Love-letter Competition

guys is it ok to close the competition now? its two days past the second lastdate!

Surely, the lack of formality is a fine example of poetic force. Priya, being someone who definately possesses it. Well done on the competition honey. And a very well done to those who have submitted...There is some excellent writing in here.

I agree. If all we desire are rigid rules and formality, then we might as well give up poetry and compose instruction manuals instead...

This is not a competition in the sense that it is official; it has no necessity for rules. If there are more entries coming in past the loosely deemed 'closing date' then why not count them? The more the merrier! It is not unfair, it's namely a task to inspire people to write another poem.

Do you HAVE to take it so seriously? This is DeepUndergroundPoetry, a place for the liberal exchange of art and ideas. People entered their poems based on a series of rules, and sooner or later, once everyone who wants to has had a fair chance to submit their pieces, they will be judged and a winner will be chosen accordingly. Doesn't sound like much of a 'mockery' to me.

Thank u all dear ones here.I am overwhelmed.Im no ballerina but hey Im bowing before you:-)The reason why I extended the last date was because there was one poem sent to me after the lastdate, and then there was Kylee's note here, so I just wanted everyone interested to have a fair chance.And honestly,Im not really a stickler for rules.Im sorry Bardross, I have taken so much time.

And boy, aint I delighted that there was such a lot of interest, infact I wasnt really sure at first there would many entries.And what an excellent competition we have had!!!I have read all the poems here several times,and its an honour really to read so many really beautiful works.

So dear DUPers, THE RESULTS WILL BE ANNOUNCED TONIGHT!!! as soon as my head clears.Im in an antihistamine trance right now.Be back in a jiffy.

It seems, and it baffles me, that the eldest 'competitor' takes a prizeless oppurtunity to share poetry and morphs it into some form of 'hands down-prize money' scenario. If you're looking for rules and a tight time constraint then start on the publishers!

Alright then, its time. A big thank u to all who have participated in this competition, delight is entirely mine, and also to all who have commented on this thread, I owe you too.

I am truly bowled over just by this fact that there is still such honest feelings left in all of us, and that u have made such lovely poetry out of it.Infact after reading all the entries for the umpteenth time, my mind is so much flooded with all kinda things, pls allow me to prattle a bit, and I like to keep a little suspense.ah Im a tad wicked!

Reading these poems remind me of so many things I have somewhere forgotten, like this scene in ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’, where the mother of the boy who is insanely in love with Fermina Daza wonders if her son is suffering from love or cholera , or both and concludes the symptoms are the same anyhow!

And also the scene in the movie ‘Ten Things I Hate About You’, loosely based on Taming of the Shrew where Kate sings this poem in her class which begins by listing all the things she hates about Heath Ledger’s character like ‘I hate the way you talk’ and so on and ends with "But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all".

I hold my tongue now and proceed with comments according to the order in which poems  have been posted here.

Jack Heslop: He has etched out here a dim sorrowful scene from a candle-lit past, and what marks this poem out is the genuine pathos in its tone. The sadness in it is remarkable,and inspite of it it holds to ridicule the false piety of so called puritans. This is a real letter written when life drips down and what lingers in memory is the line “To talk of many things, like lands across the sea.”repeated twice, and the iteration is delicious.There is genuine innocence in that.Maybe the second section reads a little odd with the stream of dying thoughts, necessary still to draw the picture clear.And the last two lines really feel like that fading vision before his eyes fail.

Jamie Townend: A love-letter penned in the head sans any trimmings. There is no talk of forever and always, no promises offered, not even a desire to please the woman, or the reader for that matter. But they shake u in some unknown way as he simply stares at his reflection and grins.I believe that is a deeply moving moment. Without rainbows, and seabreeze, he makes of this toilet-reverie a beautiful love-letter.

Lil-DrummerBoy: A poem about the first kiss, the picture is simple, and the moment beautiful ,dreaming of perfection possible in togetherness.Maybe the word zephyr strikes a discordant note. Sweet still

Drew Thompson: Funny, what else do I say? He subverts the very idea of a love-letter through this.:-)

Geoff: Simple and sweet. Its memory written down.

Viddax: A poem about the love that is yet to be. A letter written for that love he hasn’t found.Very sweet. And I like the urgency in his tone, as the loneliness which hides  behind the beautiful picture.

Anandosen: What I like best about this poem is the way he uses an extraordinary image of spider to convey his mind.And there is a lot of sense in that usage.The image, I feel is really suggestive.

Dazed: She consistently explodes all the normal things one associates with love. There is a lot of passion in her words, in neat two lined verse. This love is bitter, the feeling of dirt appaling and the hurt searing.

Missake 2: A poem on love that is lived and cherished.There is a certain calm about this piece, that soothens, I adore that line  “your laugh of silence draws chapters of untouched nature in my mind.” I almost envy the serenity of her poetic voice.

Sinead: A love-letter which is a wish , where the heart is a wound up toy which beats to an “unknowing” lover. It beautifully lives the pain of being invisible.The image stages all the pain of unrequitted love in so few words. Brilliant.

Thebardross: This is a different kind of love and a different kind of letter.Of acceptance.The line I like best is its last one which simply states the loss of the ‘wee pet.’

Merda: Whoever said small is beautiful must see this poem to confirm that. Just by listing a few words which convey worlds to me, she states the plain fact of having love , n knowing its presence. Breathless.

Cassidy: Loss.That word says it all.This little poem speaks quietly about life that spells loss and hence has to be done away with.

Words of Blood: A poem about a love which has forgotten pride and being, a poem that hurts brutal.

And so I give this title to Jamie Townend, truly, madly, deeply Congratulations Jamie!
And I also pick three best ones according to me from the rest, they are,Merda, Sinead and Jack Heslop.Congrats to you three. And a huge thank u to all.

Great competition Priya.

Congrats to everyone. The winner (and runners up) have now been added to the Glory List.

My most sincere of thanks...A superb competition, and some absolutely stunning pieces of writing. Well then, well done Priya...and well done me ;)

Thank u really.Delight is mine Jamie, to be able to read so much of real poetry.Please everyone feel free to comment on any poem u like here.I would love to see some comments

Ah, I am sorry that I didn't check back here sooner, now that I can read the results and the couple of entries that I missed! Trying to do NaNoWriMo is very distracting, haha

Thank you very much Priya, for running such an interesting contest. Well done to Jamie for taking the title with his brilliant piece, and congrats to everyone else who entered too - you all did wonderfully!

I feel inspired to run a contest of my own now, just so I might have the chance to read a bunch of fantastic poems that all run to a theme.

Thank u very much Sinead. And Congrats too.Wow I look forward to your contest:-)

Thank you for the competition and your time Priya! Also for your lovely respond ! It means a lot to me! THANK YOU !

My thanks to u too Missake2, i really enjoyed this competition:-)