(Results)Poetry Contest - Reminsce of the Days of Old

In light of our current economic situation and our quickening approach to an end of many different ways of life, practices, ideals and ideology, I offer up this poetry contest to all members and writers of ATS.

Your challenge is to compose a piece of poetry or prose in any format you would like in which the main theme surrounds the idea of Reminiscing about years or times of long ago". You the writer can be as creative as you wish with your interpretation of memories of yesteryear, however your prose should clearly be written from a reflective or reminiscent point of view.

Your poem should be no more than 150 words, Written in any format or style and submitted directly to this thread by simply posting a reply.
Only two (2) entries per member
All participating members will receive "Writer" status at close of the contest

Two winners:
One winner will be selected from a team of three (3) anonymous judges.
Second winner will be determined by member rating using the star system. The post with the most stars will be declared a winner.

Prizes: Each Winner will receive 5000 ATS Points.

Contest and Thread will be closed on Sunday March 8th, 2009
Winners Announced on March 11th.

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Now here's a horrible example to inspire you:
I know you can all do better, so show me and get to posting...

Good luck and have fun.

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Results:I would like to express my gratitude to all those who participated in this contest and made it such a success. This was a very difficult contest to judge due to large number of outstanding entries. Never underestimate your talents and never give up writing. Words can convey emotions and so much more and you all paint beautifully . I thoroughly enjoyed reading each and every entry and had many favorites. However we are supposed to have two winners, so without further delay......

Tied: Greenize for Up in the Morning
and: CA_Orot for Mommy Carry Me

Congratulations to our winners, each will receive 5000 ATS points

Now on to our Member voted Winner who will also receive 5000 ATS points:

Congratulations to Antar with 14 stars as of 6:30pm for her entry
Walking along the lazy afternoon shoreline

And Just Because I can

1500 ATS Point to following honorable mentions in no particular order...

LeelaSavage
s3dreamlnd93
Siege
Whaaa
Solarskye
Seagrass
blupblup
Blogstalker
Travelerinthedark
djquinn
LiquidCrystalz
The Weeping Willow
Deltaalphanovember
Whatukno
ProgramOrganic

Congratulations to our Winners and honorable mentions. See you in the next contest



[edit on 3-11-2009 by worldwatcher]

Please do not star - for example only

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Sipping on a green glass coke bottle
Looking up into a dark blue sky
Seeing a DC3 lumbering along
Hearing tires squeal down the block
Admiring the souped up green Duster
Through the cloud of blue smoke

Wondering who Ed Sullivan will have on Sunday night
Loving the Rolling Stones Between the Buttons album
The Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Hour
Ed, the Talking Horse and Get Smart
I Love Lucy was mom's favourite show
Dad tuning into The Wide, Wide World of Sports

Baseball and hockey, arenas and diamonds.
The smell of grass and the taste of blood.
Scratches, bruises, scabs and loose teeth.
Running like you're flying.
Never out of breath.
Fights and the arch enemies of my youth
Evolving into undying friendships.

Blissful memories all.





[edit on 2/3/09 by masqua]

the small odd things that make me think,
of times past,
and people,
and places
when i did something that left it's mark on me,
yet not thought of as important,
at the time,
or since.

yesterday, i caugt the smell of a flower,
it made me think of the hot sun
the dark wood,
and the sweet, hoppy beer.
it made me new,
in a diy store,
in february.

that night i saw a forgotten, rerun ad on late night TV
i'ld not seen since i wondered why everything went on as normal,
while my grandmother died,
a tear for daz washing powder,
and a silly selfish child

a lesson relearned last week,
i stubbed my toe like
that day i learned to run with reckless abandon,
and it reminded me,
at the age of 25,
to care less how i go.

i wonder why the small things
that i never noticed
the day that the memory was laid down
make the strongest, sweetest, reminders
of things i never tought to recall.

Questions.

Where has the honour gone?
Where has self respect gone?
The ratrace and the trampling has begun.
Who will crush the others and rise to be numberone?

Small time,Small crime,butcher,baker corner shop,
Are no more because the corperations are top,
Is this the beginning of wealth or the start of the rot?

Fields and forests a natural sight,
Soon developed with the beurocrats might.
A cynical view some might say,
But this is ATS so I say yay.

KUHL

hoofbeats on the radio

then

black & white tv

bright futures everywhere

but

clouds of change soon gathered

music crooned then rocked & rolled

eyes drawn aloft, men dared to dream

eyes ahead, women dared demand

freedom

shared, by colors all

youth served itself on altars many:

drugs and sex and truth and war

and the world changed

for a bit, by a lot

bright futures everywhere

by leaps and bounds we grew in knowledge

science fiction birthed new tools, new ways of thought

freedom prospered, walls fell down

yet still the clouds gathered, now darkly damning as

we danced through the years on our grandchildren's graves

dreams forgotten eyes drawn down

men dream of coin not new frontiers

no bright futures anywhere

Chauncey Street

Elbows on the windowsill, chin resting in my hands
Gazing at the front yard fence, the birds softly land
The mailman and his leather bag slowly makes his way past me
The tire is full of water that hangs from my swinging tree

While waiting for the sun to shine and take away the puddles
I gather my stuffed animals for squeezes and for cuddles
The musical sound familiar in the distance chimes
Excited, I quickly gather all my nickels and my dimes

The other children on my street
They are coming too, they know that beat
It’s getting louder, the time is near
“Mommy! The ice cream man is here!”

I walk to Dee Dee’s house with my rat on my shoulder
She is my best friend, and she might like to hold her
My brother and I don’t get along, he plays a little too rough
I think he is too strong, and he thinks he’s really tough

My mom sings it’s time for lunch
And what it is... I have a hunch
It’s my favorite and she always knows
In Tupperware I’ll be having Spagetti-os

It’s princess time, I like to pretend
And wish that it would never end
But I need a nap, she says it’s time
And so must end my childish rhyme

when I wake up, I wonder what I’ll do?
I’m sure I can think of something new
I know! I’ll build a fort!
With blankets and a table of some sort




[edit on 2-3-2009 by seagrass]

Yawning with sister on a Saturday morning
Eating what mother sets tiredly down
SwapShop, TopCat, Road-Runner's Meep
Television needs changing, who'll walk over and switch?
Elvis is on, "Blue Hawaii"?, "G.I. Blues"? Which one this week?
Rowing parents' hushed anguish, bills in hand.
Young, oblivious, "Boom" and "Bust" just funny words,
Egypt? Arabia? Oil prices? Who cares?
Afternoon's pass relentlessly till the bills are in my hand,
Recession: tired, anguish, bust - ah, this is what it was.

The city stays a stranger
in the bitter winds eye cast upon shadow less shapes that issue from obscure corners
dividing the ancient labyrinths at dusk
Solemn stone walls suspended in both directions swallow up the steep hills
Unsteady steps dissolve in retrospect towards insensible ground
Torn and ragged streets confront the silence of the cries of a thousand incoherencies
speaking at the cold border that feeds grooved tentacles
The city stays a stranger
That beckons, walk with me
I can lead the way to terrified solitude
I can decapitate the present from the past
I am the wayfarer with his dark deference and troubled movement staggering in the twilight
I am the car that roars by with the breath of uncontrollable horses
I am the two girls filled with mad joy, snatching puffs of cigarettes and brushing back their hair
I am the festival at night, the little man, and the pointed prison
I am the rush of the crowd, the smoke, and the blazing light
I have come for you again
Awake from your disturbed dreams and troubled pillow
Walk these un-straight lines as we mingle with tomorrow

Walking along the lazy afternoon shoreline,
I close my eyes and watch as people go by.

Standing in line at the Surf Shack
awaiting a hot order of strips,
adjusting my surfboard on one dark tanned hip.

Sipping on a cold bottle of strawberry crush,
knowing it makes my lush young lips blush,
and tongue tastefully kissable.

Looking across PCH at the crowd gathering
in front of the Golden Bear,
some new guy named Jimmy Hendricks.

The smell of salt air on my skin slightly burnt,
the feeling of melting tar underfoot.

Feeling at one looking up to the sky,
watching as space craft silently pass by.







[edit on 2-3-2009 by antar]

#2 (within 150)

Mid Summer

Hiking in boots that were really too small
Trying to find the enchanted waterfall

Chiggers, cockleburs, and poison oak
Putting my sore feet in the river to soak

Tents, mosquitos, and roasting marshmallows
Ghost stories, truth or dare, and fighting with pillows

Carefully dowsing the campfire ashes
With river rock bruises and rope swing rashes

Slimy worms, hooks, and really big fishes
Fire flies mixing with stars and with wishes

Bucking hay bales in the heat of the sun
Wanting and waiting for it to finally be done

Cows, tractors, gloves and itches
Man those summers were really hot bitches.

A warm smile from across a homely room,
That lets me know I’m safe: cannot be harmed.
With you there was no cause to be alarmed,
My life ahead so bright it seemed to loom.
Each summertime the garden was in bloom,
You acted like, for once, you were disarmed,
I must confess, those days – my life felt charmed
Yet far ahead lay days of fear and gloom.
To look back on this now I feel a kind
Of sadness mixed with hope that may return -
A simpler way of life without the stress
Of bills and jobs and other daily grind.
And still, I know, when I watch this world burn,
There’ll still be those who call it ‘Good Progress.’

Tiger's Eye

Broken bottle memory
Sweaty grin, Summer's child
A humid dusk in August
Joy and laughs are promised
The bells and yells, paper and pens
School's soon and forgotten

Cardboard castle defended
Glinting eyes spitting fire
The tiger slinks in shadows
Swords as sticks thrust forward
The race and chase, warmth and wind
All that really mattered

Between bushes glistening
Shattered glass unwinding time
My mind still finds the tiger
Eye so fierce and unafraid
The brush and rush, flight and flash
Burns my childhood brightly

I had bread and circus
I was a farmer
on the land.
My wife smelled of
patchouli and sage
White Rabbits
opened Doors of
perception.
The banners of
Peace and Love
were everywhere
and Dylan sang
our song.

The Golden Gate
opened wide for
the Charlatans.
Beggars Opera
and I thawed
the Winter Land.
And the walls
were alive with
color and laughter.

Long, long ago

before

Before the black night sky turned gray
and shed its diamonds
Before strip malls leveled the rolling hills
Before the cold blue Colorado River water dried
murky brown
Before the majestic green Rockies were scalped
and ashamed,
turned away
I dreamed of flying with the hawk and the eagle
swimming with dolphins
diving deep and breathing with the whale
I closed my eyes under soft white pillow clouds
and heard the earth speak to me
of hope
in a million different voices
I saw through a thousand different eyes
and breathed the sweetness of life
in a hundred different ways
And I laughed with the joy of it all

before


.

[edit on 3-3-2009 by soficrow]

Burnt goats knew the end of you.
Floor.
Chair.
Where, where, where?
Where?
Bain't nuffin' bein' under there...
I prey the lord my soul to keep,
just enough for one more so I can get to sleep.

My how the world has change...
I miss the drive-in...
I miss the drive up at A&W...
I miss the nights that we would roller skate
with the group...
I miss laying in the yard at night
looking up in the sky....
and wondering... what's out there...

I miss picnics with friends and family...
fireworks in the park...
campfire's on the beach,
cooking marshmallows and hot dogs...

I miss singing songs in rounds...
and camp in the summer...
swimming in the lake and pool...
but I don't miss the swimming caps....

I miss daisy chains...
collecting butterflies and bugs...
catching tad poles and snakes...
those were the good ole days...

When freedom was truly free...
and safety was more easily found...
and children laughed
without being scolded....
yep, I miss that...


Zaim...

Life Before Death.

Innocence. Pure, unwavering.
Mirrors reflect the soul.
Life—consumed with possibility.
Nature—imagination’s playground.
Time! Patience is no virtue.
Love. Unbiased, infinite.
My heart was on my sleeve.
I am but a shadow of that which I was,
A degraded fragment of beauty.
If not for faint memories,
What would become of me?
Corruption. Contagious, decadent.
Birth to maturity, Death of Purity.

Removed for plagiarism. The poem belongs to Natalia Lincoln.

home.bway.net...

[edit on 3/3/09 by masqua]

A Sad Goodbye

Lost in a world of shattered dreams
I can find no comfort for this thing I need

I've searched so long but it is not there
I'm lost in a world of utter despair

Tears have fallen upon my face
They have left a trail that I can't erase

The peace that I seek is nowhere to be found
I'm alone in this world though with many around

Shattered Illusions, muffled cries
A silent whisper, a sad goodbye

Shattered Illusions, muffled cries
A silent whisper .......... a sad goodbye