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:
5-supple
Twisted
By Tiffany Strelitz Haber
Bo and Bryn were tall and thin
and couldn’t bend at all.
They tried each day to twist and fold
but mostly they’d just fall.
They lived in a peculiar town
called Gumby-licious Cliffs
where everyone referred to them
as “just a bunch of stiffs”.
Then Bryn discovered Yoga.
“Bo, let’s be a bendy couple!”
They twisted, twirled and curled until
their muscles all were supple.
One day they got stuck. How to get out?
They’d both forgot.
So now they live forever
in a perfect double knot.
vs.
12-equivocations
Beware the Gentle Beast
By Gayle C. Krause
He’s not the crustacean singing ‘under the sea,’
or one of the Dalmatians barking up the wrong tree.
But the explanations for his words of deceit
are glib equivocations to mislead the young, sweet
girl, who travels through fairy tale wood,
dressed in a cloak with a red velvet hood.
He wolfs down her grandmother, along with the cake.
His predation overrides his agenda, that’s fake.
5-supple vs. 12-equivocations: Which Poem Did You Prefer?
- 5-supple (Tiffany Strelitz Haber) (66%, 113 Votes)
- 12-equivocations (Gayle C. Krause) (34%, 59 Votes)
Total Voters: 172

“This is awesome, where can I find more?”:
Browse other matchups using the slider below and click to go straight to that matchup!