Weekly Short Stories Contest and Company! discussion

You have until the 16th of August to post a poem and from the 17th to around the 21st of August, we’ll vote for which one we thought was best!

Please post directly into the topic and not a link. Please don’t use a poem previously used in this group. Only one submission per person is allowed.

Your poem can be of any length!

This week’s topic is: Searching

Thanks goes to Anne for suggesting the topic!

The rules are pretty loose. You could write a poem about anything that has to do with the subject/photo but it must relate to the topic somehow.

Most of all have fun!

Can I post something I wrote for the haiku thread but that I haven’t posted in a contest?

Let me know if not, and I’ll remove it.


Fragment 121

Gusts muffled our spades,
our choked groans, the streaked midnight
we dug up Rahr’s bones.

Lantern light shivered
on rust, a sword, on chased gold,
on bags of the hoard.

Our ox and wagon
crawled an old track (the maps lost,
drawn for Saxon lords)

to the moonlit roof
of Aldur’s shack. We dug deep
beneath the floorboards.

M wrote: "Can I post something I wrote for the haiku thread but that I haven’t posted in a contest?"

That is technically allowed. Glad to see your classic haikus on here, M!

Maybe one day I should update the words "previously used in this group" as "previously used in the contest." But that's only if this situation arises more often.

Thank you, CJ!

Title: Disconnected
By: CP Cabaniss

I fee so disconnected
I never know what to say
I'm not sure how to listen
It's like I'm a broken phone
The signal bar says
Searching...
Searching...
Searching...

M wrote: "Thank you, CJ!"

Yep :)

And great to see you posted too, CP!

MAN ON THE TRAIN
160 BPM

6 o´clock programmed alarm

Time is an unseen frame which passes by



The doors of billions open and close

While your eyes awake



Through your window time changes in colors

Leaves falling into your face



4532,66 km away the warmth of your body

Feels like a half-remembered dream

While the non-existent trees sway into the wind

Maybe… just maybe… God blesses the land with His tears…



Randomly

Out of your drawer

One in 18 ties matches your skin

While you rush into the morning train

Unknown to les passants de tous tes jours



Through your window time changes in colors

Of a world which feeds your fantasy



Slowly the bite of your desire awakes another one

Miles away

The anxiety is just a beat of your heart

Longing to meet your eyes and your smile…



Because as long as you are someone’s man on the train

It is all just a wish to be closer

To that beat of alarm rushing into your heart

To make a dream of other’s dream



JL. 16.10.16

Any and all critique is gladly welcome :))

Title: Cut

Drip drop on the floor
Cold numbness in the core
Splat splat drops of pain
Skin, bled, scabbed, and pale

Butterflies, now lay slaughtered,
Murder! Murder! Cold blooded Murdered!
Shards of glass, edges sharp, razor blades
Hacked, hacked, hacked and frayed

What is that I search?
In my hollow chest with a heart that lurchs
Seeking pain,
Deep within an emptiness, half insane

Cannot feel anything,
Dangling on shredded strings
Searching, searching for a way out
Cannot scream, will not shout

Inside me is nothing left,
Trembling, chilled, left bereft
Lonely through nights that stretch,
Accompany me the scars I've etched

Anything but the things within,
Take it out! Want it out! Crippling ache underneath my skin,
Cutting, cutting, open, splayed,
Feeling something but the pain,

Breathe now through the haze,
Search, searching for solace,
Breaking through holes in my soul,
Knife lacerates and crimson trickles to the floor

Title : Please Explain
Poet : Edward Davies

Deeply probing, soulful searching
For a reason why
The grass is green, the dirt is brown
And blue is for the sky

I know there should be answers
But they’re few and far between
They’re sometimes scientific
But I don’t know what they mean

Breaking Point

Pa, I see you in your shed–
unaware of dusk settling
over your garden, painting
your pink crabapple blossoms
grey. I see you bend, searching
for any small imperfection
in the wooden soldier
you’ve spent the whole day carving,
hands slow-dancing to a tune
no-one else can hear. Later
Ma will shake her head, dismiss
your need for perfect contours
and seamless joins as foolish,
not understanding a man,
a soldier or a husband
is only ever as strong
as his weakest part.

~ R ~

any thoughts or feedback welcome

Hi, M. What a great scene you've created here. It has the feel of myth and legend and I love your ox and wagon crawling an old track. Such a clever use of 5-7-5 that never feels as though it has been squeezed into complying with the constraints of form. Nicely done.

Hi, CP. Excellent metaphor! I know the feeling and I love how you've captured it. The lost signal works so well to create a strong atmosphere and you've tied it all together beautifully with your use of 'disconnected' in the first line. Very cool.

Hi, Joci. So nice to bump into you here once more. I must admit, I got a shiver when I read your (cool) title and thought, "Joci?" before I'd even read your name. I love the dreamlike atmosphere you've created here and the way it carries through the entire poem. You gave me goosebumps with "4532, 66km away the warmth of your body / Feels like a half-remembered dream".

Hi, Ditika. Wow! Dark and razor sharp. I like how your entire poem envelops the theme of searching. It is fast paced and frantic and has a great flow. Your second stanza really packs a punch and left me breathless. Great stuff.

Hi, Ed. Mate, your rhyme really is a joy to read. Musical as ever. I love the tone of curiosity and feel of almost helpless wonder...but, most of all, your knockout wit in those last two lines. You must have quite the collection of poetry now...time for a book?

Thanks, Ryan!

Thank you, Ryan! I enjoyed “Breaking Point.” Very nice images! The interesting observation that a man “is only ever as strong / as his weakest part” is something I’ll wind up pondering.

Ryan wrote: "Hi, Ed. Mate, your rhyme really is a joy to read. Musical as ever. I love the tone of curiosity and feel of almost helpless wonder...but, most of all, your knockout wit in those last two lines. You..."

Maybe. This is well over a hundred at this stage. :D

To all members of the WSS:

The polls and new contest will be going up at an as of yet unspecified time tomorrow. Hopefully if everything goes well I will be able to do so by about 3 or 3:30 PM (which is around 12 or 12:30 if you go by the West Coast time zone. Sorry that I don't know other time zones!).

Just in case I might play it safe and message the other mods (grr, to myself. I should have done this earlier!) just in case they have time to do so about the special Week 375. Song Lyrics!

(Note: In case anyone's wondering of why I can't do this right away I'm going to a music concert tomorrow. My friends might leave earlier than I planned to do this here).

Thanks, M.

Ryan wrote: "Hi, Ditika. Wow! Dark and razor sharp. I like how your entire poem envelops the theme of searching. It is fast paced and frantic and has a great flow. Your second stanza really packs a punch and le..."

Thank you for reading it Ryan :))

Ryan wrote: "Hi, Joci. So nice to bump into you here once more. I must admit, I got a shiver when I read your (cool) title and thought, "Joci?" before I'd even read your name. I love the dreamlike atmosphere yo..."

Hello, Ryan. Thank you for your kind words, as usual. I've been thinking about coming back for a while but I lost the edge for it. I need to practise again... Likewise, your writing is full of literary quality. I do like the strong beginning conducted through the words PA (very ambiguous to me) and the softness it gets along the text till it reaches that strong end again. I've missed being around!