2019 ILX Poetry Competition: Open Division

so many awesome posts

goddamn, deems. every year

says the guy who voted for mordy.

i dont forget.

yours and mordy's were the other best things to ever be in this maybe

id read a book of hellion mumble's stuff, and i wont read a book of anything usually tbh

there are forgotten heroes

Gatemouth did some truly staggering forgotten-hero work for instance, and then stopped posting

mordy's 2014 poem is the great one from the the archive if anyone is ever making a zine

careful, deems won't forget you said that ;)

in a smallshit factory town down west
the college is hosted macabrely
between st marys, where the nurses now train
(amongst the easier cases)
and teresas

johnny was easy. hed wander the campus
asking have ye fags, have ye fags- he was harmless
but startling

fergus another, he wandered around once
one thursday (id had an accounting exam)
saying i kilt a man
i kilt a man ah god help us i kilt a man

hed stabbed johnny five times in the back,
out the back
fergal probably shouldnt have been in st marys,
we reckoned

that was for easier cases

the other flank of my beloved alma mater
was teresas: secure, for the difficult cases.
secured to their beds
or secured by prescription
or secured in the first and last instance by mick
who was alright of a guy, all considered

i never got used to visiting teresas
but many years later, with clipboard and tie
i carried out duties vested in my person
by the county of mayo-god-help-us
and a fella climbed onto my car while i did so
and wouldnt come down til they threatened the doctor
and i thought

ive had worse visits to this fucking kip
that left worse dents and scratches
and at least this time its on the clock
and none of my brothers are crying

AI think it's time to set the deadline for entries: midnight (GMT) Saturday, November 23.

― A is for (Aimless), Monday, November 18, 2019 8:24 AM (five days ago)

According to my calculations, midnight had passed had passed at the Greenwich meridian when deems posted both of his poems to this thread. Personally, I am not averse to including them in the official balloting, but I throw open the floor to other participants who may feel aggrieved by darraghmac's flouting of the announced rules. Until I hear further, they are held in official limbo, pending adjudication.

Hint: Some sitting in ashes, or thoughtful bribery, might soothe the feelings of the other contestants.

serve me right

This morning, upon further thought, I remembered that flouting announced rules is vmic for poets, so any caviling would be ungenerous of us. You're in. I'll post a polling thread in an hour or two.

i knew pretenitence would do the job

Voting for your most-preferred poem may be done on 2019 ILX Poetry Competition: VOTE HERE.

Poets who vote for themselves will be judged in heaven upon a scale of perfect justice, but since all votes are anonymous let's just accept the eventual outcome as being uninfluenced by undue vanity. I'm just hoping there are more total votes than the eleven poets who saw fit to show us their poems. Good luck, y'all.

btw, you have invented a new and valuable word - well done, deems:

Your search - "pretenitence" - did not match any documents.

ack too late to submit - alas. next year i'll do better.

Have to work tomorrow
But will be back here again believe me
Once the barmaid options are exhausted
Back here to fucking decompose

(Aimless opens thread, expecting to find a decomposing calstars. Does not and is relieved.)

I forgot to say thank you to my voter!

And, by the by, via some weird cold clockwork of the stars, Christopher Fairbank ended up reading and recording my poem: https://soundcloud.com/mattpoacher/deer

it was me fwiw

pfft

Thanks imago.