Contest: Dragon Poem

[M'kel]

Hear ye, hear ye!

Dragons are so...so...amazing? Beautiful? Serene? Deadly? Wonderful? Whatever you think they are, it's your chance to write it out and share your thoughts with everyone!

You could design your poem as if it was written by a character of yours, or simply leave it as a submission of your own! It could be regarding this Weyr, any Weyr, or any type of dragon you can imagine! In this poetry contest, you can write a poem for each of 2 categories:

1. Free verse poem of a dramatic or descriptive air.
2. Rhyming poem of a comedic flavour.

That's right, you can write two beautiful poems and win Marks on the side!

How to enter? Post your poem(s) in this thread by May 31st. That's a long time, I know! So you should have plenty of time to prepare your masterpiece. Be sure to state which category the poem is being entered for. Also, all poems should have a title. Finally, if you've entered one poem and would like to add another, modify your original post rather than posting again.

The prizes? 20 Marks to the writers of the 2 winning poems, and you will see your poem posted on our home page! How awesome is that? Second place winners will receive 15 Marks, and third place winners will receive 10 Marks! If that's not reason enough to enter, I don't know what would be! XP

The selection of winners? From June 1st to June 6th, everyone on Araelen (whether you have submitted an entry or not!) should PM M'kel with your picks for both categories. State the number of the category followed by the title of your favourite poem. You should also include your 2nd place selections for each category. 2 points will be awarded each time a poem receives a 1st place vote, and 1 point will be awarded each time a poem receives a 2nd place vote. In this manner, we will identify our winners! The format of your PM could be:

Category 1: 1st - The Sun Dance, 2nd - A Twist on Time
Category 2: 1st - Wily Escapades, 2nd - Difficulties at Dinner

Those were just made up names, if you couldn't tell, lol...

SO!

Those who think
They have the skill
To write a poem
That fits the bill

Should grab a pen
And write away
For you could win
Some Marks today!

Or at least in the near future.

Have fun!!


AMENDMENT: In reconsidering the rigidity of the above rules, we have decided to allow free verse or rhyming poems in either category. INSTEAD, you must simply do ONE rhyming poem and ONE free verse poem, but YOU can choose which category you would like each to be.

[**Auria (etc)**]

www.gazehound.com/poem-dragons/


Kitty suggests a revision of this post to include the poem text:


Poem: Dragons

(c)1995, Gayle P. Nastasi

Precious one, do you not know
Dragons never die?
Their bodies may grow cold
And the sparkle leaves their eye
Their fiery breath will leave them
And great pinions no more fly

But dragons never die

The starlight takes them, sweet one
Upon its back away
And up into the heavens
Where the night is never day
And the magic in the starshine
Is the magic of their song
For they’ve never really left you
They have been there all along

So when you’ve cast your sorrow
And your tears are all cried dry
Just reach out and catch the starlight

For Dragons Never Die

[Spiffy .th !]

W'hey! My first serious crack at writing a poem! (Thanks for giving me a reason ;])

Ok, so it goes in the first category. Its about a dragon who dies riding a fall (Yeah, happy isn't it? o.O)

Broken Silences

Dragon's call, the silence breaks,
Wake the Weyr, ready make
The dragons, riders, weyrfolk too,
For Pern is in Great need of you.
Take to the skies, prepare to fight,
For Thread is falling fast tonight.

Your wings you beat, the wind you ride,
Brae your rider to the leading side.
Crush the stone, the fire breathe
To sear the Thread; above, beneath.
Twisting, turning, duck between,
'Til pain tears through your triumphant scream.

Draping, lacing, searing flesh,
Jump between, in haste you rush
And loose your way, so there you stay,
Forever gone, so far away.
The keen of thousands tear the air,
Their sorrow in voice, deep as despair.

Thread is gone, their jobs all done,
Return to the Weyr, in silence they come.
Fractured Wings, rent by Fall,
The loss they feel is shared by all.

Oh, and the half rhymes in the third stanza are intentional ;] Not that they sound that good, but oh well x]

Ps. Your poem is awesome Gayze! *jawdrop*

[M'kel]

For Category 1:

Better to Have Loved

Trembling hands
But not from chill,
No, the air steams
And blasts
Waves of throbbing heat upward.

The trembling is from within, from
Fear
Anticipation.

A cold hope burns,
Its fragile flame
Against the heat without,
Flickering to stay
Alive.

Glittering shards litter the Sands,
Tossing the light
In dancing arcs,
Beautiful yet sharp.

Two eggs split at once,
So few remain!
Four whirling eyes
Turn,
Considering.

Then, the approach,
Both move towards the line
Unaware of bated breath,
Sweaty palms,
Frigid hopes.

The blue
Cries out in realization.
Yet by
Jealousy,
Malevolence,
Misunderstanding,
Whatever the reason,
The bronze interrupts the triumphant charge.

Claws tear, wings shred, ichor stains the Sands.
And then pain,
O crippling pain!

Clutching at a wound that does not exist,
The boy falls to his knees.

The bronze is away, forgotten, Impressed,
While the blue remains
Unmoving.
The boy crawls forward to cradle the head
Of his heart,
His soul,
His reason for life,
As life ebbs away.

Lids open slowly,
Fighting,
Struggling against the pull
Of darkness,
And eyes meet
Once and Only.

A thousand words are passed
In a moment of nothing
And the light is gone from those whirling eyes forever.


For Category 2:

The Sly Thief

Snatched from the streets,
Lost, unclean,
This 12-Turn lad
Now struts and preens,

To the Weyr he was swept,
And there he did stand
To Impress a dragon
Pale brown as the sand.

From Street Brat to Dragon King,
What a change in his life!
Now admired, well-fed,
Far removed from past strife.

But old habits die hard
For an expert like he,
And 'borrowed' items multiplied
In his weyr quite quickly.

Of all, his greatest pride
Was an extensive food store,
For hunger would never again
Make him sore.

On returning to his weyr,
One night quite late,
He found his brown dragon
Lying in wait.

But something was different
His colour not right
The lad gasped aloud
In shock at the sight.

A purple dragon!
Why, he must be a morph!
Just like the tales of
White Ruth, the dwarf.

It must be a result
Of the non-canon sites
That proliferate like rabbits to
Choke out other Weyr's lights!

But wait, that sweet scent
Couldn't be from his brown,
Bewildered a moment,
His face creased in a frown.

With a taste to confirm,
He realized in a flash
The dragon had found
His bubbly pie stash!

[katalina]

I guess I'll make my return with a poem.

For Category Two: "The Tale of Mary Sue"

There once was a girl named Mary Sue.
Pretty and kind, her heart was true
and she had eyes of cerulean blue.

She dreamed of riding a Queen,
but her father was really mean,
an uglier man had never been seen.

Her mother had died when she was four,
now her father's heart was sore
and he kept Mary behind a locked door.

One day she made an escape.
But then she was found by a bandit in a cape
who had an intention to rape.

She raised hue and cry
Fortunately there was a dragon in the sky.
A bronzerider saved her, he was a really nice guy.

S'mex was his name,
being strong and brave was his game
Many ladies did his charm tame.

But he fell under Mary's sway,
with her eyes blue as the sky in May,
at the Weyr he begged her to stay.

Mary happily agreed
and the next day a gold rose to breed.
Soon there was a fine clutch indeed.

There was a gold egg,
and Mary did beg
to be a candidate--she'd give her left leg!

Finally the hum began
To the sands Mary ran
The white candidate robe brought out her glorious tan.

Then the Gold hatched, and she was mad.
She mauled Mary Sue because she smelled bad.
S'mex was exceedingly sad.

With her claws the Queen did rip and rend
so Mary, and my story, have come to an end.
I hope you enjoyed it, now I'll push send.

[M'kel]

In case you've forgotten, this contest is now closed. It's time to vote, and I would really appreciate it if you did! Please PM M'kel with your votes in the format described above. There are three entries for the dramatic poem: 'Dragons' by Gayze, 'Broken Silences' by Spiffy, and 'Better to Have Loved' by M'kel. In the second category, comedy, there are two entries: 'The Sly Thief' by M'kel and 'The Tale of Mary Sue' by Katalina.

So please PM your first and second choices for each category straight away!!! Preferably by the end of June 6th, although I will extend this deadline if we receive NO votes!

Sincerest apologies to Katalina for mistakenly putting Spiffy as the author of the 'The Tale of Mary Sue'. It has been corrected, and don't worry, it won't affect voting.

[Spiffy .th !]

*cough cough* Ahem, though I would like to be able to claim such a fantastic poem, I didn't write The Tale of Mary Sue, Katalina did ;]

[M'kel]

Ahahaha....fixed now. *sheepish grin*

[M'kel]

Category 1:

1st Place - Gayze
2nd Place - Spiffy
3rd Place - M'kel

Category 2:

1st Place - M'kel
2nd Place - Katalina

These votes were incredibly close. There were ties in every category until the final votes came in! So great job, everybody!! You all rock!