This Poem was Submitted By: James C. Horak On Date: 2010-02-08 08:43:21 . . . Click Here To Mail this Poem to a Friend!

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February Contest Results

February Contest Standings Poet                                              Poem                                          Points Cheyenne Smyth                     Too Soon Cold                               83.763 Terry Anctil                     Terminal                                      83.500 Mark Steven Scheffer              Poet in Crayon                               72.105 Duane J. Jackson                      Throat of Sky                            39.763 Lora Silvey                                 With In                            37.263 Thomas Edward Wright                  Rime On The Hoarfrost                    26.158 Dellena Rovito                            Whirligig                            24.447 Dan D. Lavigne                        Morning Song                             23.921 DeniMari Z.                        Sun Shines Through Cracks                   21.763 Mark Andrew Hislop                 In Confidence                               20.158 Kenneth R. Patton      One In A Long Line or Ready For Battle                  15.474 Very pleasing results and some very good poems. Cheyenne and Terry gave us a, â€œwon by a nose” suspenseful outcome and that made everything even more interesting. I want to stress if your poem achieved no notice or if you want to go back into your passed submissions to repost for this contest, that's permitted. I would suggest if it's the more recent case, you might consider a little sprucing up of your offering.  This month it may be MSS and Duane to beat...but then.... As always, good luck and good poeming. JCH

Copyright © February 2010 James C. Horak


This Poem was Critiqued By: Mark Andrew Hislop On Date: 2010-02-24 03:27:57
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 10.00000
JCH I've weakened. I'm going to resubmit. What the hell! MAH


This Poem was Critiqued By: DeniMari Z. On Date: 2010-02-19 21:19:40
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 10.00000
Hi JC, I'm glad to see Morning Song among these poems, Duanes Throat of Sky, really stood out, among many others. To be honest with you -I've mentioned this before - I'm having problems with the link as far as putting the poems I want to add to - then at the end of the month I get a message saying I can't vote - so I have to go back to the poems I chose - and do it all over again - I've started writing them down now - because it's causing too much confusion with the voting process - glitches? So, until it changes - my voting will have to be done this way. blessings, Deni
This Poem was Critiqued By: Duane J Jackson On Date: 2010-02-13 21:34:34
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 10.00000
Hi James, Looks like there is a lot of catching up I need to do :-) Duane.
This Poem was Critiqued By: Terry A On Date: 2010-02-08 12:11:16
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 1.00000
Yes it was a good month! Congratuations to Cheyenne for winning in January. And here, I'd like to thank all who voted for my poem this past month. I feel I still don't recognize and appreciate form and poetic technique enough, your critiques enrich my understanding and show just why Cheyenne's poem was so accomplished. I did not include your poems in the contest because I thought you did not want them included. I see by the other members, I was remiss in that and will correct that this month. I have no mechanical apptitude, it makes the study of poetic technique more difficult than it should be, and though it interests me, it's still not reflected in my choices when voting. I'll follow closer and hopefully enrich my reasons for voting as I do. Maybe, even develop an appreciation of the sonnet, though my Muse hasn't noticed the sonnet form since Shakespeare, but I might still be able to. TPL is like a poetry workshop, without the rules that stifle creativity. Much appreciated! Terry
This Poem was Critiqued By: Mark Steven Scheffer On Date: 2010-02-08 10:58:56
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 1.00000
JCH, The contest has always fueled this site. Some may scoff at that . . . but I think there is no coincidence in the heyday of Greek drama, the rivalry of the Elizabethan playwrights . . . competition is good. It played no small role in the way this site took of in its own heyday. Until a flashlight was put on the voting, and we had many running for cover. It's all about "accountability," and honesty, and integrity. Put all the cards on the table . . . don't run and hide. Be prepared to justify, and don't PLAY GAMES WITH THE VOTE. For example, neither Terry, Dellena, DeniMari, nor I ranked the winning poem very highly. Yet it still won. DeniMari did not rank Terry's poem highly. There is nothing wrong with preference, as long as it is honestly expressed. When their are inequities that some of us perceive, they can be addressed in a discussion of merit and how poems should be judged. It is not an exact science, aesthetics. But there can be growth and development in taste, and we all learn. But it's the damn manipulation, the "engineering" to direct the result. That defrauds the collective judgment. I maintain it happened last month, and it still stinks. Terry's poem took a 30 point plummet, suddenly and, again I stick to this and affirm it, someone did some engineering to make that happen. And it went totally unaddressed. I'll probably still post poems here. But the contest is tainted. In fact, it's a bit of a fraud with some manipulator hiding behind the results. The contest has lost a lot of its integrity, and we inevitably suffer. I don't know how I will ultimately address that. But I know a cancer must be addressed, either with resignation to death, or a fight for life. MSS
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