Poetry competition CLOSED 28th February 2019 4:12pm
WINNER
ImperfectedStone (The Gardener)
ImperfectedStone (The Gardener)
RUNNERS-UP:
PoetsRevenge
and Heaven_sent_Kathy
Why the Caged Bird Sings
#AFRICA
She feeds nations but fails to breast feed her own
she is the epitome of wealth,my Africa
But they will not let her harvest her own
She has endowed her children with knowledge
Ask about the brain drain
Yes,she is beautiful,beauty packed and sold
beauty that does not at all benefit her
They know how to crawl in
they called it 'development loans'
sunk her in so deep in debt she can barely float
Africa,the land that once thrived on authenticity
The land that the Creator blessed with so much melanin
Her children now scrap it away as they scrap away their culture
They call it civilization
They said herbalists are demonic
see pastors staging resurrections!
Africa chose this
She chose to be paraded publicly and slowly stripped
The second age colonization is here
oops!I meant "chinazation"
Who will save Africa?
#MAYA ANGELOU
she is the epitome of wealth,my Africa
But they will not let her harvest her own
She has endowed her children with knowledge
Ask about the brain drain
Yes,she is beautiful,beauty packed and sold
beauty that does not at all benefit her
They know how to crawl in
they called it 'development loans'
sunk her in so deep in debt she can barely float
Africa,the land that once thrived on authenticity
The land that the Creator blessed with so much melanin
Her children now scrap it away as they scrap away their culture
They call it civilization
They said herbalists are demonic
see pastors staging resurrections!
Africa chose this
She chose to be paraded publicly and slowly stripped
The second age colonization is here
oops!I meant "chinazation"
Who will save Africa?
#MAYA ANGELOU
Written by Black-kwacha
Go To Page
Maya's Portraits
Every time I read Maya’s poetry,
I’m in awe of the emotion she conveys,
But every time I see her portraits,
I can’t but help sense her pain.
In each of her pictures she tell a story,
Of trials and tribulations and triumphs,
Because in her smile she conquered it all,
And her works surely made her a giant.
Maya’s portraits always show a resilience,
Her experiences made her even stronger,
In her face there is a soulful grace,
With a gift that brought her honor.
#MayaAngelou
I’m in awe of the emotion she conveys,
But every time I see her portraits,
I can’t but help sense her pain.
In each of her pictures she tell a story,
Of trials and tribulations and triumphs,
Because in her smile she conquered it all,
And her works surely made her a giant.
Maya’s portraits always show a resilience,
Her experiences made her even stronger,
In her face there is a soulful grace,
With a gift that brought her honor.
#MayaAngelou
Written by wallyroo92
Go To Page
This was yet another difficult comp to judge. But, of course, the classics always are. It’s moving enough that you poets take the time out of your busy schedule to ( in some cases ) study a poet you’ve never read, before writing a heartfelt tribute based on their poetry. For that we are always humbled, and possess a deep humility and respect for each entrant's entry.
In regards to judging, in Maya’s case, we sought the essence of firsts, as seemed to be her life. She possessed a warrior’s spirit, yet a refined expression that encapsulated a gentile nature of an old Southern idiom – you can catch more flies with honey than you can fly-paper. Undoubtedly she had every right to be angry over the treatment of her heritage as well as herself, yet she presented as a lady first and foremost – always in her poetry despite the difficulty of content.
That being said, the winners are as follows:
ImperfectedStone, there is little to say as to the obvious nature of your win. We felt you completely captured the essence of “When you come” as though a butterfly in the net. But, more than that, you released it gently back into the wild. Congratulations on First Place.
PoetsRevenge, you were barely edged out by Poppy. While capturing the essence of “Still I Rise”, the hindrance was the repetition of “to” ( in S3 & 4 ), 6 times, along with "into". Unnecessary repetitions of that nature are accounted for in tough judging competitions. Congratulations on Second Place.
Heaven_sent_Kathy, as PoetsRevenge, you were barely edged out by Poppy and PoetsRevenge as well. Yours was excellent in the spirit of "Still I Rise". Unfortunately, the use of ampersands were distracting enough in text; two so close together they seemed somewhat of an eyesore in S4, L14. Again, when competition is tough, such things are taken into account. Congratulations on Third Place.
Honorable mention:
Jade-Pandora, we feel you deserve an Honorable Mention here. Yours started out so strong it pulled the reader completely into the Spirit of “Refusal”; however, the 2nd half feels somewhat divorced from the 1st half, as though there’s a missing bridge.
Rachelle, we also feel you deserve an Honorable Mention. While the essence is there, the judges felt you borrowed a bit too heavily from "Televised" and thus were swapping out components with similar components.
Congratulations to the winners, and special gratitude and appreciation to each entrant for honoring such a prolific poet.
If you haven’t already, please do not forget to vote in the current poll for April’s Classic Corner poets here:
https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/speakeasy/read/10638/
March’s Classic Corner, featuring Denise Levertov and Ralph Waldo Emerson, will be posted ensuing the announcement’s of this month’s winners. We are posting early so that the comp ends prior to April 1st - when the Official 2019 DUP NaPoWriMo, co-hosted by JohnnyBlaze and me, hits the Competition Forum! Please watch for the Official Sign Up Sheet in the Speakeasy forum today, where we'll be introducing the DUP NaPoWriMo Team and their responsibilities!
We hope to see you all there!
In regards to judging, in Maya’s case, we sought the essence of firsts, as seemed to be her life. She possessed a warrior’s spirit, yet a refined expression that encapsulated a gentile nature of an old Southern idiom – you can catch more flies with honey than you can fly-paper. Undoubtedly she had every right to be angry over the treatment of her heritage as well as herself, yet she presented as a lady first and foremost – always in her poetry despite the difficulty of content.
That being said, the winners are as follows:
ImperfectedStone, there is little to say as to the obvious nature of your win. We felt you completely captured the essence of “When you come” as though a butterfly in the net. But, more than that, you released it gently back into the wild. Congratulations on First Place.
PoetsRevenge, you were barely edged out by Poppy. While capturing the essence of “Still I Rise”, the hindrance was the repetition of “to” ( in S3 & 4 ), 6 times, along with "into". Unnecessary repetitions of that nature are accounted for in tough judging competitions. Congratulations on Second Place.
Heaven_sent_Kathy, as PoetsRevenge, you were barely edged out by Poppy and PoetsRevenge as well. Yours was excellent in the spirit of "Still I Rise". Unfortunately, the use of ampersands were distracting enough in text; two so close together they seemed somewhat of an eyesore in S4, L14. Again, when competition is tough, such things are taken into account. Congratulations on Third Place.
Honorable mention:
Jade-Pandora, we feel you deserve an Honorable Mention here. Yours started out so strong it pulled the reader completely into the Spirit of “Refusal”; however, the 2nd half feels somewhat divorced from the 1st half, as though there’s a missing bridge.
Rachelle, we also feel you deserve an Honorable Mention. While the essence is there, the judges felt you borrowed a bit too heavily from "Televised" and thus were swapping out components with similar components.
Congratulations to the winners, and special gratitude and appreciation to each entrant for honoring such a prolific poet.
If you haven’t already, please do not forget to vote in the current poll for April’s Classic Corner poets here:
https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/speakeasy/read/10638/
March’s Classic Corner, featuring Denise Levertov and Ralph Waldo Emerson, will be posted ensuing the announcement’s of this month’s winners. We are posting early so that the comp ends prior to April 1st - when the Official 2019 DUP NaPoWriMo, co-hosted by JohnnyBlaze and me, hits the Competition Forum! Please watch for the Official Sign Up Sheet in the Speakeasy forum today, where we'll be introducing the DUP NaPoWriMo Team and their responsibilities!
We hope to see you all there!
Congratulations Poppy, PR and Kathy for placing! And to Jade and Rachelle for your Honorable Mentions! Thank you to each entrant for your time and tribute to Angelou. You humble us with your continued participation in these competitions paying homage to the greats!
It took me a few extra minutes to gather myself, my thoughts, and because I had hoped to wait till the other two were able to arrive. But as I'll need to get some rest I'll go ahead and say my piece, which seems surreal, because I've never placed in two competitions (from anywhere for any of my writing) at the same time.
Once again, I'm congratulating the same two absolutely remarkable poets, and I'm so fortunate, I wish I could say this better... to be "lucky", to stand so close as we share the podium. And this is within reach of those who placed with Honorable Mentions: Jade and Rachelle. To you, Ladies, and to all who participated, what you've all accomplished in this competition, is nothing to be sneezed at.
Oh dear.
...just Kathy
Once again, I'm congratulating the same two absolutely remarkable poets, and I'm so fortunate, I wish I could say this better... to be "lucky", to stand so close as we share the podium. And this is within reach of those who placed with Honorable Mentions: Jade and Rachelle. To you, Ladies, and to all who participated, what you've all accomplished in this competition, is nothing to be sneezed at.
Oh dear.
...just Kathy
Thank you so much, Ahavati and Johnny for the placement honor, I made some changes to my poem to improve it, the advice was really helpful and appreciated.
It wasn't easy to capture the delicate balance between femininity and activism that Maya Angelou achieved, it was a learning experience to try to embody it in a poem, it was empowering..
Congratulations to the other winners, Kathy, Poppy, Jade and Rachelle, great job..
It wasn't easy to capture the delicate balance between femininity and activism that Maya Angelou achieved, it was a learning experience to try to embody it in a poem, it was empowering..
Congratulations to the other winners, Kathy, Poppy, Jade and Rachelle, great job..
