[click image to view matchup in full screen in a new window.]
The Poets’ Challenge: Each poet is assigned a single word based on their bracket seed, ranging from 1 (intuitive) to 16 (seemingly impossible). Poets must write a kid-appropriate poem using the prompted word in under 36 hours. Once both final poems have been received, they will be pasted into the body of this post, and then the reader poll will be open for voting.
Voter Instructions: Read each poem as many times as you’d like. Then use the poll to express your preference. Votes are counted in real time and cannot be changed once entered. As a guideline for voting, consider the criteria on which the contestants on the cooking show “Chopped” are evaluated: presentation, taste, and creativity. Translated roughly into poetry terms, presentation might include technical aspects such as meter, rhyme, form/shape, etc.; taste might be the net effect — did the poem move you to laugh, cry, think, kill, etc.; and creativity might include the poet’s approach toward a certain subject, image evocation, clever wordplay, etc.
“This is awesome, where can I find more?”: All results and scheduled matchups, including a glance at the round-by-round writing windows and voting windows, are visible from the Live Scoreboard page. In addition, results will be tweeted from @edecaria as they become final.
Here are the poems:
*pusillanimous
Brunch
by Suz Blackaby
Coy koi and other mousy fish—
The timid, pusillanimous,
Unanimously gutless cowards,
Cowering in the reeds—
Stay steeped within the murky mix
(Above the silt/below the scum),
Supposing they are safely, soundly
Hidden in the interim.
Along the rim, a heron waits.
Pacing at a patient gait,
It waits to catch (so shy of sense)
The quick flick of a silver fin
Or crimson ribbon—just a glimpse!
As sheepish fish slip into sight,
It waits and, tasting victory,
Moves to strike.
vs.
*barnacle
The Sun’s Coming Out
by Stephen W. Cahill
My sulky big sister despises the beach.
She constantly moans and quite often she’ll screech,
“No way! There are crabs! They could snap at my toes!
And what if I trip? They could nip at my nose!”
“I’m staying right here, where it’s safe, on this rock.
Now where is my factor one hundred sun-block?”
My sulky big sister then spends the whole day
Sat down on her own and refusing to play.
But now it is late and the sun has descended.
Our one day a week with our Daddy has ended.
We pack up our things and we walk to his truck,
My sister complaining, “It’s covered in muck!”
He opens the windows to let out the heat.
She wriggles and jiggles around in her seat.
She cannot sit still and is cross all the way.
My daddy keeps asking, “You sure you’re ok?”
We pull up to Mum’s and my sister leaps out.
But something is different. My parents don’t shout.
They’re holding back laughter. I look to my Mum,
“Your sister’s a barnacle stuck to her bum!”
VOTE NOW!
*pusillanimous vs. *barnacle: Which Poem Did You Prefer?
- *pusillanimous (Suz Blackaby) (46%, 281 Votes)
- *barnacle (Stephen W. Cahill) (54%, 333 Votes)
Total Voters: 614
Loading ...GET OUT THE VOTE.
The average pairing in Round 1 generated 154 votes.
The average pairing in Round 2 generated 178 votes.
The average pairing in Round 3 generated 224 votes.
The average pairing in Round 4 generated 354 votes.
A nice trend!
Use the share buttons below and mention the madness wherever you go so that these poems reach more kids! And remember, encourage voting on BOTH of the Final Four matchups, not just this one!
