Poetry Decathlon

[Colm Roe]

'and freshest of succulents.' is a stanza on its own.
And an absolutely fab finish.
Shame you're dancing on your own here; but you know I'm not big into writing form poetry.
 

[Ike]

1. (I hope)

Days lost, new ones found
Smile every now and again
The sun blossoms too

[Tracy Mitchell]

Bingo, Ike~~!  You're up and running

[Tracy Mitchell]

-----------------------------------------

1.  Senryu:

Out from the closet
fingersmith Mona Lisa
Yes or no, cubist?


 

[Tracy Mitchell]

---------------------------------------------------

8.  Blank Verse:


   Sunny Path to Bad Prophesy

Ernesto Miranda was a scuzzbag– 
sold autographed Miranda Warning cards 
for whiskey money, returned to prison
after retrial, finally died from knife wounds.

Though later banned, Tanya still skated tough 
at Lillihammer and even the dead 
Greek bastards on the hill watched intently
as she bent to tug on broken laces.

Too much of Florence lies beneath the dome, 
the Duomo's naked history, the new
skin of the Last Judgment.  Like six hundred 
years of ant bites,  Crusades lose their mojo.

Sparks echo on black water.  Time Passes.


 

[Tracy Mitchell]

9.  Free Verse:


    Journey to Epona

My feet first curled to claws 
my arms folded in fluff in front of me– 
all this before I turned nineteen.

I scuttled down engorging cliffs,
goat-sprinted across starlit sand, and
yodeled to distant bird gods.

Four years on, first light struck 
hard on urine-soaked pavement. 
I climbed the pondrous railing 

rimming Lake Street Bridge, drank 
button batteries with Red Bull 
and rum, told my family goodbye.  

She arrived in the cicada stream 
of night air, where distant glows of light 
rise like hearts of the soon departing,

hair lifting about her horse in flows, floating 
though song-blended godsend above the park.
Feral, tangled – Epona after dark.




 

[Tracy Mitchell]

 - - - -  - - - - - --   --- - - - 


10:  Cook's Choice (author's selection of poetry form -- I choose free verse):


  Goodbye, Pete

I overeat, overheat 
in the damn window seat!
Indiscreet and obsolete, it’s time
to beat retreat.

This back-street white meat 
smmeeeeeeeeeearrrrrs
on concrete – fleet like sleet, 
                                          downbeat,
browbeat – 
                    soon to be a walking dead heat– 
left incomplete 
    - a thoroughly 
                            judicial 
                                          Dutch 
                                                     treat.

So tight wrap my starch blue bed sheet, red roller
my personal balance sheet, dig in my cleats, and 
claw my way to the ejection seat!  



 

[Tracy Mitchell]

The posting of this limerick completes my decathlon.
-------------------------------------------------------------------


 MSPF Apologia

This Poetry Fest has been fun
though my writing was much overdone.
I failed at coherence
but in my defense – 
I never resorted to pun!


-------------------------------------------------------------------

Final Scorecard:



Decathlon:

    Form                            Poem Title
1.  senryu                       Mona Lisa
2.  limerick                     MSPF Apologia
3.  crown cinquain          Paddling Through Storm
4.  etheree                     By Any Name
5.  (5x) square poem       True
6.  triolet                       Where Voices Meet
7.  sonnet                       Thermidor
8.  blank verse                Sunny Path to Bad Prophesy
9.  free verse                  Journey to Epona
10. Cooks’s choice          Goodbye, Pete
                            

-----------------------------------------------------------


 

[Colm Roe]

And the winner is.......
Congratulations Tracy 
I respect your dedication to form poetry, but you know my thoughts on the subject.
And I apologise for not commenting on your poems, but because I'm unfamiliar with them I 
wouldn't be qualified to critique them properly.
But I am enjoying the other threads.
When does it finish?
 

[Tracy Mitchell]

And the winner is.......
Congratulations Tracy
I respect your dedication to form poetry, but you know my thoughts on the subject.
And I apologise for not commenting on your poems, but because I'm unfamiliar with them I
wouldn't be qualified to critique them properly.
But I am enjoying the other threads.
When does it finish?

Colm - this was a ten-poem challenge, like the thirty poems in thirty days NaPo challenge - no race.  

Yes, I know and respect your views of form poetry.  And you know mine.   It was a good exercise, I think.  No apology needed -- no comments are necessary here.  We play, celebrate, splash around, etc.  When and if any of these get to a decent draft stage, then they get posted for comment/critique.

I as well am enjoying the other threads -- I need to finalize some drafts, if I can, and get them posted as well.  Even if I don't, it has been good.

Monday August 20 is the close of the MSPF.  Voting for the Poet Laureate ends at that time.  

Cheers.

T