaPo/GloPoWriMo 2019 ]

Forward

What is a Proverb
but common sense—
recorded experience
regarding conduct

Through patterned lifetimes
we create an anthology;
pithy compilations
outlining morality—  
behavioral blueprints
drafted from Being—
leaving or repeating
dependent upon completing
lessons, vibrations attracted
by our very thinking

Each volume rests
in the great Library Room
of Elysium;  

contained herein
are mine

. . .

words - 55
unique words - 55

1/30    Memory Lane

In memory lane colors bloom
all in rows, brightest at noon,
just to bask in one hot sun
to grow at night while we slept on.

Now memories still bloom at night
when I sleep I still remember
the colors the most above all else
and Grandpa's chuckling laugh
and Nana's big smile, and
how she always did when I
went over and stayed for a long while.      

      68 words, 50 unique

April's Fool

1/30

Ode to 'Word Of The Day'

Words, words everywhere clogging up my brain
listen Mr. Webster, you're driving me insane

ever since I pushed your button
my inbox's been assaulted
searching meanings for replacement words
has left me quite exhausted

scrolling through the mess you've left
finding rhyme while keeping rhythm
just to get this poem assembled
and win some classy ribbon

They say it's not a competition
not knowing that's absurd
for they don't live inside my head
surrounded by old words

Because for me the contest lies
between myself and I
to put together something of worth
and possibly surprise.

96 words, unique 79

#NaPoWriMo2019

(One of 30 --  NaPo/GloPoWriMo 2019)
Damn Dolor

Finally towel'd out the wet from
my face and spiritual heart --
most often a suture to keep in
blood, grief...........healing

I've been trying to close out
all the yesterdays that
seemingly serve no purpose
other than  reminders
of painful loss.

Damn haunting memories
keep getting in my way;
i realize people come and go
liken to a picture show.
They enter and i get to
love them in the beginning.
However, there's always
an ending.  

Usually, for me
the ending is achingly
terminal and i am the
lucky one who gets
to stay...........

I don't believe in luck;
I must be damned.
_______________________
#NaPoWriMo2019
102 words
79 unique

Title: April in Rockhollow
One of Thirty
Unique words: Eighty-eight

#napowrimo2019

The gate is open, great tits sing within,
hidden in branches of Apple and Cherry,
a blossom such unblemished white is not to be missed,
in the shelter of this sunken garden.

You can admire small tadpoles at the edges of our pool,
or bumblebees with heads sunk into Aubrietia,
see an odd butterfly resting on the dandelion speckled lawn
as a scared squirrel dashes by.

Forget me nots and nigella are carefully seeded in cracks in old paths,
ending with tulips that grow taller in terracotta pots.
In truth, my day passes gay and much faster
with spade and pair of boots and aperitif as an afternoon reward.

1/30

More Than Feelings

It's more than just feelings
that float between the two of us.

It's a shared tongue
sifting thru the darkness
soaking up the sunshine
gifting of an ear
when words are only words
but each other's company
is worth more than weight in gold.

It's not just the way we long to embrace
or how I love the simple smile upon your face.

You know I think you beautiful
and you set my heart aglow
the beats go on forever
but not for the reasons you may know.

You're the shadow holding on to my hand
when I'm afraid to walk alone
my morning cup of coffee
so delicious, inviting, and warm
an umbrella when I need one
or just there to say hello
a breath of air when I can't breathe
placing your lips delicately upon my need.

I don't need one perfect
or one who only soothes the fear
I like one a little bit tough and dirty
who'll never disappoint
nor disappear