Poetry competition CLOSED 1st March 2020 2:07pm
WINNER
Josh (Joshua Bond)
Josh (Joshua Bond)
RUNNERS-UP:
EdibleWords
and javalini
Paradelle Universes
RECALIBRATION
“I do not admit that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia . . . by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race . . . has come in and taken their place.” (Winston Churchill, 1937, speaking before the Palestine Royal Commission).
For those who still feel, the world is a tragedy
and it stings in places one wonders
were better left unvisited
but time offers crossed slots of opportunity
where historical pain needs recalibration
when iconic figures are revealed as merely human;
removed from their pedestals
they suffer head-aches, depression, constipation —
Somos todos humanos as they say in Portugal.
Perhaps if we never judged anyone by their worst moment
the sky would lighten and all ducks would quack more authentically
as compassion made in-roads to the left side of our brains.
In the battle for truth
revisionist historians deliver controversial accounts —
but according to Buckminster Fuller
the basic building block of the universe is the tetrahedron
suggesting triangularity encompasses
victim-perpetrator-rescuer as well as faith-hope-love.
Reference to the Billy Collins’s poem ‘Flock’, from ‘The Trouble with Poetry’ (2005), found here: https://poetry-fromthehart.blogspot.com/2011/06/flock-billy-collins.html
Madmen (Unwritten Truth)
The truth is just art laid bare
in its fastidious museum.
The poems are just the labels for it.
The admission is free, but we
pay it anyway.
I told you how I write poems with wings
then keep them in the cage of my heart
until needed for a just cause.
Even though the world needs my poems,
it will only dissect them with knives
and pound them with hammers;
reduce them to bitter truths.
They won't fly once wounded,
Just flap and stagger in circles.
I swear their portraits will be
hung in museums one day,
and their bones put on display
by the real artists, the mad ones.
I held a bird in my hand once,
so tightly that it couldn't fly away,
I only let it imagine the sky in its midst
and people looking up at it.
I wanted it to know how it was so much more
than what people see,
how it could become a blur
when the wind catches it right
and be illumimated by flight.
The birds tiny eyes were just like everyones;
a bird is just a bag of bones
under its magical feathers.
.....
#BillyCollins
in its fastidious museum.
The poems are just the labels for it.
The admission is free, but we
pay it anyway.
I told you how I write poems with wings
then keep them in the cage of my heart
until needed for a just cause.
Even though the world needs my poems,
it will only dissect them with knives
and pound them with hammers;
reduce them to bitter truths.
They won't fly once wounded,
Just flap and stagger in circles.
I swear their portraits will be
hung in museums one day,
and their bones put on display
by the real artists, the mad ones.
I held a bird in my hand once,
so tightly that it couldn't fly away,
I only let it imagine the sky in its midst
and people looking up at it.
I wanted it to know how it was so much more
than what people see,
how it could become a blur
when the wind catches it right
and be illumimated by flight.
The birds tiny eyes were just like everyones;
a bird is just a bag of bones
under its magical feathers.
.....
#BillyCollins
Written by PoetsRevenge
Go To Page
Anonymous
Greetings, honored entrants. You have roughly 24 hours to DOUBLE-CHECK your entries for spelling and/or grammatical errors ( perhaps inadvertently omitted words ), etc.
Thank you each for your tributes to #BillyCollins, and best of luck in the judging.
Thank you each for your tributes to #BillyCollins, and best of luck in the judging.
Anonymous
Judging is currently underway and should be completed soon. 
Anonymous
You can now add the theme #BillyCollins to your entries courtesy of the Webmiss!
We are finishing up with the judging process and will be announcing winners soon!
We are finishing up with the judging process and will be announcing winners soon!
Anonymous
A big thank you to all who paid tribute to this month's featured poets. As in previous months, these are very difficult to judge, and sometimes come down to a simple typo or grammatical error breaking a tie. This month was no different.
Call it emulation, we seek the essence of the classic author in the entrant's own style - not just replacing words of existing poems, but writing as though they were those classic authors ( regardless of form utilized ).
Our Classic Champions, as we like to refer to them, work HARD, and it shows in their writing. They study and deliver fresh poetry as opposed to borderline plagiarism. They double-check spelling, grammar, form, guidelines, and put forth their heart into these comps.
We recognize that effort and award accordingly, judging on a scale of 1-5 spelling, grammar, punctuation, form, and content - while the most important question we ask ourselves is this: Did we feel like we were reading a classic poet?
All that being said, congratulations to the following winners!
First Place: Josh
You crafted a wonderfully unique poem from the inspiration. Someone "important" always steps forward from the crowd to address the rest with a message that is supposedly gospel meant for the greater good, while the true teachers of compassion and humanity go undetected - unless extricated and brought forth to the slaughter. The irony in Collins' 'Flock' is thick in that animals instinctively know what humans must learn. His is about sacrifice for what could be, or could be not, the greater good, and that such sacrifice is perpetually reoccurring.
Second Place: Javalini
Your entry was a clever retelling of the inspiration poem, in which Collins emphasizes how everyone has their own interpretation of what is going on. Though he is a master when it comes to Irony, he shows us that anyone can also appreciate a poem that has no logical consistency. You informed us that we can appreciate life or a poem as it unfolds and react to it in our own ways, while regret like Irony can only be experienced upon review when logical consistency can then be discovered.
Third Place: EdibleWords
You did a great job and certainly nailed the ending! Note that while Collins did recycle some words, his true gift is in constantly bringing to our attention something new, usually in the guise of a tangent that is relevant to both the beginning and ending. Keep that in mind should you ever brave to emulate his work again.
And a round of applause to everyone else who braved Collins!
Congratulations to everyone for quality entries; thank you again for honoring the classics. We hope to see you in March's Classic Corner Champion challenges currently in progress!
https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/competitions/read/11291/
https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/competitions/read/11292/
Call it emulation, we seek the essence of the classic author in the entrant's own style - not just replacing words of existing poems, but writing as though they were those classic authors ( regardless of form utilized ).
Our Classic Champions, as we like to refer to them, work HARD, and it shows in their writing. They study and deliver fresh poetry as opposed to borderline plagiarism. They double-check spelling, grammar, form, guidelines, and put forth their heart into these comps.
We recognize that effort and award accordingly, judging on a scale of 1-5 spelling, grammar, punctuation, form, and content - while the most important question we ask ourselves is this: Did we feel like we were reading a classic poet?
All that being said, congratulations to the following winners!
First Place: Josh
You crafted a wonderfully unique poem from the inspiration. Someone "important" always steps forward from the crowd to address the rest with a message that is supposedly gospel meant for the greater good, while the true teachers of compassion and humanity go undetected - unless extricated and brought forth to the slaughter. The irony in Collins' 'Flock' is thick in that animals instinctively know what humans must learn. His is about sacrifice for what could be, or could be not, the greater good, and that such sacrifice is perpetually reoccurring.
Second Place: Javalini
Your entry was a clever retelling of the inspiration poem, in which Collins emphasizes how everyone has their own interpretation of what is going on. Though he is a master when it comes to Irony, he shows us that anyone can also appreciate a poem that has no logical consistency. You informed us that we can appreciate life or a poem as it unfolds and react to it in our own ways, while regret like Irony can only be experienced upon review when logical consistency can then be discovered.
Third Place: EdibleWords
You did a great job and certainly nailed the ending! Note that while Collins did recycle some words, his true gift is in constantly bringing to our attention something new, usually in the guise of a tangent that is relevant to both the beginning and ending. Keep that in mind should you ever brave to emulate his work again.
And a round of applause to everyone else who braved Collins!
Congratulations to everyone for quality entries; thank you again for honoring the classics. We hope to see you in March's Classic Corner Champion challenges currently in progress!
https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/competitions/read/11291/
https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/competitions/read/11292/
Anonymous
And be sure to add the theme #BillyCollins to your entries!
Anonymous
EdibleWords said:Congrats, Josh, especially and everyone! Great poets here! I was honored to be runner-up!
🌞🌞✨⭐️💫🌞✨💫🌟✨🌞🌞
🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
BIG THANK YOU
to Johnny! Great hosting!
It was a deserving placement.
And I am nothing without my partner in crime, Ahavati; this is a Bonnie and Clyde partnership all the way. Or maybe it's Thelma and Louise . . .
🌞🌞✨⭐️💫🌞✨💫🌟✨🌞🌞
🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
BIG THANK YOU
to Johnny! Great hosting!
It was a deserving placement.
And I am nothing without my partner in crime, Ahavati; this is a Bonnie and Clyde partnership all the way. Or maybe it's Thelma and Louise . . .
Well, I'm definitely honoured to join PoetsRevenge as someone who won both comps in the same month. Congrats too to EdibleWords & Javalini - and to all who entered for enhancing the pace and upping the experience of the CCC comp(s). Thank you J&A for your consistent { and persistent :)) } promotion into our lives of the poetry of classic poets.
