Forest

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Forest Poetry Fantasia

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These are all the submissions we've received. All submissions are displayed exactly how they were sent through the, with the exception of titles being bolded when present.

Haiku

Shadow on fair skin
Respite for veiled rosy stings
from forced grins and cheese

Written by The Cypher Nine

Score = 16.75

Eyes lift to the sky
ancient light from dying stars
ghosts of other times

Written by Bextoria

Score = 23.00

I let you walk free
yet your ghost fills every room
why won't you leave me?

Written by Bextoria

Score = 20.25

All things seen, heard, touched
Nothing better, nor worse than
Our natural world

Written by Muspelgard

Score = 19.75

Writing a haiku
is easy, just stop on the
seventeenth syllab

Written by 7 robots in a trenchcoat

Score = 16.50

Realize made me write
some poems but can't see what
I can with real eyes

Written by Azure Mines

Score = 16.50

Bextoria is the winner of the Haiku section!

Freeverse Photo

Image

Hello, I’ll be your psychiatrist today. Please make sure you’ve told me how you’ll pay. What seems to be the problem? Let's make it go away.

I’m struggling to be who I want to be. I have all this ambition and can’t make it reality. I lie in bed and wish I could get up, my guilt and shame make me want to throw up. I’ve done my research and I’m open to change, this medication could help, is that a thing you arrange?

This medications controlled, are you sure you need it? Lets make sure and try a different treatment. Take this other medication that's easy to acquire and I’ll see you in a month to ensure your moods higher. Welcome back, how are things? Did the medicine I sent you give you wings?

As I suspected, it didn’t really work. Can we please try what I suggested, I’m not trying to be a jerk.

Your symptoms still sound like depression to me, this newest drug I’ve found should help with your plea. I’ll see you in a month to see how its going, I’m hopeful about this one lets see you glowing.

Ma’am its been several months and I’ve made no improvement. I can’t keep doing this if I’m not experiencing movement.

The truth is that medicine won’t really fix anything for you, I’m trying to get you on something to just get us through. When I need to organize, I make a list. Is that something you’ve tried? Do you get the gist? I’ll see you in a month, just try to persist.

At this point its been half a year, we’ve been doing this dance and yet I’m still here. I’m tired of waiting, I’m tired of playing this game with you its grating. I’m done doing the dance, my mask is off, do you not understand the damage this has caused? This isn’t some simple issue with organization, I cannot manage my life in the fashion of my choosing. I cannot do anything without anxiety pushing me through, please stop telling me that you know what to do. Please stop pretending that you know me at all. 10 minutes a month is not enough for that so f*ck off. If you’re scared I’m drug seeking then find another profession, do you think I am here for any other reason? How dumb is it that it would be easier for me to get what I need from someone random down on the street? And whats worse is the time that you steal, you bait me each month so I pay for your meals. This condition may be a joke to you because you’ve spent too many hours on tikok reels but I’m suffering, and I’m tired and I just want to be seen. I’m not waiting another goddamn month to be me.

Written by The Cypher Nine

Score = 24.50

Judge note: we had to censor a word in order to post the dispatch. This was not in the original.

Image

What if home was my position
Shifting it was all but a simple matter
Space was plentiful and temporary
Life may be more difficult at first
Secondary would be my comfort
Freedom instead would be my boon
Gods I wish I could rest on a dilapidated roof
Collapsed body unbiasedly accepting showers
Tiles beneath me beaming with pride
Together they were chosen as a place of rest
Invisible to all but the most astute passersby
Dead they are to the idea of home being here
There is no respite on decaying canopy
Trees of expelled fiber disagree
Contentment on them means peace
Fighting for serenity is exhausting
Yes, this is what home should really be

Written by The Cypher Nine

Score = 21.25

The Cypher Nine is the winner of the Freeverse Photo section!

The Living World

The television is left on while I wait
A mother-in-law's prank or perhaps just her addiction
Breaking news doesn't seem all that breaking anymore
War
Another War
More War
Broken laws, and unjustifiable acts of cruelty
The remote is close and yet I stay still
Easier to drown it out with the comfort of the smaller television in my hand
Even neutral information feels like pleasure compared to the truth of today
New pictures from outside the atmosphere rocket through my disillusionment
My OLED screen finally showing any real value
Man, the earth really is incredibly beautiful isn't it?

Written by The Cypher Nine

Score = 22.75

Trees Bees Knees

Oh the sun shines today
The Bees are making honey
The Trees have falling colors
My Knees are ready to hike

This is the perfect weather
The Sky is blue
and there are no clouds in sight

My Friends set up a picnic
The Bees came and say Hello
The Tree gave us shade
And my Knees wants to keep hiking

I'm glad it's a weekend
No School
Life is free
Explore the World
See what Bees by Trees you can travel with your Knees

The colors are bight
Everyone is in a good mood
Going shopping like in the old days

Invite everyone you know
Go on Mary go arounds
Go to a park and eat a sandwich
Explore the world
Beath in the life you got
And just relax

No Screens
Just fun

Say hi to Shree the bee
then that tree
with your knees walking
and enjoy life

Written by Truzipa

Score = 20.25

The phospholipid bilayer
Is in the cell a major player
The exterior is made up of hydrophilic heads
The carbs on the outside are found in breads
A hydrophobic interior where tails meet
Large polar molecules suffer defeat
Because they are polar, they are repelled by the interior
In this respect, nonpolar molecules are superior
Small molecules are able to
Use passive diffusion to pass through
Large molecules can’t follow this route
But transport proteins are interspersed throughout
Some of these proteins require ATP
But other proteins are totally free!
Cholesterol molecules are embedded all over
They keep the membrane fluid when the body is colder
They’re even useful when the temperature is sweltering
Making the membrane less fluid to prevent melting
The phospholipid bilayer is a membrane
That is not at all mundane
A wonder of biology this bilayer is
Pay attention, this will all be on the quiz

Written by Tripod II

Score = 21.75

The Pigs

They eat what they see
They eat what they find
They eat what they eat
They eat themselves
They eat their own hunger
They eat the hunger of others
They eat the others

They leave nothing
Nothing for me
Nothing for you
Nothing for themselves
Nothing for anyone

They are filthy
They are petty
They are greedy
And they are not the pigs

Written by Bextoria

Score = 22.50

obsessed with the stars above
we forgot the beauty here
innocence of human love
all together on a sphere

seemingly trapped, we are free
only earth has air we breathe
water we drink from the sea
bread to cook and eat with ease

the living world, only get one
ev’rything and ev’ryone
our community tight-knit
so lets not f*cking ruin it.

Written by Muspelgard

Score = 22.00

Judge note: we had to censor a word in order to post the dispatch. This was not in the original.

The Cypher Nine is the winner of the Living World section!

Change

Reeds and Leaflets

If we were to dig beneath this
rut, where furrowed brows
mask wrinkles as old as time

where bones grow up to
be fossils only to discover
grit and spirit deep within

and perhaps where seeds
lay plotting to make
some future breakthrough

is it imaginable we could kiss
the surface, lay down our plows
and nurture these rows of rhyme

without boggy fields of view
to quake and hover
like the gravesites of our kin

or from these pressed reeds
and leaflets, we break
the stems of what we knew

Written by Kawastyselir

Score = 19.00

Ev’ning falls o’er Forest streams
While the dying fire gleams
A man walks calmly through the leaves.
Overhead the branches swing
While the psithurism sings
And far away the lightning reaves.

The fireflies away entrance
From balustrades of dreams forchanced
The man enchanted in the leaves.
Under foot the roots arrange
While the often burdens change
And far away the raindrop grieves.

The sky succumbs to eigengrau
And sundered light is rent from now
The man enforces through the leaves.
Zephyrs cruise in streaming awe
Away from azure’s iris saw
And far away the sky reprieves.

The sudden flashing quickly seems
To strike the scintillating streams
And left there flitting in the leaves
Is dust of gold and light and dreams
Suspended ‘loft in aftergleam
And far away the thunder cleaves.

The man picks up the pace to free
His face from paralyzing glee
And came to stark promontory
Where he saw the darkling Eye.
Ev’ry leaf from high Uranian,
Ensconced in subtle subterranean
Rose to meet the wheel Varanian
Entreated by the air to fly
And for a second cease to die.

Then descend the seraphim
With raindrops ‘round to serif them
And riven breeze to sheriff him
And shuttle motes of dust on by.
There afar the wheeling gray
Funnels down into the fray
Sun-gilt threads in turning day
And only now the man does scry
The twisting there now svelte and spry.

He enters into gentle canter
As the wind begins to banter;
The rain falls quicker, ever slanter
Where the ground begins to rift.
Trees are hewn, and ground is scoured
By little shreds imbued with power
Of wind two hundred miles per hour.
A swaying boulder starts to drift;
It drags along, then runs, then lifts.

The man is running overzealous
And the storm is growing kvellous
Driving funnels, ever jealous
Of steady dreams clear and theorized
Kept by men with ardent joys
Who throw great things around like toys
Better than the tempest’s ploys
Who can outrun with sparks surrealized
The things that rend and never realize.

Written by Azure Mines

Score = 25.25

Sky

I do comprehend the sky
How sometimes it used to be so bright and clear
Becoming something that everyone aspires to
Turning into somewhere that everyone wishes to get to
Ideas so soft and white, something to set your gaze to
And how it can just change with the wind
Those same people that said they cared about you at some point
How they took cover the moment you turned dark
Maybe no one will ever be able to love you fully
You always go from one side to the other without explanation
Those same people that were alongside you
Hid the moment you started to cry
Your tears falling down from your heavy thoughts
Hurting those you still care about
And after venting yourself you go back to being cheery
You never give a reason for being this way
Maybe you don't know yourself, and that's why you don't say a thing
They were only with you when you were light to them
And left you in the dark nights
And they'll keep on doing it, but, you'll still keep trying in getting out some light
I don't think anyone gets you, sky
That's why everyone spends a lifetime trying to stay away from you
But I do comprehend the sky
I close my eyes every night
Hoping to wake up there.

Written by LontraNutria

Score = 23.75

The Self I Never Was

What if I had never heard the blues?
That slow ache climbing up the brass,
the jazz that spills like midnight wine
through smoke and time and broken glass.
What if I had never tasted wine?
That quiet fire on the tongue,
the way a glass can hold a world
of everything left still unsung.
What if I had never learned to see
the things that hide in plain daylight —
the weight of words, the shape of truth,
the difference between wrong and right?
What if I had never known her?
What silence would have filled that space,
what hollow version of myself
would wear the edges of my face?
I cannot be another man.
I've tried — the thought won't even form.
For I am every song I've loved,
every wine, every beautiful storm.
The self I never was is gone —
he starved before he got to live.
I am the one who stayed to learn
just how much life had left to give.

Written by Bextoria

Score = 28.25

Grasping at the past

Knowing it won't last

Same sheets on the bed for a year

One step at a time

Their common line

Missing the signs of my tears

Staging my leave

Letting them grieve

Still not a solace for drear

Sigh in the morn

Muscles do warn

Screaming to get into gear

This time you listen

Grazed by the frisson

Cold feet, upbeat, blue sphere

Written by The Cypher Nine

Score = 23.25

once, when you were younger, you had traveled here,
standing years ago where thousands daily stood.
whether childlike wonder led you to revere
it or real merit, you don't know; just "was good".

that entry would be false if written now,
the high street's shops closed and boarded over.
such great decline just makes you wonder how
time took this steel and made it rust and clover.

mismanagement, perhaps? you heard a flood
had ruined lives, so people up and left.
that was enough to foul the town's blood,
having been warped so much there was no weft.

and so you stand here as the town just dies,
collapsing under its sad, unlucky past.
it's best to simply leave it where it lies;
it seems that not all things are meant to last.

Written by New Eestiball

Score = 23.50

As I sit there
The sun beating down on
My young and malformed husk
I silently trudge forward
My legs seeming weak
Before I find a spot
Where I may rest
Slip from consciousness
I lay down on the ground
Quiet without a sound
Not a thumping to be heard
Before I surround myself with silk
And silently fall into a heavy sleep
And when I emerge
Aged to a degree
I see my two wings
Feel the sting of where
They had pierced through my back
And although they aren’t quite what I wanted
I don’t feel as if I care
For what difference does it make
If they shall they still help me if I fall?

Written by -kromer-

Score = 20.75

Bextoria is the winner of the Change section and the overall contest! Congratulations!

Water

Waters of Change

The sky grew dark
and raindrops fell so gently
washing down the street
The scent of rain hung in the air
and in an instant
what was dirty became clean
It felt like the day you left
in an instant
what was beautiful was gone
But every rain must pass
no matter how heavy it falls
no matter how cold it feels
Just like your leaving
no matter how heavy I feel it
no matter how cold it is

Written by Bextoria

Score = 20.25

The Sea Calls Me

I have seen the shore too long.
I know its stones, its tired sand,
the same horizon, fixed and pale,
drawn by a too familiar hand.
I want to go — I want to leave
the margin and the land behind,
to push the raft against the wave
and lose whatever I may find.
Let the deep blue swallow me,
let the salt burn what I know,
let the currents have no name,
let the winds decide where I go.
Out there, where no one waits for me,
where strange creatures rise and dive —
half friendly and half terrifying —
I think I'd feel most alive.
For every time I face the sea
I see how small I've always been:
a man, a raft, a restless wish
to drown in all I've never seen.
And still the ocean pulls me in
with that old, quiet, ruthless call —
come, leave your shore, forget your name,
I am the sea — I hold it all.

Written by Bextoria

Score = 22.75

Dear Rain,

Being the flag bearer of your mantras, this letter serves, of which you should be duly aware from prior meetings and discussions, as fulfillment of my contract to you therein.

You have given me, my family, and this great ball upon which we stand, where all manner of creatures scurry in search of stimulus, and thus perform a doomed dance in escaping the hanged man, a safe path forward into the city of Calm.

Our belongings may be coated with what some
may find, due to their polished lack of imagination, a heavy burden and ruining of their plans. Thankfully your tutelage, which was admittedly at one time received similarly to those we now tarnish, has given us the deed to the property of which we spoke of in private.

Living here now, free from the burning burdens of which were stoked by mistakes both mine and theirs, I have come to know you not as friend and not as foe but as council, in such times of course where I have learned, that my business should not be in the creation of plans.

Indeed, let this letter serve for any reader, not just to its original recipient of whom I hold in the most esteem, as a monument to a new way of living, free from all manner of concerns, that which cannot hold weight both literally and figuratively in the tapestry of the universe.

Sincerely,
Your faithful devotee

Written by The Cypher Nine

Score = 22.75

Lifeguard

Watch people and ripples cool in the pool
Walk eleven steps, turn, eleven more
See someone running, we enforce pool rules
Explain while sweat drips out of ev’ry pore

Out of doors yet locked in a cage of heat
Sun on salty skin, your brow, melting bones
Feet on hot concrete like searing of meat
Body is a furnace of firestones

The current is the present, future, past
Begging for the riptide, pulls me under
Sun retreats, suddenly it’s overcast
Blow the whistle, forecast is of thunder

Jumping in, soothing skin, relaxation
Freeing thing, oh, water, where have you been?

Written by Muspelgard

Score = 21.75

Bextoria and The Cypher Nine are the joint winners of the Water section!

Thank you all for your participation!