Poetry competition CLOSED 31st August 2024 8:56pm
WINNER
Bonanza1
Bonanza1
An Uncommon Ocean
Anonymous
Poetry Contest Description
Write a poem about the ocean without using words from the list
Write a poem about the ocean.
But wait!
… you may not use any of the following words:
Blue
Wave
Water
Crash / ing
Sea
Ocean
Beach
Shore
Depth
Marine
Brine
Salt
Rules
• One poem per poet
• No words from the above list can be used
• No erotica. It’s not appropriate here.
• No spoken word / video / pictures on your poems
• No restrictions on min or max length, just don’t go nuts
• Comp judged by host
• New writes only
• Two weeks
The Underneath
It was a pressing formless
the underneath
A dark like starless sky spread while crushing
A dark like starless sky spread right through me
My t shirt like skin
Shrunk tight to me
While arms they fought against its thickness
My arms they
lost a hard fought war
O' the weight of it against my chest
Where panicked screamed
But no way out O' the underneath
The underneath
It darkened to me
My toes touched unwelcoming sand
And danced like this a moment
They danced and dug a moment
My toes they
danced a moment
My chest again remembered itself
It pushed itself up into my jaw
Who scowled and screwed itself at the darkness
the darkness did not flinch
The darkness thick
she swallowed me whole
the underneath
A dark like starless sky spread while crushing
A dark like starless sky spread right through me
My t shirt like skin
Shrunk tight to me
While arms they fought against its thickness
My arms they
lost a hard fought war
O' the weight of it against my chest
Where panicked screamed
But no way out O' the underneath
The underneath
It darkened to me
My toes touched unwelcoming sand
And danced like this a moment
They danced and dug a moment
My toes they
danced a moment
My chest again remembered itself
It pushed itself up into my jaw
Who scowled and screwed itself at the darkness
the darkness did not flinch
The darkness thick
she swallowed me whole
Written by Bonanza1
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Anonymous
Thanks for kicking things off guys! 🙂
However - exercisingdemons you have a banned word in yours if you would like to amend to make the entry valid.
However - exercisingdemons you have a banned word in yours if you would like to amend to make the entry valid.
"Beyond Mariana"
Beneath the veil of lightless night,
Where sun's last trace gives way to void,
A realm unknown to human sight,
In shadows deep, where fears are buoyed
Just past the trench where earth's crust breaks,
The silence reigns, both vast and cold,
Where nothing stirs, and yet it wakes,
An ancient dread, both grim and old
No warmth descends to touch that space,
No star’s faint glow to pierce the gloom,
Yet something shifts in endless chase,
A presence there, a lurking doom
What creatures dwell in blackened beds?
What eyes peer out from hidden lairs?
In darkness thick, creeping abyssal dread,
The void itself breathes out its stares
A place where life and death entwine,
Where none dare tread, where shadows creep,
The trench gives way to something malign,
A nightmare’s home, where secrets sleep
Beneath the veil of lightless night,
Where sun's last trace gives way to void,
A realm unknown to human sight,
In shadows deep, where fears are buoyed
Just past the trench where earth's crust breaks,
The silence reigns, both vast and cold,
Where nothing stirs, and yet it wakes,
An ancient dread, both grim and old
No warmth descends to touch that space,
No star’s faint glow to pierce the gloom,
Yet something shifts in endless chase,
A presence there, a lurking doom
What creatures dwell in blackened beds?
What eyes peer out from hidden lairs?
In darkness thick, creeping abyssal dread,
The void itself breathes out its stares
A place where life and death entwine,
Where none dare tread, where shadows creep,
The trench gives way to something malign,
A nightmare’s home, where secrets sleep
Azure tempest
Azure blanket of gesture
Undulating ‘neath the decadent skies
The rise and fall of silent dilation
The swell of raucous redesign
Convulsing liquid tempest
Throwing sailors to the stern
Scattered, but for a moment
In this broad, pervasive churn
The moon applies its wisdom
Ne’er cryptic to the tides
Weathered flair of misbehaving
Written in the pending ides
Undulating ‘neath the decadent skies
The rise and fall of silent dilation
The swell of raucous redesign
Convulsing liquid tempest
Throwing sailors to the stern
Scattered, but for a moment
In this broad, pervasive churn
The moon applies its wisdom
Ne’er cryptic to the tides
Weathered flair of misbehaving
Written in the pending ides
Written by Everavalon
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Anonymous
Thanks for your entries
Thepalestrider - you’ve used a banned word! Please feel free to amend to make the entry valid. Thanks.
Thepalestrider - you’ve used a banned word! Please feel free to amend to make the entry valid. Thanks.
Neptune
My arms grew tired, I couldn't swim anymore
No one around to help me
A sharp pain within my core
I was drifting further & further out
The more I fought the current
I began to panic, I began to shout
The distant coastline was my last vision
Rip currents tired me out
I made my final decision
I stayed afloat until I had nothing else left
Neptune dragged me down
Drowning was the cause of death
No one around to help me
A sharp pain within my core
I was drifting further & further out
The more I fought the current
I began to panic, I began to shout
The distant coastline was my last vision
Rip currents tired me out
I made my final decision
I stayed afloat until I had nothing else left
Neptune dragged me down
Drowning was the cause of death
Written by Vision_of_insanity
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The Captain's Daughter
O, Father, I have found you
at last—
the controversy of my birth
drove wedges
all around the families,
drove miles
between us as whitecaps
carried your ship to foreign places.
I did not know that you
were looking for me
when I watched horizons
and knew not, where you were.
The lands are mere plateaus
and that which fills the spaces between
is nothing more
than a liquid looking-glass in bowls,
that carried your boats
to and fro
their shadows visible
from under the airless surface.
O, Captain, my Father
will you tell me tales
of your high adventures
of smugglers and pirates
you chased
to uphold maritime law?
I am too old
for bedtime stories
but I want to hear them anyway—
perhaps we can meet
where kelp and shells
wash onto sands
amid tidal flows, eddy pools,
and I won’t have to wonder
about the missing half of myself
anymore.
Written by MadameLavender
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Anonymous
<< post removed >>
Anonymous
Thank you for your entries thus far. Keep ‘em coming!
Uncommon Ocean comp entry
She, the blueberry sapphire queen
Beneath the misty moon set dream
Neptune you're a cruel bastard
North east south and westward
Calling to the unquiet souls
To come and sail within your folds
Written by James_A_Knight
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Dreamland Fantasy
There, shadows dwell in a world beneath
as whispered spell where creatures glide
bound together in eternal graceful dance
hues of wonder that mesmerise
they bloom so well so vibrantly
coral gardens with anemones
as in dreamlike enchantment vividly
life thrives in this hidden paradise
on every nooks the shells gleam
silent tales of history a dreamer's dream
bioluminescent light in the caverns
light them up like a King's regal room
laughter echoes songs of souls
in embrace of this fantastical domain
timeless beauty even in magic bowls
where even the lost wish to remain
as whispered spell where creatures glide
bound together in eternal graceful dance
hues of wonder that mesmerise
they bloom so well so vibrantly
coral gardens with anemones
as in dreamlike enchantment vividly
life thrives in this hidden paradise
on every nooks the shells gleam
silent tales of history a dreamer's dream
bioluminescent light in the caverns
light them up like a King's regal room
laughter echoes songs of souls
in embrace of this fantastical domain
timeless beauty even in magic bowls
where even the lost wish to remain
Written by Grace
(IDryad)
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On prey and predator
I used to think about
how they could crawl
on to this dry earth
taking over everything
those tentacles & beady
eyes could possibly lay on,
I questioned about
how many of them
are down there,
nestled in their
dark little dens
planning their prey
and turning into it
in the same breath
how fucked i'd feel
if their evolution
advanced within
my life time here,
as I began to age
I understood my
fear around them
their survival reflecting
every psychological
wound that I own,
being a predator for
all the right reasons
from falling prey to
bad situations
gathering their bodies
in small places, trying
to claim sanctuary as
they leave silently
on their own terms
how I too have worn
prey and predator,
knowing that's all
we have just to
get away from
any disaster
as dark dens
still haunt
my bones.
Written by xthan
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