ROUND ONE: 1-dazzle vs. 16-diphthongs

The word 1-dazzle was suggested by Iroquois Intermediate’s thinkers, readers, and writers.

Click here for authlete instructions.

Voter Instructions:

• The countdown at the bottom of each pairing indicates how much time is left to vote.
  • When voting closes, timer will disappear.
• Read both poems as many times as you like.
• Mark the poem you like best by clicking the circle next to its name.
• Press the “Vote” button to record your vote.
• Votes are counted in real time and cannot be changed once entered.
• You can only vote once from a given IP address.
  • Classrooms should submit one vote as a class.
  • Students can then vote again individually from home.

Things to Consider in Making a Choice:

• How well the poem incorporates the authlete’s assigned word.
• Technical elements: meter, rhyme, form, shape, and other poetic standards.
• Creativity: wordplay, imagery, unusual approach, etc.
• Subtle elements that make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
• Your overall response: emotional reaction such as admiration, tears, laughter, terror, or some indefinable feeling.

Here are the poems:

1-dazzle
Dawn Calling
By Victoria Warneck

Some days when I lie on the edge of awake
(before I am conscious of self-doubt and ache)
I glimpse myself moving with purposeful stride
unhampered by vanity, ego, or pride.

Then I gasp at the scope of the love I could bring
to a world sorely needing to laugh and to sing.
For when all the pretense is stripped away bare
the truths that remain dazzle and dare.

vs.

16-diphthongs
Hound Dog’s Lament
By Julie Larios

I’m the Duke of Diphthongs – I know that it sounds nuts,
but when I howl the vowels glide around, unlike a normal mutt’s.

I howwww-owwww-owwwl my head off. I never bark, I mourn.
I have to play my diphthongs just like Louis Armstrong played his horn.

A dachshund is no Blues Man – his song consists of yips.
But I’m a hound, my sound is true to how-owwwwww-OWWWWWWWWWW a diphthong dips.

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