Christmas Poetry Contest Closes Christmas Day at midnight, the 25th, 2010, and voting occurs on the 26th. You can only vote for one poem, not yours. Keep your poems short, less than eight lines. Anyone entering a poem longer than eight lines will be arrested and forced to work as Santa's slave in perpetual bondage. [NB: contest extended to January 6th, 2011, by request of JH.]
WALKING THROUGH A PAPERWEIGHT
Walking home in the snow the dark houses
Two of my children now know that Santa is simulacral
And two do not
31 comments:
hey christmas is at least a twelve day affair
don't please don't completely capitulate to the insidious designs of commercial culture..give the season its full breadth...man...how long lord how long...these benighted ones...i'm adrift these days...life away from cyberspace is possible...i'm considering returning to smoke signals...i'll let you know...i will not enter this poetry contest unless it goes all the way to epiphany...let's get back to the reality of this feast let's do it up right
maranatha
night of the solstice
night of the lunar eclipse
not since 1378 AD
JH
What does Christ think of Christmas,
as he walks with us today?
Do crèches remind him of Mary,
so long and far away?
Where does he go on Christmas eve,
does he come with us to pray?
Or does he go to the synagogue,
and remember his mother that day?
Did Kirby's poem get truncated?
I decided it was better shorter.
advent ends
the house is drafty
contemporaneous confusion
fills the winter air
our hearts strive
not so much to remember
but to re-live the moment
of god becoming us
Hmm. Tough, especially after Kirby tightened his poem up. Still, jh's "re-live the moment" captured my imagination, so he get's my vote.
I'll vote for Stu. I think it's important to think about Christ's mom. She could have aborted the kid, and saved her skin, but the world would have never known God.
i'd like to propose that we give this all important contest until january 6th
2 turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree
wow dude
thanks for the
RC consideration
see
we're not so bad
a galant gesture of
cyberecumenism
all hail il papa
yadda yadda yadda
do the vatican rag
i've begun a novel
jh
There was some new cardinal on Fox last night talking with Geraldo who said that they got the child abuse situation cleaned up but they could not countenance gay marriage, but that gays in the military was not their call, since the Vatican doesn't have a standing army ("how many divisions does the Pope have?" Stalin once asked when he was thinking of invading Poland -- is that the right place??).
At any rate, please do not think of this as some kind of conversion or anything. I'm not really sure what I was agreeing to. I just moved the date is all.
Some of the subtleties of interdenominational warfare escape me. But no, I don't think there is anything wrong with Catholics in general. It's the Spanish twist (and shout ala Torquemada) that troubles me, and which took the life out of their dominions, such that people are still trying to get out of their lousy lands.
Nothing wrong with France much, although the place functions much better in the north where there are Protestants, and a work ethic.
Sorry about that dig.
I am very proud to have you as a member of our club.
My only concern with JH's suggestion, which Kirby has adopted, is that this contest will roll off of the front page, and with it, out of the minds of all. It might be a reasonable idea to do a front-page repost when that happens. And I'm a bit discouraged that the extra time hasn't resulted in more submissions. It's kind of like extending an assignment at school -- the students who didn't get it done by the original deadline rarely get it done by an extended deadline.
Christmas means airports
From Nazareth to Bethlehem is eighty miles,
Four days in a caravan,
A long trip for a man, a donkey,
And a pregnant woman.
From Chicago to Denver is a thousand miles,
Seven hours, from door to door,
A week from departure to return,
For a mother to see her children.
on the 5th day of christmas
my mother was lost in Walmart
when i found her she looked frightened
she forgot where we were supposed to meet
and she forgot some of the things
she wanted to buy
JH opens up new and interesting turf with this last poem. Nice!
I didn't call anyone this Christmas
I sat and worked on the Rockwell puzzle
Painted in 1962
It features a Steve Martin-esque male
In gray suit with slightly fat neck
Black shoes
Hands folded behind his back
Carrying a magazine
Called Art of Our Century
Looking at a Pollock-esque painting
That could have been made by a Spinmaster
Black green yellow swirls
Red orange white blobs and splatters
It took three solid days to put
The 1000 pieces together
Two pieces missing
One white piece from the parquet floor
One piece of a hand folded behind his back
Who made this error at the puzzle factory?
An unfinished feeling haunts my Christmas after 24 hours of effort
Looking at a man looking at a painting
Parody on top of parody
I've exceeded the line limit
And am DQ'd
What is the object in the upper left hand corner of the new image? A jellyfish?
Stu, I found the image online and liked it, and plunked it on. I was looking at Haeckel's stuff, and I think it's a Haeckel that's been cut and pasted.
Kirby,
Ah... it is indeed a jellyfish, cut and mirror imaged from a famous Haeckel plate, c.f., Haeckel's Jellyfish.
Did you do the photoshopping? What did the original card look like?
I found it online like that.
Kirby,
Ah... Now I understand. If you do a google image search for "Haeckel christmas" you'll find a number of similar cards. I suspect that this is original and not photoshopped. Who'd have guessed?
Question: Is today final submission day, with vote day being the 6th, or is tomorrow final submission day, with vote day being the 7th?
Let's make today the final submission day, and tomorrow the vote.
Midnight today is final deadline.
Tomorrow is the voting day, then.
THE REWARDS OF LAZINESS
All the neighbors took their lights down which left us
With the one strand of lights in the
neighborhood
We went from being the worst-dressed
To the best dressed
Well, there are very nice new entries by jh and Kirby. I especially like the irony/humility of Kirby's "The Rewards of Laziness," although "The Last Will Be First" works as an alternative title too.
Still, I can't shake the image of jh's "re-live the moment." If I'm to judge poetry by how it changes me, he's still the clear winner, and retains my vote.
Stu, I like your better title for my last poem. I'm voting for JH's mom lost in Wal-Mart.
So we need some more voters.
I think JH left his monastery to take care of his mother in Montana. Is that correct?
And he has a new apartment there in Montana? Is that correct?
Kirby,
I think JH left his monastery to take care of his mother in Montana. Is that correct?
And he has a new apartment there in Montana? Is that correct?
I hope jh clarifies, but my sense is that this is a temporary move, and it was to provide support to both parents.
Ladies and gentlemen, We have a split decision! JH is the winner and still champion, when TWO of his poems are decided as the co-winners of the Christmas 2010-11 Poetry Contest here at LS!
i was all set to start the new year
in a state of beautiful dejection
but lo and behold
i am taking care of my parents now
i live right by the cathedral
in western montana
the rc cathedral that is
i live in a very old house
in a quaint apt.
i'm not too keyed into the cyberworld these days
i do check in here once in awhile
always something for amusement
i wonder where everyone else goes on the web
anyway
graciously i accept
the split decision
the war of words
with my self and the
world
i failed to vote
i was waylayed
somewhere between
glacier and yellowstone park
i would've voted for
stu's tight little ditty
thanks for caring you guys
blog on
jh
The critical question here is whether, now that this post has fallen off of the front page, whether jh will realize his exalted status.
Yes, he knows. Had he voted he would have shared the status with you, Stu.
I would like to know if JH is now done with the monastery.
no
i am not done with the monastery
nor are they done with me
i still have demons with which to wrestle and these devils must be wrestled in the monastery
i am given a brief leave of absence
my mission is to gently place
my parents in some sort of
assisted care setting...it's so cold adn frozen here in montana i think i may change that description to
just get them through this winter
you can announces this to the world if you want
hell i don't care
but already i miss
the chanting of psalms
and the daily round of this and thats that make up monastic life
try it sometime
you'll like it
i'm dressing in regular clothes
i'm wearing pair a carhaart biboveralls and three layers for warmth
and i am now partying
like it's 1999
going out of style
sort of old beat
but hey
it's never too late
to boogie
jh
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