2009 capt lorax RIP we miss U boo memorial ILX POETRY contest poll

We Staggered Like Bonsai

We staggered like bonsai through the general
assent of glasses, trailing streamers
from our heels and freshening
drinks with a vengeance.

Understand, we expected this
to happen to other people. There had been no call
for laughter, nothing insidious at the get-go
to suggest that we would find our tongues

So soon. We were twins, and fatherless,
standing on our own feet under the gaunt
lanterns, plumped up with savoir-faire, game now
for skinny-dipping and all sorts of June buggery.

The wind came up and blew the crows clean
Out of the pines.

― rogermexico.

(emotions)

they may not be focussed as much as they should
or turned into a nice portrait, lamp or flowering garden bed -
sometimes I just throw them like plates
against a wall
and regret having to clean up the mess afterwards
and perhaps I don't discipline them well or
often enough
How dare she, they say, such rowdy misbehaviour
But they are the engine room of my creativity
the children I don't have
the fuel that makes my head keep burning
when all around the rest of me is ashen
get away from me with that firehose

― Trayce

yeah for rotational symmetry!

the revolving signs are positive
tunes running through
cities wearing earphones

and all around the bridge
over the elapsing river
dances the music

files turning tunnels
tuning an immersion
to stave each other off

the city as subjective construct
telekinetic realisations
download each other

from the playlist
one song is chosen
facing north or south

the same story is told
in the eyes of passers-by
attuned to their song and yours

project horizontally
with a complacent fixity
of noting

and this is the symmetry of it:
nobody needs to acknowledge you
to be in your music video

they could shout or swivel
and only fall out of harmony
with unseen dials

citing answerphone damn
exciting here down
phone city areas

i’ll bring gold frankincense and myrrh
and you'll just take the donkey
haphaw spun into mayday

until once again
ensconced contently
within our orb

we look outwards
at the endless random
cycle home

― country matters

On Inducing Retinal Hallucination During Mass

I wouldn't pray, or couldn't gloss my syllables like them,
their tongues loose as clappers in a lolling range of bell-buoys,
wakened by the Spirit. More simple to assume the prayerful attitude:
the fingers herringboned across my forehead would seam the suction
of the diving mask. Meek jelly eyeballs, pressured by the blunt palm,
would oblate: across the purple lids, a sudden bloom of algae.
Even in want of stimulus, there comes perception; in this fluid darkness,
a worm of light angles. Each phosphor germ inhabits this, only this,
atmospheric compression. The man speaking from the pulpit that day
was one of those visionaries who has seen the Blessed Virgin,
conjured by crisis. As he chanted to the congregation "Present,
She is present, she is present here now," I saw her, too,
carbuncular Star of the Sea: hard radiance honed into mobile spines
to stilt astride the faithful, mouth stooping in mercy
to scavenge with its grasping tongue, taking into itself
the dissolving flesh from the fissures of men.

― elmo argonaut

“Dutch Schultz, duh,”
Chuck blurts.

Hubbub. Ruckus.

“Hush up,” Buck murmurs.

Dumbstruck: “Uh, sum up.”

“Truth? Drunk trust-fund
numbskull slung guns.”

Lunch truck turns up: crumb-buns,
hummus, spuds, Busch.

Chuck shuts up,
stuffs flush mug full.

But: Lungs burn.
Chuck curls up. Hurls.

Succumbs.

Flu bug? (Shrug.
Stuff hurts.)

Tut-tut, brush-cut skulls.
Drug-bust dust-ups bug
us punk fuck-ups.
Humdrum suburbs suck.

― jaymc

I went to the Donuts a-Dunkin
And thought I would buy me a munchkin.
When asked to describe
What they were to my eyes,
I said they were donuts a-shrunkin'.

― EZ Snappin

Spandrels

Obsolete black boxes turn quietly,
light golden glinting spinning
on a slanted lazy susan.

Discarded heaps of furniture fill a P'up,
red-brown and chrome rusted junk,
in late afternoon on a Tuesday.

Glare in the rearview on the way to the dump:
the reflection on my cargo is bunk,
vestigial, but nicely decorated.

― later arpeggiator

taken out and whipped

after reading, remove the culprit
he is to be taken out and whipped
he dared to sully our sacred pulpit
he failed to wow us with his wit

― darraghmac

An lonely inquisitive stroll down lover's lane

I really wanted to write a great poem
Before the deadline was due
I ended up procrastinating
Or maybe I just struggled a lot and came up with nothing good.

I never had a god but I sure wish I did
He would help me achieve simple goals
So that I could be the man I want to be
And I could do the things I want to do.

Alas, that's not going to happen.
So I should be happy with what I am.
233 lbs of weak, pathetic, realistic,
generally optimistic, fat and bones.

Some people think I'm a barrel of laughs
They think I'm a great funny guy
So maybe I should end this (uhh) poem optimistically
and admit that I like myself the way I am.

I like myself the way I am.
(This poem isn't very good though)

I should have wrote out the poem idea about a possible suicidal jump at lover's leap
but I never got past the title
And if you like this poem then FUCK YOU.
And FUCK ME too. I wouldn't mind being fucked.

THE END

― Mulvaney

long live mulvaney

I think I goofed up and lost the formatting on some of these

oh well here are links to the originals

"do you ever think about the waves" by G00blar
"Pork pies" by snoball
"INSECTS AND YOU" by Abbott
"Love in a Time of Everything" by Aimless
"Bump bump bump" by latebloomer
"here are two cats sleeping on a pair of thrift shop sofas" by ian
"the moment of silence is over" by bernard snowy
"A Girl In Four Movements" by big HOOS aka the steendriver
"Paul Was Saul Until He Was Blinded" by Edward III
"denver airport advice to a member of the passeridae" by the table is the table
"Of all the things I've posted " by M.V.
"MY POEM TITLED TUESDYAS" by uh oh I'm having a fantasy
"boring job" by rent
"April Has The Cruelest Poems" by Beth Parker
"TUGJBHHINGS III CAN MN SMELL;" by Abbott's dog
"1 Minute of Decadence" by a hoy hoy
"We Staggered Like Bonsai" by rogermexico
"(emotions)" by Trayce
"yeah for rotational symmetry!" by country matters
"On Inducing Retinal Hallucination During Mass" by elmo argonaut
"Dutch Schultz, duh" by jaymc
"I went to the Donuts a-Dunkin" by EZ Snappin
"Spandrels" by later arpeggiator
"taken out and whipped" by darraghmac
"An lonely inquisitive stroll down lover's lane" by Mulvaney

loss of italics in my entry is driving me crazy < /anal>

I'm not going to vote for myself or poems with 5 or more words I don't understand (sorry Edward).
But I read through all of these poems just now and have chosen my ILPoet. Thanks for making this poll and keeping a deadline Edward :)

Also, Beth I would love to hear you go on longer about your victims ;]

When I read "the nation's soul-rot writ small", I know I have but one choice. You need a nice, firm grip (and an awesome backhand) to write that kind of stuff.

so many of these are wonderful

I have the sudden urge to change one word in my poem now that I reread it... "wrote out" should have been "fleshed out" - much more poetic and suggestive. oh wells

Picky poets tend to leave poems in the drawer a while so they can bring them back out later and pick out such nits before sending them into the world. This is not the world. It's just the interweb, so its ok.

Yeah, that's why I submitted a poem that was written in one go

I'm not going to vote for myself or poems with 5 or more words I don't understand (sorry Edward).

haha, anyone who votes for themselves should be sent to the waste land, or be compelled to submit a 5000 word essay on it, this is not a municipal election

in my defense those highfalutin words were used to set up a dopey punchline but no need to apologize, there are awesomely talented poets on ILX and I'm glad a majority of them crawled out of the woodwork for this to get some props n love n such

I wish some folks who weren't entrants would post their thoughts but maybe it's true modernism reduced the audience for poetry from tens of thousands to ten

in other news the mysteries of server timezone settings are interfering w/ my joyce homage end date

unsure who to pick here, have narrowed it down to 3 or 4 tho'

imo this is between the established big-hitters (beth, ed iii, aimless, elmo) but i could be persuaded towards the table is the table

at this very moment i'd probably rank them

elmo
beth
ed
aimless
table

but this could easily change, especially if some sort of discussion breaks out here

Ugh I didnt know this would be a poll, thats... tacky. I wish I hadnt posted anything now!

uh

2009 ILE poetry CONTEST giggity goo!

Alright, the poem must be 4 - 40 lines. That doesn't include line breaks. One entry per person. Post your entry here. I'll move them all later when the poll starts.
Tentative closing date is May 1st so get cracking

― CaptainLorax, Sunday, March 29, 2009 3:43 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

besides tacky is the new austere

Taste is well-known to be democratic, Trayce. *shruggles mcgee* *that means I shrugged*

My dog is pretty upset, too.

one of those tortured artist types

Ech, I didnt mean this whole thing is tacky, sorry guys! I just feel out of my depth or something. Never mind, carry on.

emotions! sensitive poets! offended canines! this poll contains multitudes!

this poll is america

*cryingeagle*

I'm so happy my poem has been anthologized.

Does this count as publication?

2009 capt lorax RIP we miss U boo memorial ILX POETRY contest poll is SO on my personal biblio.

it's on my resume

To publish is to make content publicly known. The term is most frequently applied to the distribution of text or images on paper, or to the placing of content on a website.

The word publication means the act of publishing, and it also means any writing of which copies are published, and any website. Among publications are books, and periodicals, the latter including magazines, scholarly journals, and newspapers.

so congrats you are all published authors now

even you, snitter, you mercurial beast, literary cream of your litter

urgh I complete forgot that I posted a 'real' poem in addition to the one made up of facebook ads :-/

and not only a 'real' poem but a 'real' poem that I removed the last part of because I thought it was stupid but now I realize it's even stupider without it asdfjsaighsao

bernard snowy of the past what were you thinking

all of which is to say: trayce, I feel u bro

i'm kind of sad i didn't finish an ode to l0u1s jagg3r before the deadline. maybe in 2010 i'll be less lazy.

fwiw i tht your facebook ads poem was A+ and wd have srsly considered voting for it

as things stand, nobody is arguing with my current placement, which makes me sad. cmon, more debate!

harbl, i wd still like to see this ode

it's not done yet!

when it is done of course, i am patient man with much longing

"I went to the Donuts a-Dunkin" by EZ Snappin

I liked this one.

"do you ever think about the waves" by G00blar

Awesome too...why did I vote so quickly?

I mean this poem is fucking funny as hell.

I still have a cheque from a pome I was actually paid for in a local literary publication some years back! Never cashed it cos it was more symbolic than anything. Also, $40 is piss.

some of us are trying to yank it off you guys

i.e. shhh lj is trying to concentrate

also I'd say the jump happened much earlier than 1940

Depressingly I think I was once in a small room with most of the genuinely good ones (self n/i obv)

LJ's past career as a toilet attendant revealed...

starting to prefer prissy 50s british poetry to the greater part of 50s american poetry. great decade for poetasters all round tho

love that word

funny that

prissy?

some real zing action here tonight

I will also stan for GM Hopkins, but I must say that his habit of using accent marks to hammer home his stresses stinks. If the stresses don't fall naturally into place, without prompting, they are not quite right and should be redone, imho. It isn't a matter of there being only one way to speak a poem, so much as the speaking of it should not fail shockingly when first attempted and require painful working out like a puzzle.

I guess it is about time Edward III
what were the rules again?

ok I found it: "the poem must be 4 - 40 lines. That doesn't include line breaks or the title. One entry per person. Post your entry here. I'll move them all later when the poll starts"

aimless is right, we should do this again

its me said it last iirc

aimless and darraghmac and me and lorax are all otm

does anyone know how lorax is getting on these days

didn't he appear recently i think

mm suppose not

I can't send e-mails because I've been banned before but yes I want to quit.

elmo was and is a superlative poet

beth too, wonder where she's at

he said some very stupid things but mostly seemed harmless and possibly slightly vulnerable, like that time he was gambling his meagre savings away speculating on securities

I fondly remember his sensible advice to wait to follow your passions until after you've got a wife and a full time job.

huh, that is remarkably sensible for someone who seemed so..........expressive

He loved Tull's Songs from the Wood, this he will not be denied his place in heaven

This = thus ffs

xxpost I thought it was pretty non-sensible myself!

oh i meant sensible in the sense of circumspect & cautious, not 'good advice'

lol, yes

so are we really doing this

i'm down to kick the tires and light the fires

all of yr poems & posts

2014 ILX Poetry Contest: The Captain Lorax Prize (Submissions Thread)

i havent written creatively in 5evs, i would be down 4 this

hope Lorax is ok.