Tombstone Poems

[LeBroz]

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The poll will close in 6 days as shown above, so take your time and vote with care.

Here are the requirements as originally laid out for this gunfight:

The requirements are:

1. The title of the poem must contain the word Knot

The body of the poem must contain ALL of the following words:

long
bind
line
turn
tie
round

variant forms of the words (“longer, tying”) etc. are permitted.

3. Your work will be judged as a family grouping. The specific question for judgment on the poll will be:

About which group of poems would you be more inclined to say:

Those made me really consider the concept of knots/binding/ties etc., or
I find myself thinking a lot about knots/binding/ties because of those poems.
Now, that's not so hard. Is it?

good luck, cowpokes. Keep the sun at yer back.

bijou

Remember, you're voting for the clan that best meets these requirements. You have to be the judge of that.

The general instructions setting up this gunfight were:

here's how it's gonna be.

The Hatfields:
Champagne - Form
tt2u - Free Verse
Sara - Wild Card


The Joads:
Angeline - Form
eagleyez - Free Verse
Fool - Wild Card


Form poets may write in any established form. Free verse poets, well duh. Wild Card poets may choose either form or free verse.

bijou

Now just hang on while I get poems from the Hatfields and Joads posted.

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[champagne1982]

I thought these were going to be anonymous as to which clan wrote the entries?

 

[Angeline]

I thought these were going to be anonymous as to which clan wrote the entries?

Are they? That works for me. LeBroz can call them set one and set two. But the other way is ok too. I don't mind either way.

 

[LeBroz]

Hatfields

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Ragged Knots champagne1982

Greatgranma of whom my mother speaks
with great affection, braided these cords
and tied them round in spiraled turn to lie,
beneath our feet on the warm, wooden boards
of the kitchen, where she cut long strips
from the old blue jeans Grandad once wore
out in the yard, the country chic curtains
that laced the windows there by the door,
bound into this work, with the flowered
apron now pressed into service as a vital part
of a practical heirloom on my bedroom floor.
A tale of generations, a gift from the heart,
Greatgranma's rag rug proves that love and trust
spins family lines through past ages' dust.




Knot Undone Sara Crewe

I am not bound by logic. I’ll argue
the world round till it is flat
and every long-held certainty
or reminder tied to your fingers
is pulled free and falls down
in a pile of string theories
tossed with pick-up lines
and a chorus of alleluias.

Is it my turn to be called? When
did life become a game
of red rover with creed and logic
as the only two sides? I am
therefore I think and in thinking
I am both knotted and undone.
I swing like saloon doors between open
and closed either pulled tight
to the point of pain or flying loose
in an exhaustive search for the end
of the fraying yarn I have become.
Violated by fingers looking for a way
to either yank me free or wrap me
up in a ball. It is frightening to live

without absolutes but I find no comfort
in physics or faith. I am aware
that what goes up must come down
but I am content to fly below the clouds
and above the linear land, navigating
by what touches me without changing who I am
or who I want to be. I have no map,
no destination but I am not lost
and there is a freedom
in not wanting to be found.




Alexander's Knot tungtied2u

We begin with umbilical,
first purpose to tie us off,
Our initial encounter with a separation
to last a lifetime

Outies turn innies, the line leads
to twists of flesh and mind,
as life gnaws at nerves
stretched taut as a drum

Bound round ourselves, Gordian
core closeted to self exploration
a mythical riddle to be unraveled
by others long on time and patience,

Or on our own, severed swiftly
the cords cut cleanly,
Loosing the bindings of a past
for which we were never prepared


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[champagne1982]

Are they? That works for me. LeBroz can call them set one and set two. But the other way is ok too. I don't mind either way.

LOL! The point is moot.

 

[LeBroz]

Joads

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Knots of Christmas Past Angeline


They are playing a game. They are playing at not
Playing a game. If I show them I see they are, I
Shall break the rules and they will punish me.
I must play their game, of not seeing I see the game.
~ R.D. Laing, Knots

Don’t ask if I’ve been away too long
or what slips from my psalms. What binds
me to a nutshell, deems me safe along a line
that issues from infinite space? Do I, in turn,
in state, rule over nothingness, believe the tie
that blinds is pretty ribbons knotted round

my wrist? A ring, my supplicant, a prayer. A round
of rosy youth please never stumble to the long
lonely that separates, do not break every tie
that once slipped into place so simply in a bind
of friendship soft, an old shoelace. Don’t turn
time to this troubled knot. Look at my face, no line

astray, but complicated, brave. Blind. The line
is twisted, those dear names I once wore round
my heart, my last safe space, have come to turn
away from me and now I see ahead the long
years sailing an unsteady sea. Will you still bind
up memory, weave nets where once I stood? Tie

off the web or cast again for dreams to tie
your stories up like pearls? You’ll hold the line
that reins you in or revel in the silky bind
of lies, your tired scars grown strong all round
your stoic steady earth. The winter night is long
my friends, and never long enough. Turn, turn

the oars and watch me on this distant shore. Turn
in a gyre, perne and see me dead or far away, tie
me in tapestry or gild me to an urn to never long
for lilac time or everland, but dance a shifting line
of sand and nothing more and spin the round
blue waltz from the perspective of the shore. Bind

tears to forgetfulness and let that be the only bind
before we realize how we fell and turn
to see how wide the storm has grown around
the tallest pine until the branches lace and tie
the space between us into knots along a line
we measured once with words and warmth. Long

ago in the round morning of her smile I bind
our laughter in a long knit scarf. She turns,
I tie it, a loose knotted embrace, a warm line.




The Knot Saved Me eagleyez


At the foot I reached round the base,
As it was my turn to climb the long way up.
Skyward I gazed with my high line tied to my saddle
And step by step I rose to the outer reaches
And with a prussic knot all in a bind
I rang the bell
And safely descended




Knot Him The_Fool

She binds him
by offering salacious reproach.
Deftly tying the cords
with a turn of a phrase

and a lift of her eyebrow.
A promise of what might be
attaches a line to him
that she reels out at will.

Only to drag him back to her,
singing a round of desire;
pulling him close,
driving him away in turn.

She offers him a long noose
to jerk tight as she pleases
when he starts to find pleasure
with another woman.

It is not that she desires to have him,
she is pleased by the knot she has made of him.

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[LeBroz]

I thought these were going to be anonymous as to which clan wrote the entries?

Are they? That works for me. LeBroz can call them set one and set two. But the other way is ok too. I don't mind either way.

LOL! The point is moot.

Didn't think of it as being that anonymous. Just to the point of keeping the individual identities hidden. Probably would have been better to hide the identies all the way. But hey, it's the first time I set one of these thingies up.

You wanna set me up for this? :caning:

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[unpredictablebijou]

LeBroz, you did just fine setting this up. I guess I didn't think through the anonymity issue quite enough with the results...

o what fabulous pieces you've all written!

*immensely honored, and no longer bored *

bj

 

[LeBroz]

LeBroz, you did just fine setting this up. I guess I didn't think through the anonymity issue quite enough with the results...

o what fabulous pieces you've all written!

*immensely honored, and no longer bored *

bj

Thanks, but now that I've had a chance to think about it it really wouldn't have made much of a difference. Even though I had the advantage of seeing who wrote what, there was one poem, that when it came in, resulted in my reaction of, "But of course." All it takes is recognizing one poem's style and the teams are revealed.

I can see where a poll for such as the December Contest must have total anonymity and, now that I've done one I'm more familiar with the options available. Still, if I'd listed them as Team 1 and Team 2, it would have increased everyone's comfort zone that the outcome would be more neutral. Lesson learned.

All in all, an enjoyable little project. Later tonight, without distractions, I'll actually read these. From the quick snippets I glanced at they looked quite good.

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[Tzara]

LeBroz here presents us
Team 1 and Team 2.
Hope neither resents us
our votes. I'd be blue

if Hatfields and Joads were
resentful and mad.
They both, on the road would
be rakishly rad

in my MP3 deck
their voices, so cool!
That armory dreck, though
just isn't a tool

that makes me a fan of
Clan 1 or Clan 2.
I hope I'm a man that
tracks poetry true,

be it Joad or Hatfield
or even McCoy,
metaphor that one's shield
undermines, right? Write joy!



Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna vote. Give me some effin' time. Geez.

 

[unpredictablebijou]

Yeah yeah, I know it was actually the Hatfields and the McCoys. But Joad is way funnier.

excellent response, Dr. Suess. Nicetaseeya.

bj

 

[Angeline]

LeBroz here presents us
Team 1 and Team 2.
Hope neither resents us
our votes. I'd be blue

if Hatfields and Joads were
resentful and mad.
They both, on the road would
be rakishly rad

in my MP3 deck
their voices, so cool!
That armory dreck, though
just isn't a tool

that makes me a fan of
Clan 1 or Clan 2.
I hope I'm a man that
tracks poetry true,

be it Joad or Hatfield
or even McCoy,
metaphor that one's shield
undermines, right? Write joy!



Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna vote. Give me some effin' time. Geez.

I'm actually kinda horrified when anything I write gets votes. I always feel like voting is the wrong emphasis for me. The writing was fun though, that's the main thing.

 

[unpredictablebijou]

I'm actually kinda horrified when anything I write gets votes. I always feel like voting is the wrong emphasis for me. The writing was fun though, that's the main thing.

It's okay 'cause I made you do it. So you have an excuse in this case.

bj

 

[LeBroz]

I'm actually kinda horrified when anything I write gets votes. I always feel like voting is the wrong emphasis for me. The writing was fun though, that's the main thing.

Look at it this way — it's not your poem that's being voted on but a group of which yours is but a part. And after a couple days of going forth and back, I realized that beyond how damn good these all are, there was really one in particular that decided it for me, based on the criteria laid out by bj.

Glad that's over with!

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[Angeline]

Look at it this way — it's not your poem that's being voted on but a group of which yours is but a part. And after a couple days of going forth and back, I realized that beyond how damn good these all are, there was really one in particular that decided it for me, based on the criteria laid out by bj.

Glad that's over with!

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True. Actually, I may be biased (of course I am lol), but I like eagleyez's poem because it's authentic. For many years he climbed way up in trees to work on them (he trained on California Redwoods and really is a poet through and through), so he knows ropes and knots in a way most people don't.

I'm just not into the whole voting thing. Never was. But it was fun--ultimately--to write a sestina again. I haven't done that for a few years.

 

[champagne1982]

Maybe now that the December Contest Polls are closed, more people will stop in and vote on these groups. ...

 

[Angeline]

Maybe now that the December Contest Polls are closed, more people will stop in and vote on these groups. ...

I just hope they remember to pm their votes to The Poets. Maybe I'll pm all the contestents tomorrow and remind them.

And yeah, we're not exactly brimming with votes here, are we?

 

[LeBroz]

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Okay folks, only 48 hours remain!​

Come to think of it, that's about how long it took for me to decide, mostly because I had to try to forget the poets' names and focus on what was written. They are all so good but on 5 of the 6, I kept getting the feeling of knitting and crocheting. Maybe your reaction will be different.

Remember the criteria established by bj when making your selection.

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[eagleyez]

Little Known Fact- Steinbeck, father of the Joads, was a devoted Arthurian, and spent many summers with his wife tromping amongst the castles of northern England/Scotland. A quote of his that i have often remembered and even reffered to- "A knight knows he will fail at perfection, but strives for it against all odds."

I was drawn to Steinbeck because he chronicled Monterey Bay, a place I frequented often as a boy. I studied the man rigorously and found him to be a writer of great accuity, striving for perfection in the long shadow of failure.

I even played Lenny in a college rendition of "Of Mice and Men." My performance was only as good as my hayseed overalls, and they were sweet.

 

[LeBroz]

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The tension mounts ... the race is close and see-sawing ... the Hatfields have struck back at the Joads ... the outcome may be up to you with less than a day remaining until voting closes.


Tomorrow I'll add the poets' names to their respective contributions.

Less than 24 hours remain!​

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[eagleyez]

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The tension mounts ... the race is close and see-sawing ... the Hatfields have struck back at the Joads ... the outcome may be up to you with less than a day remaining until voting closes.


Tomorrow I'll add the poets' names to their respective contributions.

Less than 24 hours remain!​

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Your a moderator-supreme.

 

[LeBroz]

Your a moderator-supreme.

I got drafted before I knew what hit me. Conniving bj!

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[eagleyez]

I got drafted before I knew what hit me. Conniving bj!

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Um, well, yeah, bj's can be conniving.

No witchy stuff intimated, mind you.

 

[Angeline]

Um, well, yeah, bj's can be conniving.

No witchy stuff intimated, mind you.

I never intend to connive. As you know.

 

[eagleyez]

I never intend to connive. As you know.

True as the day is long.