Poetry Olympics 2nd Event Individual round: Heavy Lifting

[Unmasked Poet]

The "Clean and Jerk."
So much of poetic expression is occupied with getting love, falling in love, keeping love. I say enough!
Construct a poem addressing the break up or parting of a relationship it can be mean or nasty, poignant or funny. The format is wide open (almost) while the exercise is about strength some words are just too heavy, you cannot use:
[color=dark red]Anguish
Bleed
Dark
Despair
Heart
Heartbroken
Heavy
Hurt
Lonely
Melancholy
Pain
Sigh
Sorrow
Soul
Tears[/color]

Submission window is Thursday the 17th thru Saturday the 19th. Submit to the “New Poem List” under your screen name. Make sure you use HEAVY in the title.
Good luck, I’m going out for tissues.

U.P.

 

[lovetoread]

The "Clean and Jerk."

Submission window is Thursday the 17th thru Saturday the 19th. Submit to the “New Poem List” under your screen name. Make sure you use HEAVY in the title.
Good luck, I’m going out for tissues.

U.P.

Forgive me for sounding stupid,but where do you want them posted? On the boards or on the site?

 

[Unmasked Poet]

Poems are submitted to the site

Hello ltr,

Forgive me for not making that clear.

U.P.

 

[lovetoread]

Thank you very much UP.

 

[mskittykatt]

any other guidelines such as structure or length?

 

[Unmasked Poet]

Nope

Let your imagination soar.

U.P.

 

[tigerjen]

re: the title.....

Unmasked,

I just want to clarify: we can have any title we want
for this new poem just as long the word "HEAVY" fits
in with it somehow, correct?

thank you much,

tigerjen

 

[Unmasked Poet]

Yes

Tigerjen,

Yes the word heavy must be in the title.

Heavy journey

The heavy night.

My heaviest converstion

Write well TJ,

U.P.

 

[tigerjen]

Thank you, U.P.!
I will do my best! Will be brainstorming on it during
my overnight shift at work tonite

Also thank you for the title clarification...just wanted to
make sure.

One more Q before I forget.......while I do realize that you
stated "submit the poem to the new poems list" between
thursday 1/17 and Sat. 1/19, once its officially posted up
in general, do we (as each individual writers here) get to
post up a link to our poem here on the poetry board, or
not? What I am trying to say is when we each were on
our 3-person team for the last "event, each team had
thread with their poem on it......could we do that individually?
I just want to make sure before I go causing anymore
ruckuses

Thanks much U.P.

tigerjen

 

[Guest]

The solution (I think)

Jen, if we get a lot of submissions that won't work it will flood the board if everyone has a thread.
I think we have to be considerate and wait. I would say just promote it as a link in your signature line.
I want to create a discussion thread where 3 poems would have links, and questions and comments to those 3 go in that thread. The thread header will list the authors inside.
Once we know the number of poems I will divide up the thread and put in the links and that should work.

U.P.

 

[REDWAVE]

Contradiction!

Ah, you've contradicted yourself, UP. First you said we couldn't use the word "heavy," then you said we had to use the word "heavy" in the title. Go turn yourself in to the Logic Police.

 

[tigerjen]

Re: The solution (I think)

Jen, if we get a lot of submissions that won't work it will flood the board if everyone has a thread.
I think we have to be considerate and wait. I would say just promote it as a link in your signature line.
I want to create a discussion thread where 3 poems would have links, and questions and comments to those 3 go in that thread. The thread header will list the authors inside.
Once we know the number of poems I will divide up the thread and put in the links and that should work.

U.P.

Good morning U.P.!
Good thing I asked first! It does make sense what you
say......a lot of people=a lot of poems=too many threads!

Good idea about promoting the poem in the sig. line

thanks much again!

tigerjen

 

[Dillinger]

OK - nobody get their panties in a bunch or their jocks all twisted and stuff but...

I was playing with this late last night and ended up writing a poem called "She Ain't Heavy" and was quite pleased with what I came up with. When I double checked the rules to make sure I was conforming I discovered that I used one of the forbidden words - "heavy". However I was happy enough with this poem that I submitted it anyway (if you read it, once its posted, you'll see that replacing the word heavy with another word was not an option).

Therefore, even though the word HEAVY is in the title, do not consider this poem to be in the running for this leg of the competition. I will try and find the time to write another poem that will qualify.

 

[Unmasked Poet]

Contradiction

Redwave,
I do not think it is a contradiction. The title of a poem is simply the poems name. We could argue whether that is part of the poem but I will not because certainly it is. I would say my rule is an exception not a contradiction.
The reason I think is clear, to identify the poem on the list from the other submissions. I thought to include a common key. The word heavy is that key.

Dillinger,
If heavy only appears in the title you are okay. If it is in the body of the poem then it is taboo.

Geesh you guys!


U.P.

 

[Dillinger]

Is it in the body of the poem? It IS the body of the poem... *lol* - so please don't consider it to be in the running - though I do hope you all read it anyway.

 

[lovetoread]

Okay,with the understanding that we cannot list each poem in a seperate thread,can we at least tell on this one if the poem has been posted? I dont have the time to look at the top list every day.

~LTR

 

[Unmasked Poet]

Yup

LTR,

As the poems hit the new submissions list, I will gather and put them in "threads" on the forum in groups of 3. I will only put links.
The threads will be titled "Heavy Lifting followed by the name of the three poets"

Who knows how many will make the top list at all. I will make certain they will all be easy to find, read and vote on.

U.P.

 

[WickedEve]

I almost hate to ask... but can I use "Heavy Heart" as part of my title?

 

[Unmasked Poet]

Heavy is the identifying marker

WickedEve,

Sorry, hun. "Heavy" is okay because it is the tag we are using to identify the poems in the competition, but the other prohibited words including 'heart' cannot be used. Be creative. "Cardiac organ"? lol

U.P.

 

[REDWAVE]

Suggestion

WickedEve-- how about "heavy swollen belly"?


Good exercise, UP-- you've barred all the most obvious words to use in a poem like this.

 

[tigerjen]

it is tough, but good

WickedEve-- how about "heavy swollen belly"?

Good exercise, UP-- you've barred all the most obvious
words to use in a poem like this.

I agree, REDWAVE.........it is a good exercise, but
can be tough at times.......since we can't even use
the most common words (i.e. hurt, heart, bleed) just
as U.P. stated. This exercise makes one think, that's
for sure!

tigerjen

 

[smithpeter]

bleeding dark dispair, sorrowfully.

I may regret this, but have submitted a poem with the word heavy in the title.
This contest reminds me of my younger days and being confronted with a list of words to be aware of.
While sick with the mumps or something I memorized the "helping verbs".
Here they all are, to the best of my recollection:
is am are was were we be being been do does did shall will should would may mine must can could. Ta da.

Chop wood,
Carry water,
Pray for Peace,
sp

 

[mskittykatt]

count me in

U.P.
i just submitted a poem to enter into the contest, with heavy in the title... got one posting before that but look for it soon!

 

[perks]

Okay, just to make sure......they don't have to be in until tomorrow right?.......

god you guys are so quick with these.....maybe I need to move on to a different writing thing......

 

[Unmasked Poet]

Sure

That's right Perky.

U.P.