Poetry competition CLOSED 31st January 2013 8:30pm
WINNER
orangesun
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RUNNER-UP: kourtnissixxx

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Masquerade

poet Anonymous

Poetry Contest

“Here too it’s masquerade, I find:  As everywhere, the dance of mind. I grasped a lovely masked procession, And caught things from a horror show… I’d gladly settle for a false impression, If it would last a little longer, though.”
The above quote is by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the author of 'Faust'.

Write a poem based on this quote. How does it make you feel. What does it make you think. It takes me to a dark place, but I'm interested to see the perceptions of others.

Rules:

New writes only
Collabs allowed
One entry per person
Entries must be titled
2 weeks.

Good luck!

poet Anonymous


YOUR MASQUERADE


After you broke off with me

Many years later, I came to see

The masquerade I found again

The truth my mind danced around


The second man in my life

Hoped for a lover

Promised me a wife

But here the masks came off

Too soon

Twas wife and wife again

As if this was a repeating horror show


What is that major fault in me

The impossibility to see

Who loves the girls from the boys

I was both, but your love toy


My lust for you was so great

I thought you to be my fate

I would have gladly settle

For this false impression

So desperate was I

For your possession


Well karma's debt has been paid

I am queer as you but not so dear

Now more open-minded than then

Both men and women be my kin.



poet Anonymous

<< post removed >>
DexstaRay
Twisted Dreamer
United States 3awards
Joined 19th July 2012
Forum Posts: 101

Forthright Facade

A wolf in sheep's clothing
You can't restrain a pain that keeps growing
A-ok masquerade
But hey
You left your teeth showing
And I can't keep going on with this
Once astonishing bliss ending with a caustic twist
Instantaneously dismissed
If you love a person why let them go?
What if dishonesty's a factor and they won't let you know?
Should you stay and hope?
Disappear at ease
Fallacious facades are just as clear as crystalline
But what really gets to me
Is denial with proof
I guess if I was insecure
I'd lie to you too

Magdalena
Spartalena
Tyrant of Words
Wales 62awards
Joined 21st Apr 2012
Forum Posts: 3000


Street Called Deception

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy328/Spanishdarkness/masquerade_by_zilla774_zps738865b1.jpg



A carnival of lies
masquerading
behind heavy drapes
over obsidian eyes
mind manipulator
power motivated
suggestion the downfall
of his prey
your perception
now his to enjoy


You drip from his
rose petaled tongue
drink from his
bouquet of false imagery
he picks you a flower
everyday
as you inhale
it's fresh aroma
failing to notice
the decaying stem


He is enchantment
personified
everything you wish for
he will manifest
blinding you incapable  
of seeing through
the paper thin image


Fallen victim
to his false allure
he blows magic
into your heart
but it is tainted
with darkness
that you cannot feel
slowly slaying you
yet you are unaware
of your approaching demise


Watch out for the
masquerade
you will be misled
in the wrong direction
down a street
called deception




poet Anonymous

“Me or My Money”
http://curlyfrieswiththat.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/girl-blog.jpg
Early on,
I learned to
fight
the good fight,
worked my
butt off
to make
ends meet,
and
then some.
I vied for her attention,
gathering steam,
I got the courage to wed her,
she was my dream girl.
I swirled hypnotic
in the fragrance that
streamed so sweetly
behind her.
Walking blindly,
she hid my demise
behind soft jaded eyes,
the kind that
wink sensuous-sin,
the things that
take men
down.
Masked by
natural beauty,
I was addicted
to her abuse,
my punishment
reigned.
Constantly,
mesmerized
by sensual thoughts of
her succulent femininity,
I drooled on her tattoo,
she played me a fool.
Her porcelain skin
was dark underneath,
it hid a rotten spirit,
dammit.
She took me
on a long hard ride.
And in the end,
I couldn’t hide
me or my money.

kourtnissixxx
Dangerous Mind
12awards
Joined 12th July 2011
Forum Posts: 928

D.I.D. Masquerade

Oh,
the morbid masquerades
of every thoughts asylum.
How truly enthralling
the dance of psychosis
must be, fluttering
just beyond stark eyelids.
With it's poignant,
haunting corridors echoing
from each and every
jackalope's sneering
laughter.

Oh,
the pallid, obscured faces
of medieval phantoms
bereaved a name.
Just as honest as
halved pints of gin
in that same
promiscuous harlequin
decor.
Complimented by
the jaded luminosity
of every feathered masks
hidden agenda.

Oh,
the grandeur musings
of godless (lawless) mascareri.
Directors of their own
antagonist amidst the
daunting horrors of
this ever tormented
state of mind.
Always painted with
false identities
in the same
resplendent abstract
as the conflicts of
welcomed, ignorant reason.

Oh,
the beloved masquerades
of every thoughts asylum.
How truly enthralling
the dance of psychosis
really is, fluttering
just beyond stark eyelids.
With it's poignant,
haunting corridors echoing
from each and every
jackalope's sneering
laughter.

poet Anonymous

Thank you Kitty, Stillborn, dexstaray, Magdalena, Strider, kourtnissixxx for your entries so far. All magnificent! Inviting more DU members to take part

souladareatease
Tyrant of Words
United States 29awards
Joined 28th Dec 2012
Forum Posts: 5085

Do I HAVE to wear a mask to this ball?
Everones will look better
Tell ya what
Lets put it in this letter
I once wore a mask to this other ball
I still have it adorning my wall
The masquerade was thus
Business suits and dust
we sat at a large table
Snake oil salesman
And me the labeled
Implement of the push
Dust on my clothes
Thinkin
This is gonna end hurtin my tush
But jus so's ya knows
Blinkin winkin
Almost nodding off
They turned to me to say my piece
It'll be smooth and glide with ease
So spoke souladareatease
Just how these plans will be laid
Will be broken up betwixt
The teams of slaves
They are capable I say
We can meet these deadlines
We have plenty of time
I can push a pencil just as you gents
We reconvened for another rally
Dumbing it down for the nods
Graphs and charts so they knew what I meant
I found them the magic tally
These simplistic saggy sods
They whooped and hollered
Bout the company dollar
these were now cheerful friends
Pats on the back and evil grins
Yrs later still shaking my hand
Everytime their plane doth land
They tour the killing fields
With me "friendship' sealed
They with their suits
I with my dust
Money saved from this toil n bleed
Gave me a plaque for myself to see
Yeah......thanx pals

orangesun
Strange Creature
Pakistan 1awards
Joined 30th Dec 2012
Forum Posts: 8

When The Golden Dust Vanishes

It was raining faces
Perfect faces with perfect, painted, puppetish garishness
And golden dust was being drummed into every eye
The night made thunderous moan
And morning lay around the corner of an edge of a brilliant, half broken sky
Her glorious hair tangled in the fingers of the crooning night
And we marched, masks and glitter and flying feet
And loud, snapping, beautiful illusions
Nothing was a lie. Everything was false.
But lovely, lovely, lovely and horrific, tremendously frightening but lovely
Everyone was aware that the laughter that rang was false, but still the laughter rang on
And never stopped.
Every lovely lie lingered in the ear and softly said “keep me”
And people stowed away the lies and kept them in their secret hearts.
And the lies became lilies and made wilderness wild inside the mocked havens of their hearts
But still the ringing laughter rang ever louder and its beauty became brighter


Brighter but brittle, brittle, brittle, brittle
Till someone said, “will it break?”
The words hung, bizarre and terrible, in the air
For days they hung, till someone thought that they might fade and that it would become alright again.



But the deathly silence of the days and the worrisome pondering had caused the trees to fly
And feathers of the flying trees brushed the crimson sky
And the sky being frail and torn and wounded
Began to softly bleed and little, thin, sweet, crimson rain accosted us
Accosted the glitter and the masks and the flying feet
And the little, thin rain settled in our hair and washed away the golden dust
The frolicking procession, frightened now quite, stayed its merry feet in alarm and all at once the masks were not there
And the simple, human, soft limbed gloss of tears was in the air
And the humid, dense, vapor of this unearthly dance
Heaved and struggled and heaved and struggled
But the sound of breaking glass thundered like a shower
And crying birds screamed and flew away
And men now, sans mask, sans paint hid their drooping faces and could not recognize
The people they had given their hearts to.

Uley-Bone
Thought Provoker
United States 2awards
Joined 16th Nov 2012
Forum Posts: 46

By-Gones In Black & White

Tucked safely within
another animal's skin,
safe from what lay beneath
whim of wickedness had exceeded the reach--
as devils, perhaps expose too much
of an inner, private world
that her hand rare failed to clutch
a long leather jacket, hid a demon girl

And an imperfect youth
wishing herself away into the blue
of what she had seen other women do.
Among the shadows below Hollywood-land, into
the withdrawal into the fool
as she was frequently asked to expose
herself, and of course, show her costume
to dreaming men, lost in wily throes

Speaking through the eyes, dreaming her apart
while I had become but an immigrant's American shard
from an old country that I might only have seen
through the eyes of my grandfather's memories--
What promise that he had believed must be
to leave what he had loved, to one day love me
as his "chum," as the guesses came fast and free
about people I had never even heard of, who or what they mean

Watching in from a lost world of black and white movies
where every Italian, either a lover or a gangster must be
and some cheap cigar to represent a fulfillment of the dream--
perhaps if I laid out my mockingbird Brooklyn accent, the scheme
may have been more obvious, though he never sounded like
he had ever even been to New York City.
I kept my own world hidden behind a glass, and her final night

Into some another fantasy-land, darkening away into the fade
of my own imagination of a myriad hue and shade--
singing a brand new song, without any broken dreams of Broadway
unstruck and loosened the moorings, following a tide ebbing away...
Unto a place where what could, and what could never happen
inevitably found some tall, dark and handsome hero--
before the next days paper printed her picture, and some another the end...
perhaps filling in the silent blanks left by Greta Garbo.

Uley

Grace
IDryad
Tyrant of Words
126awards
Joined 25th Aug 2011
Forum Posts: 16945

Dancing to Charades

A moonlit bay, dancing alone
To the rhythm of the ocean
Bathed in colourless despair
Caressed by coldness
Holding within my heart
A bouquet of lies

Remembrance like fragrance
Of wilting flowers
Merciless in its presence
Turning stakes within a broken heart
The final wave of goodbye
Repeated movies in my mind

The ‘I love yous’
In lovers’ passion throes
Nothing but keys to doors
Of brief encounters
What I thought was promises of forever
Were ashes on kissed lips

Lover’s divine gifts
A lovely masquerade
A passionate charade
Of endless deep love
Left like fallen confetti
At the altar of an empty church

Loneliness is my lover tonight
Constantly loving me long and hard
Desolation court me with love
Whispering promises of misery
To embrace me with passion
Heart held hostage in a masquerade.

Grace
IDryad
Tyrant of Words
126awards
Joined 25th Aug 2011
Forum Posts: 16945

deleted

DystopianMelody
Dangerous Mind
United Kingdom 9awards
Joined 9th Dec 2012
Forum Posts: 1391

My Mask


Caught up in a travelling world of make believe
The like of which the world has always known
The best masks are made of flesh
Mine, I'm told, is not of the highest standard
The lines of my face reflect everything
that they have covered
The crinkles around my eyes speak of heartfelt smiles
While the ravines that run along my brow
map my deepest hurts

My mask is one that shows my mind
But in this procession of masked pretenders
Try to spot realities reflection
Sometimes it's hard to distinguish
Who's disguised and who's laid bare
Most have forgotten the sight of their truest self
Between mirrors overlaid with lies
And faces masked in deceit
The simple truth has adorned itself in
elegance
Put on the mask, twirl and reveal
The ugly lies that we tell ourselves



Evanescent_Lovely
Strange Creature
United States
Joined 22nd Jan 2013
Forum Posts: 1

The Dark Masquerade:


Can there be no sweeter sin,
than to love again and again?
I think I fell to close,
to the edge of what I owed.

Do you think I feel no pain,
no sorrow, not insane.
Please forgive my lies,
I thought they would hide my cries.

So I shall bury the truth in my heart,
hide the love i felt from the start.
This masquerade is the perfect place,
to disguise the darkness in my face.

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