Jonathan Riley's picture
Jonathan Riley from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland October 16, 2012 - 10:13pm

Poetry:
I noticed a poetry thread that seemed to have died in November of last year. The Flash thread competitions flourish here, so I seek to spark the poet within. Once a month I will issue a one word (and/or) photograph prompt. I challenge you all to write your best poem. What? Yes, use your best words, because you will have very few.
 

Guidelines:
-25 lines or less
-120 words or less
-When a single word prompt is issued, that word has to be used in the poem. If a picture is issued it has to clearly inspire the poem. No Recycling!!!  Up to three poems per submitter each month are allowed.   

-Only one poem per submitter will be considered for the monthly poll. (What Poll?)

-Poems can be edited at anytime you want up until the poll is created

Competition:
This all depends on how many poets or bad ass fiction writers want to attempt this endeavor.
I will submit my own poem on the prompt each month. I will not be eligible to win.

The more who compete, the more who will be selected. Selected for what?
As it stands now, I am poor and can’t afford prizes. I’m also too lazy to figure out how the postal
service works, since the invention of e-mail.  Hopefully one day I can mail the winner something cool.

Until then:

Do it for fun! Do it for bragging rights! And unfortunately I’ve resorted to the Nike slogan “Just Do It!”

At the end of each month, I select my favorites. I create a poll. You all vote for the winner. Sound fun? Hope so. Let’s get this ball rolling.
 

 

Jonathan Riley's picture
Jonathan Riley from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland October 16, 2012 - 10:16pm

The month is half over so this one will be quick.

This months prompt:

Bullet

Jonathan Riley's picture
Jonathan Riley from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland October 16, 2012 - 10:36pm

I'll go first,

 

Alive Again

The circled scars on my palms
don’t hurt
but they bite
like bullets
when I look at them
 

 

 

Jose F. Diaz's picture
Jose F. Diaz from Boston is reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel October 16, 2012 - 11:51pm

The Cost

In a bleached out country of hatred
All that’s left is a sense of regret
A sense of bullet sure anger
A decade of regret
Day after day it remains
In the country of the free
All that’s left is…

Jonathan Riley's picture
Jonathan Riley from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland October 17, 2012 - 8:15am

Someone submitted on the first day. Right on. The show has officially begun. Get cracking folks.

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like October 17, 2012 - 8:18am

`~`

Boone Spaulding's picture
Boone Spaulding from Coldwater, Michigan, U.S.A. is reading Solarcide Presents: Nova Parade October 17, 2012 - 9:16am

Deer leaping, springing

Through autumn fields of sere grain

Bullet intersects. 

pendragon's picture
pendragon from Seoul is reading Memories October 18, 2012 - 12:36am

Ah, how cool! I started a tumblr for my poetry here: http://xsilentcryx.tumblr.com/

Hopefully some of you follow and so on! I write a very restrictive form of haiku which hopefully adds a bit of spice and dynamism to an ancient form. But here's my bullet poem:

autumnal

alone--        bullet blow

winds wintry

 

Stacy Kear's picture
Stacy Kear from Bucyrus, Ohio lives in New Jersey is reading The Art of War October 17, 2012 - 5:54pm

 

The Seamstress

The back of a worn black coat
Altered and sewn
Walked away without pause
Weary stitches come undone
Expose her loss
A quilt of torn memories
Cover frail legs
Woven around
The handle of his shotgun
Needle and thread fingers
Place bullets
Delicately into the barrel
Running stitches up her side
One shot
Through the eye of a needle
Crimson embroidery
Decorates the tapestry she made
For them
And the life that he tossed aside

wickedvoodoo's picture
wickedvoodoo from Mansfield, England is reading stuff. October 19, 2012 - 5:53am

My first ever zombie story and it's a poem.

Fun thread. Hope the competition takes off. (p.s. edit - sorry I had to fiddle with it a bit. Editing is allowed before the end of the month right?)

 

 

 

The Two She Thought We Had Lost

 

solemn reason

to kiss the bullets

a final chance

to kiss her

 

release comes

to us both now

in ammunition

kept secret

 

 

 

OtisTheBulldog's picture
OtisTheBulldog from Somerville, MA is reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz October 17, 2012 - 6:03pm

Bullet or Bullit?

I go with Bullit. Why?

Because Steve McQueen

who inspired songs by both 

Cheryl Crow

and the Drive-By Truckers

In the ode to McQueen

Patterson, the main trucker says,

"That pussy Alec Baldwin sucked in the remake"

It's a getaway reference, of course

But point taken, Patterson

OtisTheBulldog's picture
OtisTheBulldog from Somerville, MA is reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz October 17, 2012 - 6:10pm

Bullet Haiku

OK, here's the deal

the business end of a

Bullet is bad news

wickedvoodoo's picture
wickedvoodoo from Mansfield, England is reading stuff. October 17, 2012 - 6:14pm

^ likes that one

Emma C's picture
Class Facilitator
Emma C from Los Angeles is reading Black Spire by Delilah Dawson October 17, 2012 - 7:16pm

Ava

The red spills out across the floor;
A dressing gown upon the ground.
The kimono’s drape as she closes the door:
A glimpse of something lost, now found.

Whispers inside won’t break the glass.
The whispers won’t stay,
This too shall pass.
She clings to the tassel that keeps out the day.

Adore was once the word they spoke,
Roses littered the empty stage.
No one remembers any more,
The river rushed, the dam broke.
Bullets and wine get better with age,
The red spills out across the floor.

Emma C's picture
Class Facilitator
Emma C from Los Angeles is reading Black Spire by Delilah Dawson October 17, 2012 - 7:18pm

JR- you could draw a picture for the winner. Or the winner gets a signed copy of your poem.

Jonathan Riley's picture
Jonathan Riley from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland October 17, 2012 - 8:11pm

@Emma now you are onto something. I'll make sure that signed copy of my poem comes on a roll of toliet paper.

@Pendragon. That tumblr is really freaking cool. Great stuff there too!

Covewriter's picture
Covewriter from Nashville, Tennessee is reading & Sons October 17, 2012 - 8:47pm

Ive never done poetry. This is close to a first for me so dont laugh. Ima little nervous, but what i love abot this site is that you can just write.. It doesnt matter . So here goes, with the bullet prompt. i will keep my day job, but wondering if this is a worthy start or not.?

 

GUILT

A bullet ends it 

But it's not over really

Your spirit resides 

 

Talk to me baby

Tell me who tore your sweet heart

We can seek revenge

 

It was me you say? 

No, no I loved you always

Guilt, guilt, leave me be. 

 

I toss in sweat-soaked linen 

Your spirit reminds

I tore  your heart before

the bullet hit 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

pendragon's picture
pendragon from Seoul is reading Memories October 17, 2012 - 10:39pm

@Jonathan: Thanks for checking out my site! I'm not really sure how to promote any of this. I started a facebook page also but don't really know how to get people to know about it. It's very tricky!

http://www.facebook.com/xpenxdragonx

 

Emma C's picture
Class Facilitator
Emma C from Los Angeles is reading Black Spire by Delilah Dawson October 17, 2012 - 10:45pm

@Pendragon Self-promotion, you say? Post here: http://litreactor.com/discuss/official-whoring-thread

If you're not already on Twitter, I'd recommend doing that as well; you can tie it into your tumblr.

pendragon's picture
pendragon from Seoul is reading Memories October 17, 2012 - 10:48pm

Cool cool! Thanks!

 

Emma C's picture
Class Facilitator
Emma C from Los Angeles is reading Black Spire by Delilah Dawson October 18, 2012 - 5:49am

JR- Yes, make it one of your poo poems on toilet paper! That's art, dude.

Stacy Kear's picture
Stacy Kear from Bucyrus, Ohio lives in New Jersey is reading The Art of War October 18, 2012 - 1:29pm

Where is your poem J.Y.? That doesn't count. I really liked the one you posted somewhere, once upon a time. 

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like October 18, 2012 - 1:37pm

I really liked the one you posted somewhere, once upon a time.

Yeah, I can see it made quite the impression on you. ;-s

I'll do one. I've twelve days yet.

Stacy Kear's picture
Stacy Kear from Bucyrus, Ohio lives in New Jersey is reading The Art of War October 18, 2012 - 1:43pm

@ J.Y.  For real, it did. It was magical. ;-) 

 

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like October 18, 2012 - 5:11pm

Stacy --- I've been wondering what poem you meant. Was it the "Zombie Zoo" poem? It seems someone deleted that thread, forcing me to be the second person to post a zombie poem in this thread. It went something like:

The whole truth must surely include

the zombie zoo, and me, and you

[something, something, something]

A spherical cage with no bars but gravity

[something]

No visitors but the aliens who set up the place

In the first place

The only place

Was that the one?

More importantly: Why are people deleting threads?

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like October 18, 2012 - 5:16pm

There were also two I wrote for Phil when we became "friends": one limerick and one total bullshit.

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like October 18, 2012 - 5:19pm

Phil is a guy from who-knows-where

And God only knows what he does there

For wry erudition

He shows predilection

Of witty remarks the big-cat's share

Stacy Kear's picture
Stacy Kear from Bucyrus, Ohio lives in New Jersey is reading The Art of War October 18, 2012 - 7:30pm

It was the Zombie Zoo one, find it. 

pendragon's picture
pendragon from Seoul is reading Memories October 18, 2012 - 8:09pm

I like this thread.

Jonathan Riley's picture
Jonathan Riley from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland October 18, 2012 - 8:16pm

@PennyD I'm glad you like it. I just doubled your number of face book likes.

pendragon's picture
pendragon from Seoul is reading Memories October 18, 2012 - 8:29pm

Woohoo! One of these days I'll figure out how to get people to know about my facebook page!

Jose F. Diaz's picture
Jose F. Diaz from Boston is reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel October 19, 2012 - 3:20am

I Will Not Forget
The Spring of your life, men with bullets shipped you
Across an ocean blue; soon you would know
A life of pain and sugarcane, some chew.

The Summer winds brought you a tropic glow,
A golden painted beau; a kindly man
With Indian tough skin and determined bros.

With Autumn’s cooling rains brought a baby tan
With freedoms respite and sweetest loves light;
Her child’s thin dignity would forge a clan.

The winter of Spanish war left’a future bright,
She drank dark Rum and sang to America,
A world of dreams and growing deserved rights.

Wild she was, scarred yet free, a wife with dogma
Who loved her man, her child, and ripe canepa.

voodoo_em's picture
voodoo_em from England is reading All the books by Ira Levin October 19, 2012 - 6:04am

Romeo

It happened in slow motion

Bullet time

For the crazy girl with big blue eyes

Crumbling in to a thousand

Damp little pieces

He stood and watched her fall internally

Thou her body never moved

Looked at his watch

Said

I’ve got better places to be

Than here

With you

Words imprinted on a fractured heart

True Love

Romeo Alpha Tango
 

avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters October 19, 2012 - 6:42am

@JY - was the poem in the poetry thread that we had?  That thread is not deleted, it just is locked to the public. 

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like October 19, 2012 - 7:55am

My poet's plight: soft copper in the night air:

spent casing clinks after bold bullet's brain.

The old ones are still the good ones,

though we'd never know the better

of this reptile's rhetoric, which is fine with me:

I flick forked tongues like chili-farts,

fire men in the boiler, blaze stockings

back-talking. Each window is a ledge,

each ledge an opportunity

to catch face upon the morrow

a chance to grind that system under me.

Jonathan Riley's picture
Jonathan Riley from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland October 19, 2012 - 8:07pm

Let's bump it up.

 

Shooting Blanks

they all die,

infected by limp bullets

and sick swimmers.

who cooks eggs

in an oven?

Who marinates them with protein?

Who does that?

Why?

they all die

 

 

Dino Parenti's picture
Dino Parenti from Los Angeles is reading Everything He Gets His Hands On October 19, 2012 - 9:24pm

It's been a while, so have mercy...

Post Mordem

In ashen spells of silence
without time, we feel bound
to take up our icy blades and
open up the other on a worn slab
with the echelon sheets carving
jagged about our curves like mountain
switchbacks dropping off  the edges
into blackness.

As we flay away our covers,
that fluorescent moon pouring past the blinds
cleaves our waxen, battle-scarred
nakedness in broken gashes—
a sliver of curled fingers,
a ribbon of tendons on the neck
dulled from rigor.

We attempt resuscitation
with tired cuts and gouges,
tearing out our sutures
over and over again;
you with your graceful talons,
me with the blunted molars
of a jackal,
denuding some writhing
quarry,
long wailing
for a bullet.

Emma C's picture
Class Facilitator
Emma C from Los Angeles is reading Black Spire by Delilah Dawson October 19, 2012 - 9:54pm

Remembrance

She brushes her hair away from her face,

Shy out-of-town grin across the windy mall.

Teeth like bullets, legs even more dangerous

Kept partly hidden by vintage VonFurstenberg

  or maybe some Target knockoff.

Lips stained by Light Up My Latte close over that .25 calibre smile

I see the streaks, down her cheeks;

The sorrow I was too hungry to see. 

The eyes that aren't laughing.

I pay for my hot dog but she's gone,

Dwarfed behind the wall,

Caressing that cold stone with her fingertips;

Etching the name,

Joining her fingertips with the mosaic of a million other pilgrims.

 

Emma C's picture
Class Facilitator
Emma C from Los Angeles is reading Black Spire by Delilah Dawson October 19, 2012 - 10:01pm

Fixes and Treats

I'll trade you bullets for candy;

I crave the sweetness

The rich salty taste of iron and oxygen

Suspended in plasma.

The bang which turns ivory teeth 

Into smashed fragments of candy corn.

And dreamers

Become sleepers in that long night.

Dino Parenti's picture
Dino Parenti from Los Angeles is reading Everything He Gets His Hands On October 19, 2012 - 10:08pm

@Emma:

"And dreamers

Become sleepers in that long night."

I like.

Good stuff.

 

Emma C's picture
Class Facilitator
Emma C from Los Angeles is reading Black Spire by Delilah Dawson October 19, 2012 - 10:17pm

Thanks! I seriously just banged both of those out on my iPhone while watching X-Men First Class and thinking about Hamlet.

MadPoet's picture
MadPoet from Australia currently living in Seattle is reading at least three books at any given time. October 20, 2012 - 11:43am

Tamed

A bullet on a strangled leather string.
The perfect accessory for
a broken butterfly heart.

newName's picture
newName October 20, 2012 - 12:51pm

@Emme: That's got to be the best "inspiration story" I've ever heard.

As for the topic of this competition, I had *just* gotten that Hollywood Undead song out of my head...ugh. Ah, well. I decided to do something a little different from my usual and go with a sonnet. Annnd...ta-da!

The Frailty of Peace

When all the world lay still in peace,
And naught is heard but happy sighs,
When War's put down like frothing beast,
A bullet still in gun resides.

The children know not what it's for,
They only point the thing in jest,
They do not know the Game of War,
Until it goes off in one's chest.

The parents now weep tears of rage,
Again was set mass slaughter's stage.

Jonathan Riley's picture
Jonathan Riley from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland October 20, 2012 - 1:37pm

I have to say I'm really impressed. You guys are all bringing it! Keep it up.

pendragon's picture
pendragon from Seoul is reading Memories October 21, 2012 - 9:54am

Loving it!

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like October 22, 2012 - 11:10am

There once was a man with skin cancer

Who had a young dog he named "Prancer"

The dog licked his 'noma

And fell into a coma

In his dreams he co-starred with Tony Danza

newName's picture
newName October 22, 2012 - 12:28pm

@J.Y. -- WINNAR! lol

Jonathan Riley's picture
Jonathan Riley from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland October 22, 2012 - 6:39pm

You ain't right J.Y. Ha

Emma C's picture
Class Facilitator
Emma C from Los Angeles is reading Black Spire by Delilah Dawson October 22, 2012 - 10:32pm

@MLNicky I am usually watching X-Men and thinking about Hamlet.

newName's picture
newName October 23, 2012 - 11:47am

Is it because of Patrick Stewart? I love that man.

Emma C's picture
Class Facilitator
Emma C from Los Angeles is reading Black Spire by Delilah Dawson October 24, 2012 - 9:29pm

I love PStew, too, but, no, it's because Hamlet just rocks: it's so wonderfully deathy. And who notices PStew when there's TENNANT.