Iron Poet VIII

[PhoeKun]

All I suggested was a friendly face-off...o.0....

Which, for the record, I would totally be up for, but I have no idea how everyone else feels about it, what with the potential for extra work or the stealing of some small amount of thunder from the actual contestants. Or, you know, prompt selection...

[truemane]

I guess, if someone wanted to be responsible for it, we could start a new thread specifically for one-time single match-ups. First post contains the current matches and people sign up to compete or judge. The match-ups could be any genre, any mood, any medium, anything the contestants decide.

We could even do it like the Workshop thread. You have to judge two or three contests before you can sign up to compete in one. That way everyone is guaranteed to have at least four critiques.

Declare winners and keep score somewhere?

[Dallas-Dakota]

I'd rather not use the Writing Workshop method, since I am rather horrible at judging poems. One of the major reasons why I never visit that place.

[truemane]

That's reasonably fair, I suppose. Although you could quite validly make the point that getting better at critiquing (whatever) is just as valid an activity as getting better at writing (whatever). And so you saying that you don't want to do it because you're bad it would be like me saying I don't want to enter Iron Author because I'm a lousy writer. If I said that, you would respond (quite validly): the whole point of playing is to get better.

But I see your point all the same. Maybe we'd just have to have a waiting period. Or just establish a general non-specific 'no spamming' rule. Whoever decided to be in charge of the thing (or that particular contest because each contest could be overseen by someone different) would make the call.

Unless of course we have LOTS of people constantly signing up for writing and judging. Then it wouldn't be an issue.

[PhoeKun]

I'm certainly willing to do both. They're very valuable skills, and I'm quite out of practice.

[Zeb The Troll]

Hmmm, I'm picturing an "Iron Poet: Head To Head" thread, a la all of the CSI/L&O/Supermodel/Dancing/Cooking shows out there.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Everybody goes head to head.

Every round 1/2th of the contestants are eliminated.

Till there's a final showdown.

[truemane]

I'm thinking that what we do is that we have the thread, lay down some ground rules, and then I guess what happens is that every head-to-head needs the following:

Two writers
Three judges (at least)
One moderator (who could be a judge) - assigns the prompt, mediates time0frames, etc

So, five people. And clearly you can write/judge/moderate as many contests as you wish.

And then the thread would just be a series of gauntlets thrown, challenges accepted, and people commiting to judge and moderate. Someone needs to be in charge of posting the rules and using the 1st Post to keep track of running contests and win/losses and the like.

It sounds like a blast, actually. Like a lean, mean version of the Iron Contests.

EDIT: And it doesn't have to be just poetry. Since they're mini contests, they can be anything. I could challenge someone to a short story writing Duel. Someone else could make an open challenge for poetry.

I could, for example, say "Anyone want to duel a sci-fi story with me?" Or anything else like that.

[Dallas-Dakota]

That sounds pretty dang awesome.

The moderator* idea needs to be hmmm.
Idea one:
1. A first post keeper, who updates the first post, etc.
Possibly reminds people of the rules???
2. Moderator*: First poster keeper+ gives out prompts/+ mediates.(obviously not when being a contestant her/himself.

Timeframes would be decided by the challenger/challengee themselves, FPK** or moderator*


* I want to reserve that actual title for the forum moderators...
*First Post Keeper

[truemane]

Clearly someone needs to take overall responsibility for the thing, if for no other reason than to keep up the first post so everyone knows what the heck is going on. We can call that person the OP, since everyone knows what that means.

I agree on not using the term Moderator. Referee could work.

And what I'm saying is that anyone could be a Referee for any number of Duels. It might go like this.

1. Gauntlet is thrown. truemane says, "I'm thinking I'd like to write some historical romance. Anyone want to to duel with me?"

2. Gauntlet is picked up. DD, thinking that sounds cool, says, "Yeah, sounds great. Let's do it."

3. We ask for a Referee and/or Judges. People volunteer to do one or both.

4. Referee posts the Duel, prompts, any duel-specific rules, time-frames, etc. All in the same thread. Or else it'll just get messy.

5. OP updates the first post to include the Duel as an on-going contest, along with participants and due-dates.

6. Writers write, post. Judges judge, post. Referee declares winner. Winner wins, gloats.

7. OP updates the first post, notes the contest complete and who the winner is.

The fun part would be that any number of these can be happening at any given time. It'd be a gigantic chaotic mess. And I love gigantic chaotic messes. They make me smile.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Yeah, that sounds pretty good.

But wouldn't it be better if contestants should decide the time-frame themselves and that it would start when the referee posts the duel?

Also: Perhaps a min/max amount of words for stories(poems???) so that judges know what they get themselves into?

They might have been expecting 1k stories and getting much more to judge.
This would also help judges from dropping out?

[truemane]

Time-frames and word counts and the like can all be decided by the participants. Maybe I challenge you to a short-short story contest, or a longer piece.

So maybe there'd be a form.

OPEN CHALLENGE!
Challenger: truemane
Medium: Prose
Time: Ten days
World Count: 1k to 5k
Genre/Style/Other Notes: None

And I post it and we go. And if I'm not picky no details I leave them blank or write "Dont Care" or whatever.

[Dallas-Dakota]

A form would be good for the OP.

But as long as most stuff(essential stuff like time and medium) are mentioned, I think it'd be fine.

For example, if you have 15 posts about the challenge by two posters, I think it'd be fairly obvious who the challenger and challengee are.

Though maybe a thing that only challenges and acceptances may be bolded.

Though discussing timeframe and such after it's accepted? That may become too much work/confusing for the OP.

[PhoeKun]

Keeping to a form like that would be wise. As an OP, I would probably just link to the post containing the challenge form in the first post/archive.

Speaking of which, I'd be more than happy to take up those duties, after this has all been hashed out.

[thurge namor]

O.o I'm liking this idea! Only problem would be if no one joins, or very few poeple join. I hate good ideas that die... I know i'd join.

[Alarra]

as would I. Perhaps it's time that someone makes this its own thread?

[Gaelbert]

I like this because it seems more immediate. You can post a challenge and start a lot sooner than you would be able to in this Iron Poet.

[Zeb The Troll]

I would also be interested in being a referee for this sort of thing. In fact, since more than one has volunteered and more than a few people seem to be interested, let's make that the first order of business.

We need to elect someone to be the referee and create the new thread so that we can take this discussion there and get this contest back on topic.

Volunteers so far...

PhoeKun
Zeb The Troll

any others?

Or if no one else interested, perhaps Phoe and I can work out some way to share the duties?

[Elvaris]

I'll probably stick my head into this new thread, if, for no other reason, to challenge anyone who'll write a poem on "Nomenclature" with me. (I LIKE the esoteric stuff...)

I will leave the administration of it up to others, but I do have one request: "Iron Writer: Thunderdome"...
Two poet enter. One poet leave.

[The Extinguisher]

Then the other leaves. Then, a winner is decided, not necessarily based on the order the poets leave.

[truemane]

I'll be happy to help out. I can't help but be involved anyway. I don't want to be responsible for being the OP and all the updating and such, though.

And Elvaris? You got yourself a contest. Round one. Nomenclature.

"We don't need another hero... we don't need to know the way home...."

EDIT: Oh no, Extinguisher, I think the losing poet should be executed. Or at least permanently site-banned from the forum forever. That'll cut down on those pesky bye-rounds.

[Zeb The Troll]

I would also be interested in being a referee for this sort of thing. In fact, since more than one has volunteered and more than a few people seem to be interested, let's make that the first order of business.

We need to elect someone to be the referee and create the new thread so that we can take this discussion there and get this contest back on topic.

Volunteers so far...

PhoeKun
Zeb The Troll

any others?

Or if no one else interested, perhaps Phoe and I can work out some way to share the duties?

Or Phoe can just take the initiative and go ahead and start the thread, here.

[PhoeKun]

Or Phoe can just take the initiative and go ahead and start the thread, here.

Sorry about that. I thought it would be good to just get it up and running. If we wind up needing another thread, I might hand off the duties to you or someone else who wants the glory.

[Devigod]

Word Prompt: Visitation
Visual Prompt:

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Dreaming Death

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Man struggles in his dream spoke she,
And looked into the void.
Cold emptiness her eyes decree,
Her tongue so well employed.
And so they hovered, words in air,
Beneath the light of day.
With parting made our fractured pair,
Each turned and walked away.

My body, nectars enveloped,
Within the shadows steeped,
I, greedy, nursed these dregs of hope,
To drown in smoke and sleep.
It burned my stomach, mind beguiled,
Fell to a world below.
And drifting dreams, decease’s child
Gave nod and said hello.

I sailed a promise, in a ship,
Beneath the wheeling stars.
A captain on this cosmic trip,
Polaris, Whales and Mars.
Yet in these worlds, I saw the dream;
My heart of hearts with crimson took.
The ethereal had lost its gleam;
My head from clouds on table shook.

I started o’er the puddled honey,
And left my liquid-sweet reprieve.
A hardset masque demanded money;
I paid my tab and made my leave.
The whimsy cobbled streets resigned
To my undaunting feet.
I made my way through midnight blind,
A land of milk and peat.
But never mind, and never cry.
The flashes many fell.
I heard the twisted, sobbing sky
Spin tales it had to tell.

And so came home, now trouble-bled
And singly slipped- our double bed
And watched Arcadian sheep mew by
And satyrs dance, and bridesmaids cry
And soon the fever stole aside
And rest resumed, my ship to glide

I had a vision, doubly fair:
Her muted dress, and raven hair.
But fleet it did, and follow I,
She scaled the stair to starry sky,
And stretched her pale arm from the height,
And took it I, and set we flight.
I saw the dark and heard the sound,
The silent night, and rising ground,
But ‘fore the ground I intercept,
There froze the engine of my breath.
And here’s the world that Lethe swept:
I stopped here first, the valley death.

Beneath, cloaked in undying night,
Vast grottoes drenched by deathly light
Stood wretched, torn, entombed in time,
Like winter fogs, reduced to rime.

Beneath the seas and underground
Where snaking waters hiss,
Empty roars and muted sound,
Did quell the maw abyss.
A puddled nectar, frosted gold
That yielded to my feet,
Was burning sweet and bitter cold,
Forayed the heartbeat’s heat.
Submerged and blind the senses cried;
The waters reassured;
As if to death the dreamer died;
Forgot the liquid’s lure;
And winding currents serpentine,
Which stretched at length anon,
With nepenthe and turpentine,
Marooned at Acheron.

There rising high the ebon hall:
A gated, grand façade,
Which cast a ruddy, brazen pall,
As shades of muse ballade.
With maddened steps, the masques do dance
To clinging, umbral tunes.
Plutonian courtiers romance,
On moonlit afternoons.

And garden here and there a lake.
With apples raven, lilies dark,
A rosen bush, pomegranate.
But stopped I at the archway bark.

For ‘fore my eyes, I saw her there:
A pearl of my past.
Her shining grin and wistful stare:
Too perfect long to last.
But so, relieved, I said goodbye,
My ardor now could rest.
I set my wings, from sleep to fly,
But never had I guessed:
That journeys of the mind within
I’d thought the realm of sleep,
Were what they’d seemed; I wore my skin.
I’d sunken far too deep.
But there she stood, she’d called me here.
And so we danced, and so we were.

[Elvaris]

Word Prompt: Heroine
Visual Prompt:

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A knock on the door
A pause
A whispered prayer
A tentative question
A woman's voice
Unwilling joints and too willing leather
Shuffling steps
A doorknob rattle
Chain extending
A hard catch
Soft words
A challenge
An offering
A lock undone
Old hands on new styrofoam
Gentle warmth
Shared laughter
Age sublimating
Barely suppressed tears
Composing breaths
Reluctant farewells
A new found spring
A whispered prayer
A banquet for one

[FirebirdFlying]

Yeah, I'm going to need that half-day extension. My poem is both not done and rather political. So…scratch that and back to work.

[Elfin]

I'm also going to need the extension; the poem I wrote was not very good.
There are only 3 hours left now, but let's see what I can manage...

[FirebirdFlying]

Okay, I've got it. Sorta. Hmm.

Prompt: Heroine
Visual Prompt:

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Heroine

The knock comes as expected, on the weathered, beaten door -
And I am just as ready as I ever was before
(Not at all. No!)
The silence is astounding in apartment number five
The air knows there are people here, all wishing to survive
(Let them fall. …No!)
The man is tall and angry and as formal as the grave
He'll take away the people I have spent so much to save
(I am strong… No.)
My name rolls from his tongue as if he's practiced it for years
And I can only pray he cannot see my fading tears
(Am I wrong? No!)

He steps in - others flank him, but I only see his face
I let him walk around - I let him violate this place -
(I am scared. No.)
He turns to me and smiles, as if he must strain to try,
He asks if I have aught that I would like to say, and why
(They are here! No.)
The silence grows, the pressure! and his eyes have found my soul
My traitor's tongue is speaking, as if I had no control
"In the walls!" (No!)
His gaze that was all-knowing is surprised at what I said -
I swallow all my words in crushing, terrifying dread.
(That was all. No.)

For my heart is frightened, darkened as my mind begins to see -
He did not come for the people. They were safe - he came for me.

[Elfin]

Here we are, with not a second to spare. Definitely not my best quality work, but I hope it'll suffice.

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Prompt: Visitation
Visual Prompt:

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Look upon the flowers of the earth,
Upon their passing beauty, waning youth:
Draped in many guises, clad in many hues;
Some dress in blushing petals, others robes wrought of the moon.

They bloom beneath the mingled light
Of sun and stars, of day and night;
Fair, perhaps, yet swift they fade:
The truth none living might evade.

Look upon her, human, mark her well;
For I have labours many, and but little time to dwell
Here where hope and fear are one; yet have I much to tell.
And seldom may I come below, and do implore you thus:
Let not my message come to naught, though you alone may hear.

Look upon her, human, upon her silken dress;
Tempered strong of starlight stolen from the dusky skies.
Gossamer and gleaming, it glows with burnished grace.
And so it is, human, with each one of your race:
Strive you ever to achieve
Adornment, gold and glory, fame and realm;
And though some seek by midnight means,
Remember always this:
They look for only happiness, to by their works achieve.

Look upon her, human, on fey arms glittering,
Misty as the morning, woven through with pearls,
Fair as the sea, strong as the sun;
Yet fail not to recall what deeds those arms may work.
Bearers of steel or spillers of blood:
For oft do I look down with grief,
And watch the dusty lands stained red,
As humans, ever wavering,
Dark the earth with rotting dead.

And lastly, human, lastly, look upon her tender face,
Silver with sorrow, pearl in the evening:
Adorned with rivers raven black, onyx in the starlight.
Look upon her eyes, chalice of tears,
Forged in crystal fountains, jeweled with diamonds,
Beacons in the darkness,
Flames of hope,
Dark in the morning, lit in the night;
Blazoned on silver, radiant in the sun.

They seek hope, and light:
And they have called me many names;
Gods, god, and countless more.
But no; I watch, and watch alone,
And gaze on them till time is done.

I know many things, but of them none,
Need or bear the telling, save for one:
There is dark, and there is light,
And ever do I walk their wane,
And humans ever walk the same:
Not dark nor light, but spun through both;
And perhaps,
In the end,
I am human as well.

[Vaynor]

Ok we're done with this round then, thanks for setting this one up for me Zeb.