This Title Poetry contest just blew me away. For starters, I expected about 20 entries. I think we topped out at 80 or so. And I had NO idea some of you could actually write poems without using ANY extra words. A bunch of you did so with fewer than EIGHT extra words.
Color me astonished.
Picture of me astonished:
I managed to gather my wits and select some of my favorites. No way I'm calling these best; every single entry had merit and the entire array showed an amazing breadth of creativity.
Recognition for a single line:
"and our greatest prize would be humility." --I should tattoo that on my knuckles as a daily reminder.
Robin 3am (part 11)
"RECOLLECTED, she ESSAYS forth --I love that you used Essays as a verb not noun!
Hawke 3:08pm (part 4)
Recognition for using a title I immediately wanted to read:
THE PARTICULAR SADNESS OF LEMON CAKE by Aimee Bender
Abby 11:28am
bonus points for other languages
KD 3:10am (part 11)
bonus points for few added words
7 words extra
Kate 8:15pm (part 6)
Sixto 12:05 (part 3)
Steph 9:45am (part 2)
Jennifer 6:15am (part 1)
5 words extra
Bill 9:31pm (part 10)
Lyra 12:03pm (part 1)
3 words extra
Marilou 5:03pm (part 4)
2 words extra
Colin 12:29 (part 3)
Two entries used NO extra words. I'm in AWE.
Sheila 3:32 (part 8)
Victor 9:25 am (part 2)
Special recognition for a haiku!
Teri 5:23pm (part 5)
Victor 9:25am (part 2) -even though it's not 5/7/5
Special recognition for using only the books of Nevil Shute AND a book Nevil Shute influenced:
Joelle 11:38am (part 3)
Special recognition for the the extra touches you added to your photos:
Joelle 11:38am (part 3)-the feline
Fatiyah 12:41 (part 8) --the pipe (hookah?)
Rachel 2:23 (part 8) -- I like the reversed books that demonstrate white space
Joel 10:27 pm (part 7) -- the contemplative lizard!
Here are the finalists:
Julie 9:41am (part 11)
Abby 11:28am (part 11)
Christina 1:59pm (part 11)
Schipper 5:41 (part 9)
Stephanie 6:32 (part 9)
Shauna 8:15pm (part 9)
Sheila 3:32 (part 8)
Sarah 12:20am (part 7)
Theo (7:02am) (part 7)
Kathleen 11:21pm (part 7)
Jesse 12:47 (part 7)
Adriana 8:06pm (part 6)
Teresa 9:51pm (part 6)
Mimi 9:36am (part 5)
Maja 4:39pm (part 4)
Berit 3pm (part 4)
Radhika 10:47am (part 3)
Eileen 11:42 (part 3)
Heather 6:42 am (part 2)
Victor 9:25am (part 2)
Nicola 3:31am (part 1)
Alia 2:59am (part 1)
Gemma 5:59am (part 1)
Kitty 6:02am (part 1)
After a long, LONG time considering all of the entries, I just had to pull out the four that not only had a poem, but a story in a poem (I'm a total sucker for stories!)
Here are the four finalists:
Julie 9:41am (part 11)
Kathleen 11:21pm (part 7)
Jesse 12:47 (part 7)
Mimi 9:36am (part 5)
By this point I'm a sodden mess trying to decide. Frankly, a sodden shark is a pretty sad shark.
Here I am, trying to decide:
It's BAD when "in your cups" means a tea cup.
Time to call in the reinforcements.
1-800- TAH-EREH
Who better to give me help than She Who Inspired The Contest herself!
So I fired off a quick email. She was delighted to help. Then she started reading the entries. ALL the entries, not just the finalists. Then she emailed back, wailing, "how can I choose?? There are so many great ones!"
I rapped her across the nose with a cupcake and said "back to work."
Wailing resumed.
Then, eventually, an email announcing the winner. And a cupcake wrapper that said "you beast" which I am framing and putting on my wall of accomplishments.
And once again, great minds worked alike. It was the same entry I'd finally FINALLY chosen in the darkest hour of rumination.
And so, without further ado (cause really, who needs ado when you have a winner to announce) here's the winner:
Kathleen 11:21pm (part 7)
Here's the winning poem and picture:
FOR INNOCENTS ONLY...
I attended THE BOYFRIEND SCHOOL
and married A REGULAR GUY
who was JUST MY TYPE,
THE SECOND COMING OF STEVE JOBS.
We bought a home on GOOD HOPE ROAD,
where I taught myself the JOY OF COOKING
and HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT.
It was ALMOST PARADISE.
It was A FALSE SENSE OF WELL BEING.
One Saturday, OUT OF THE BLUE,
I received a call from THE OTHER WIFE,
who said HE WAS HER MAN.
Apparently I couldn't see THE FOREST FOR THE TREES.
That night I stood under the MILK GLASS MOON
and prayed to OUR LADY OF THE LOST AND FOUND.
Is it not a sin to LIE DOWN IN DARKNESS?
He was DEAD ON SUNDAY,
ROADKILL,
may he REST IN PIECES.
Now he is STEPPIN' ON A RAINBOW,
and I am locked up for ALL MY LIFE
following one of THE GREAT TEXAS MURDER TRIALS.
I NEED ALL THE FRIENDS I CAN GET.
Someone, PLEASE DO FEED THE CAT.
I attended THE BOYFRIEND SCHOOL
and married A REGULAR GUY
who was JUST MY TYPE,
THE SECOND COMING OF STEVE JOBS.
We bought a home on GOOD HOPE ROAD,
where I taught myself the JOY OF COOKING
and HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT.
It was ALMOST PARADISE.
It was A FALSE SENSE OF WELL BEING.
One Saturday, OUT OF THE BLUE,
I received a call from THE OTHER WIFE,
who said HE WAS HER MAN.
Apparently I couldn't see THE FOREST FOR THE TREES.
That night I stood under the MILK GLASS MOON
and prayed to OUR LADY OF THE LOST AND FOUND.
Is it not a sin to LIE DOWN IN DARKNESS?
He was DEAD ON SUNDAY,
ROADKILL,
may he REST IN PIECES.
Now he is STEPPIN' ON A RAINBOW,
and I am locked up for ALL MY LIFE
following one of THE GREAT TEXAS MURDER TRIALS.
I NEED ALL THE FRIENDS I CAN GET.
Someone, PLEASE DO FEED THE CAT.
Kathleen, if you'll send me an email with your mailing address we can work out a great prize for a great contest.
Thank you to all of you who entered. AWESOME!!! hardly starts to cover it.
28 comments:
Yay! Congrats to Kathleen!!! :-) ~Ali
Well done, Kathleen! Much deserved. And a huge applause to Janet, if only for taking the time to post every last entry so we could see our handiwork on her blog. :D
This was definitely one of the most fun contests I've ever read! Congratulations to Kathleen and all the other people who shared their creativity with us!
Congratulations, Kathleen! And thank you so much, Janet for the brilliant contest! Waking up to discover I was a finalist (I entered as "Schipper," my real last name) really brightened a rainy Seattle Monday. I'm honored to be in such exceptional company.
Congrats!
The image of Tahereh with baked goods bouncing off her nose is hilarious, and although I don't know her personally, from reading her tweets I can imagine that if it was chocolate, she quickly redirected the flying cupcake and scarfed it down.
Thanks for the inspiration Janet, and oh the fact that I was a finalist tickles me!
Congrats Kathleen!
after I read Kathleen's entry, I knew the contest was over. They were all really fun to read, but hers was so great -- and would be great even without the book titles!
Also, I might just have a soft spot for those people who share my name. :)
Thank you for having such a fun contest!
Congratulations, Kathleen!
This is the other Kitty...
This is the first JR contest in which I've made the finalist list [Kitty 6:02am (part 1)], so this was a huge victory for me.
Winning is always nice, but I love the challenge and the creative energy it produces.
I loved reading all the entries. Congrats to Kathleen whose entry deserved to win!
Kathleen, your entry was fabulous. Congratulations!
Judges(s), I concur with your award of the top prize. There were many fine entries, but I'd been rooting for Kathleen since the moment I read her poem/story.
Brenda Buchanan
Congrats Kathleen! And everyone! I really enjoyed reading all the entries.
That was really fun, both making and reading. Kudos to Kathleen, and everyone else who played :)
Congratulations to everyone, I agree with the shark, they were all amazing. And Kathleen's is the one that stuck in my head.
Congrats Kathleen! What an awesome contest. And I'm in awe of everyone who managed to get so many books into their photo. I had to shorten my poem because I couldn't fit all my books into the frame!
Nice work Kathleen! I remember reading yours. It's the last line. I love it.
This contest was so much fun, thank you, Janet, for doing it. Congrats to Kathleen and the other finalists - well done!
Congratulations Kathleen! Yours was my favorite too. Kudos to all. What creative minds!
Wow, that poem was excellent, congrats to a well deserved winner!
Also, Janet, thanks for this contest, it was AWESOME! I think I now know what to do when I get a random bought of writer's block.
Oh my gosh, I just turned on my computer and saw the contest results. Congratulations to everyone who completed the journey.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Janet, for all the time and effort you put into this contest. Thank you for encouraging and motivating us year in and year out.
Tahereh, thank you for inspiring this contest, and for helping Janet with the judging.
Every entry was wonderful in its own unique way. You all were such stiff competition!
My heartfelt thanks to everyone who took the time to read my poem, and especially to those who left me such generous and encouraging comments. They are the real prize, as they will keep me moving forward on days when the rejections threaten to overwhelm.
Kathleen
Great choice for the winner. Kathleen's is great.
(I'd like to mention that mine, Joel 10:27 pm (part 7), also used no extra words.)
Thanks for the contest; I really enjoyed the poems and insights into other people's libraries. You do great work.
There were so many great ones, and I congratulate everyone!
Sorry I missed yours Joel!
Well done, everybody! Janet, thanks for the fun contest and for posting all the entries even though they were clearly more than you bargained for. And yes, totally gratifying to be a finalist!
-Shakier Anthem (a.k.a. Heather 6:42 a.m.)
Thank you for this incredible contest. Buried in the entries are two young writers I encouraged to enter. This was their first contest. Applause to them.
Kathleen, you rock. Incredible use of premise, books, story, photo, you name it, this entry had it!
I treasure my shout-out for the haiku (Teri, 5:23, part 5) I was digging through books at a garage sale thinking about the contest and the book with the 7-syllable title caught my eye and off to the races was I. No sure the other garage sale patrons appreciated my repeated stacking of books.
This is a contest for the ages. I hope you treated yourself to gin and cupcakes and I hope you're brave enough to do it again some day.
Thanks again! Terri
Congrats to Kathleen!! Chuffed to be a finalist, but really I was just grateful to enter the contest. So fun and an awesome writing exercise - really cleared out the cobwebs as I'm working on some revisions at the moment. Plus I love looking at what books were on people's shelves.
Thanks Janet and Tahereh :)
Congratulations to Kathleen and huge thanks (again) to Janet for organising this. A very well deserved winner.
Well done everybody!
Theo (chuffed to be a finalist)
This is such an awesome contest! I loved reading the entries, and HUGE congrats to Kathleen. I'm so glad she won! Hers was my favorite, too. I love poems with story!
Wow, I am thrilled to be one of the finalists! I had a heap of fun pulling books from the bookcase and playing around with the titles. Thanks Janet for the opportunity, and well done to all the great entries, especially Kathleen - what a great story!
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