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Voter Instructions:
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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-mob
Mayhem Makers
By Victoria Warneck
I stand on the edge of the mob
bewitched by the pulse and the throb
of energies clashing and hot tempers flashing
untempered by honor or prudence
I spin and I grasp for a hold
to keep me apart from the fold
“Come, join the throng! Don’t you want to belong?”
Little brothers are such a bad influence!
vs.
9-contraction
Ms. Cratchit’s Contraction Comments
(School for Wayward Children 1910)
By Ken Slesarik
Please use them very sparingly.
These little words lack virtue.
Apostrophes can be your friend,
Appease them, they won’t hurt you.
Ambitious overuse my son,
Repetitious, a distraction.
Vicious is my grading, child,
Malicious, the contraction. (D-)
1-mob vs. 9-contraction: Which Poem Did You Prefer?
- 1-mob (Victoria Warneck) (33%, 70 Votes)
- 9-contraction (Ken Slesarik) (67%, 142 Votes)
Total Voters: 212

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