Iron Poet III

[Em Blackleaf]

Space- Fate

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Fleeting

Speeding through traffic
Running red lights and running out of life
The sands of time pour down
Hills of a life well wasted swell
Like a wave that will never crash

Old and gray now, though not wise
So many experiences
So little time
The clock is ticking
Like a bomb that will soon explode

Moving slowly now, like a planet
In orbit 'round the Sun
Desperately grasping at life
While time runs out faster, faster
Like the life that never was

Darkness
The blazing beacon at the center dims
An icy grip closes on life
A bitter end to a frittered existence
Like the essence that was never found

[ZombieRockStar]

Well...Em's is half an hour late, but I'd accept it.

...

What now?

I say we either give the other two an extra day, or we judge these two as if they were in the same category together so we can determine a winner.

[Alarra]

We did say that people could have an extra day once in the competition. I guess maybe we should give them one?

[Elvaris]

I'll wait.

[Vaynor]

Yah let's give them an extra day, not that big of a deal. If someone could PM them that'd be great, I gotta go.

[PhoeKun]

*shakes head*

No. Do not give me an extra day. I was late, end of story. I have never backed down from that position, and I'm not going to start now that I might benefit from it. I'm sorry to have let the contest down...

[Alarra]

We did say that people could have an extra day once during the competition. You haven't used yours. I see no reason for you not to now.

[PhoeKun]

Because I don't feel that I deserve this extra day.

[ZombieRockStar]

Look...I admit my judging has been erratic, so I might not be the best person to say this right now, but whatever.

I don't know about you, but I'm damn disappointed that there's only two poems in right now. I was hoping to read four, and if four can still be in by the end of the day, then that's great. I really want to read your poem and Am's. I don't care if they're on time or not. I just care whether I get to read them or not. I don't care whether you feel like you deserve an extra day or not. I care whether you write it or not.

We're giving you an extra day. Hell, I'd give you an extra week. Use it. Whether you "deserve" it is irrelevant.

Unless you don't want to write the poem, or don't feel you can. In which case, just say so, because I can understand that. I'd prefer you say that than "I don't deserve an extra day."

Sorry for being harsh. Just the way I feel.

[PhoeKun]

It's irrelevant, is it? And how, pray tell, is that fair to all the people I've pushed to disqualify in these contests because they were all of three minutes late? I'm supposed to just say none of that matters because you want there to be more poems?

To hell with that. I've been freaking out and in tears at the thought turning in a late submission. And maybe that's because I'm under a lot of stress more than it is about me being self-righteous, but either way, sitting down to write for this round is making me sick. You want me to say it? I will. I can't write this poem. I won't write this poem. And I don't want to write this poem.

Be disappointed. Hate me for it, that's fine. I've got no business being here, anyway.

[Kneenibble]

Phoe-kun, you climb over my arrow-riddled, gangrenous, magotty corpse into round 3 and squander your glory thus?

Ah, but how can I stay mad at you. You sound upset and troubled.
*hug*

[rubakhin]

Aw, Phoe ... well, I understand, if it goes against your morals and you'd feel lousy about it. It's not bad to have a strong ethical backbone, so to speak. Only don't beat yourself up too much, yeah?

[Vaynor]

Ok, well in this circumstance, there being only 2 poems, judge the poems on pure content and following of each respective prompt, not if the other followed the prompt better (it's not really comparable). I guess this means either Em or Elvaris will be winning IP III. Good luck!

@Phoe, sorry you feel that way, and I understand not wanting to write the poem. Hope to see you next contest.

[Felixaar]

@Vay, Oh hell yes. Reminds me of when I flew to brisbane during the wet season. It was about six AM and we were just flying over this blanket of clouds, you would not know that there was a planet under there. And then the sun came up and it was like the clouds were made of gold...

Anyway, on to the judgings. Shame about not getting poems in on time but gotta work with what you got. I also feel kinda bad cause I was expecting Amotis and Phoekun to be the final 2 no offence to either of y'all, since I can honestly say before even judging that both your poems are a well bred mix of Awe and Some.

Now, without further Adieu,
Iron Poet III Grand Final Judging Begins(!!!)

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Having read both poems, I was dismayed for the task ahead. Both of them are totally awesome, and contest winners to boot (and no, i'm not planning to use the giant boot in my contest deciding strategy (thought that would be cool)). But in the end I've got to choose Em Blackleaf. Throughout this contest she's shown excellent word play and used amazing language to coalesce a brilliant mind-picture, and Fleeting is perhaps the greatest example of that yet. "An icy grip closes on life" was awesome, and the spirit of the poem was just excellent. Well done, Em. But this isn't to say El's poem wasnt great too - I loved the finding wings part. His poetry, I think, has improved (though that not to say it wasnt great to start with) since the beginning of the contest, and I've really enjoyed reading it. Congratulations to both of you and thanks for gifting me with many enjoyable poems.

By the way, does anyone think we should have a poem of the contest award? Because if we do, my vote goes to

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Kneenible - Graphic (or whatever the title was, I'm not sure)

And finally I'd like to see thanks to all our poets for giving me many fun filled hours of judging. Theres really nothing quite like poetry and the fact that so many of you were loyal to this contest (we've had like, three missed poems, where as in IA we got seven stories out of fifteen) really astounds me. Thanks guys, I look forward to the next competition. Maybe I'll compete, just to see how badly y'all beat me.

Felixaar, out.

[Vaynor]

Judges? Come on, let's finish this contest and move on to the next one!

[rubakhin]

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Hokay. Mm. *drums fingers on desk* I'm finding myself without a lot to say about either of these poems for once. Em, I think you could work a bit on word choice. "Frittered" threw me out of the poem a bit. And there aren't too many original images here to hold on to. "An icy grip closing on life" is okay, but really, "icy grip", it's a meaningless cliche that you should try to avoid. Overall, a bit bland, awkward. I think the poem would have benefited some if you had focused more on the rhythm than anything else, the strongest parts of the poem, the stand-out parts, are the ones that have a bit more of a kick to them:
So many experiences/So little time ... but even that's a little awkward, come to think of it. I get the feeling sometimes reading your poems that you're using (to paraphrase Twain) not the right word, but its second cousin.

Elvaris. Your poem I liked a little better. Didn't read awkwardly, or slightly off-kilter like Em's. The whole "finding wings" bit made my stomach turn (if you have to use cliches in your poems, can you at least try to use one that people still take seriously? ) but overall it was a solid poem, even if it didn't say much of anything, so I'm giving this one to you, El.

[Alarra]

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Verdict- Elvaris I liked this poem, the idea of the interplay between the image of the butterflies flying and the picture's depiction of someone doing the butterfly stroke. The imagery was nice, and evoked in me memories of swimming meets, as well as butterflies flying and had dual meanings that played well over one another. In truth, I think I really liked this poem because it reminded me a lot of one I wrote back in college, a lot of the same imagery and even word choice.

Em, yours was a pretty good poem as well, as usual it's always a bit difficult to judge the final round....although this wasn't supposed to be. Your word choice and phrasing was nice and I enjoyed reading this.

[ZombieRockStar]

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Hmm...I'm not quite sure what to say about either. Basically, both were a succession of images that really didn't do much for me. I felt that Elvaris's was a bit more unified in terms of the prompts given, so I'll hand it to him.

There, that's done. Remind me not to judge again...*goes back to schoolwork*

[Raistlin1040]

I gotta say, I'm in the same boat as ZRS here...Same as last round, I've made semi-arbitrary verdicts, and I may or may not decide to explain why later.

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Elvaris.

[Vaynor]

Congratulations Elvaris, winner of IP III!

New contest up tomorrow.