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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:
16-bifurcate
Ambush
By Renée M. LaTulippe
Beneath the cotton checkered skies
the hilltop blazed with fiery cries:
“Friends, you know we must arise
if we’re to win the battle prize.
Open up your compound eyes.
We’re better than those gnats and flies.
Gather up your war supplies.
Bifurcate those tunnels, guys!
A sneak attack! Send in the spies!
Let’s fight as one. Let’s colonize!”
The soldiers seized the apple pies.
They marched off with the chicken thighs.
The hilltop rang with hungry cries.
The rest is history — ant-size.
vs.
13-morass
Forbidden Adventure
By Angie Marie Breault
Out the back door through the dark of the night,
two furtive feet calmly creep.
Under the glow of the moon’s gentle light,
two lively legs start to leap.
Through the moist blades of the meadow of grass,
ten tickled toes start to wiggle.
Next to the stream in the muddy morass,
one merry mouth starts to giggle.
Underneath starlight which glistens on high,
two earnest eyes gaze in wonder.
Far, far below the vast stretch of the sky,
two eager ears hear it thunder.
Back through the meadow before it’s too late,
one chilly child is bounding.
Into the house where two parents await,
one petite person needs grounding.
16-bifurcate vs. 13-morass: Which Poem Did You Prefer?
- 16-bifurcate (Renée M. LaTulippe) (72%, 194 Votes)
- 13-morass (Angie Marie Breault) (28%, 76 Votes)
Total Voters: 270
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