Poem-A-Day Winners 2022
1st Place — The Lion’s Tooth by Esthezia Andel I sing praise to that most despised of flowers: the lion’s tooth, la dent-de-lion — invader of lawns, despoiler of suburbia’s dream of perfectly manicured turf. Bright yellow sunbursts explode atop taproots sunk deep into the nurturing earth. They do not ask your permission. They do not beg your pardon. They grow where they will. They do not need your protection or care. Young people appreciate their brash, aggressive beauty, gathering blossoms for necklaces, crowns, and bouquets. Tiny seeds, borne on the breath of children, set out to conquer new fields of uniform green. In the cellar of my grandfather’s house, we found old bottles of dandelion wine — dusty, forgotten relics of a summer long past. We sipped the stored-up sunlight, imbibed the spirit of the lion’s tooth. I sing praise to this happiest of flowers, the little yellow warrior, that comes every spring to slay our too-narrow visions of beauty. About Esthezia Jonquil Gal (a.k.a. Esthezia Andel) first set foot in Second Life® in 2008, and was immediately captivated by the quirky creativity displayed in this virtual world. She has explored and wandered across the grid, admiring the works of musicians, artists, dancers, photographers, and poets. Two years ago she joined a weekly poetry group at the Perfect Paradise Community, which reignited her dormant impulse to write poems herself. Jonquil is playful, sometimes even silly, but also keenly interested in the deeper questions of life, science, and philosophy. —— 2nd Place — Charmer by Coraline Wyatt (Coraline017) Heartthumps spread cool as scales rope nearer my neck this noose and these loops of your lovers slink where you like, the glare gleaming clearer, hug with the weight of the lead your gold covers. You are enough. It could be enough. Hypnotic hand reaches for the other you endear, knowing well I can’t afford what’s under diamondbacks dizzying me to your covers. Fingers crashland, slithering lips smother the past here within, and I suppose it’s no wonder you kiss your mirrors deeper than your lovers who made more and yours are not the monsters I should fear: You are enough. It could be enough I’m not enough. You don’t know what this means, so you’ve never had to bank where it careens alone, phone cord coiling serpentine around the hours since we turned seventeen. —— 3rd Place — Jojutsu by Blitz A tree branch snapping in the stiff wind, heard throughout centuries. A whip on the horse’s rear, the lashing on the captive’s skin, the spirit cry of warriors who grip the branch in their bloody palms, the crutch, the crucifix, the toy sword, for centuries the stick a tool and a weapon. I find a tree branching to the sky, its leafy top shivers with sunlight, I make my way through the winding trail of...
Read MoreNaNoWriMo Events 2021
NANOWRIMO AT MILK WOOD We are excited to announce that we’ll be hosting a selection of online workshops again this year. Click on the links below to participate at the specific time. These workshops are held in Second Life®. All scheduled events take place online at the Milk Wood Writing Group area (unless otherwise stated) or in the writing room at Book Island (Sundays at 12 noon PT). All are welcome to join us. ══════════════════════════ Writing Workshops & Write-Ins ══════════════════════════ Character (with Goal) + Conflict = Plot Hosted by Robinette Waterson Friday 22nd October, 2021 8am PT / 11am ET / 4pm GMT F. Scott Fitzgerald said about writing fiction: “Character is plot, plot is character.” One approach at story writing is to first decide on a strong main CHARACTER (or characters). Once a writer knows what drives that character into action, their strengths, flaws, and internal conflicts will naturally and realistically lead to the kind of conflicts or obstacles standing between them and their goal. It is these conflicts and how the character overcomes them, that make up the PLOT. Looking at two examples: Examine how the characters of Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby and Katniss in The Hunger Games directly lead to the plot. Both characters have personality traits that predict their behavior, which indicate how they will approach their goals and how they will overcome obstacles in their path. Because of their character traits, one story ends in tragedy and the other in triumph. (Come to class for full disclosure!) A fun exercise would be to look at what would happen to your story if another character was the protagonist. Can you swap the sidekick and the main character? Or take one good or one bad attribute from a minor character and add it to your main character’s profile? Character is key. Put your writing effort there and see how all the other story elements fall into place. About Robinette Robinette Waterson is a writer of Victorian steampunk erotica, historical novels, and assorted ephemera. Instructor for Workshops: Story Weaving on Thursdays @ 2pm, Nanowrimo Prep, and After Nano-What’s Next? In Second Life®, Robinette role plays in historical sims, generally playing a strong-minded woman with a zest for life. Click here to be taken to the online event. ——– Huck’s Cube of NaNo Hosted by Huckleberry Hax Sunday 31st October, 2021 1pm PT / 4pm ET / 8pm GMT It’s National Novel Writing Month again! Prepare yourself for pep talks! If there’s one thing aspiring novelists can rely on in the month of November (besides sleep deprivation and bleeding fingertips) it’s other writers delivering their ‘top tips’ for getting 50,000 words written in the space of 30 days. Huckleberry Hax has absolutely no intention of deviating from this formula (chiefly because it makes him feel for an hour like a real, grown-up writer), and will be once again delivering his ‘Cube of Nano’ talk at Milk Wood as novelists assume the crouch position, ready for the...
Read MorePoem-a-Day Contest Winners 2020
We didn’t complete the judging until halfway into 2021, and living in pandemic times — when things were delayed and done remotely — might have colored our choices. As always there were many beautiful and stirring poems submitted, and the choice was difficult, but overall these poems seem to resonate with the time of COVID: a time of quieter observances, of humble offerings, and of tireless service. First Prize – High Wire by Barbara Jacksha Patricia dusts to gospel Hips swaying to the beat She scrubs for Jesus Banishes negative thoughts Down the drain She says, “I’m not tired yet” But I am, roasting in a Hot desert afternoon Riffs spark my skin, Lightning on the high wire Where a mass choir sings praise And all I can think of is Whether grasping that high wire Would char my hands or Lead me to my true name Barbara Jacksha is the author/creator of the Vision Pages series that includes Vision Pages for Creative Writers with Daring Dreams: a vision journal for imagining your dreams to life. Her writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including Smokelong Quarterly, Beloit Fiction Journal, The Summerset Review, Per Contra, Mad Hatter’s Review, and the W.W. Norton anthology Flash Fiction Forward. Barbara’s work has received multiple nominations for the Pushcart Prize. She was also co-founder/co-editor of the literary journal Cezanne’s Carrot. Poet’s Website | Amazon Author Page Judge’s Note We all heard the news reports, when one choir practice left 52 sick and two dead. Churches closed, their services went virtual, and choirs learned to blend their voices through electronic media. The need to stop the spread of the deadly virus brought normal life to a halt, but scrubbing went on (more than ever), and hymns were sung to the divine (more than ever), and we humans were more aware of ourselves than ever, as conduits stretched between the mundane and the sacred, ever reaching, ever wondering. Our winning poem, High Wire, carries that tension. — Second Prize – Primary Flowers by Blitz Observing quietly under halogen bulbs the paintings freshly picked. Reds, yellows, blues, budding petals held by fragile stems. We were rudimentary in shape, squares, circles, triangles bloomed on bare white walls. Blitz (AutumnBlitz Xenobuilder) was born to teachers of language, and is a child of immigrant culture. He studied fine arts (painting, drawing, sculpture), and has exhibited locally in the US and abroad, notably in Spain where he traveled via an Artist In Residence stipend in his search for Lorca’s duende. Blitz came to poetry later in his life on discovering open mics and workshops in Second Life®. He lives and works in Los Angeles, USA. Judge’s Note Museums and galleries, in the time of COVID, along with concert halls, opera houses and theaters, closed their doors indefinitely, and patrons and artists suffered for the lack of venues. Offerings popped up in virtual spaces. Online, one after another, until there were too many to take them all in, creative works...
Read MoreNaNoWriMo Pep Talk from Huckleberry Hax
So here we are in the final week of NaNoWriMo. How are things looking? Good? Great? Have you been surfing the crest of a steady wave of word count so far this November, banking with ease each day your 1,667 words and wondering what on Earth all the fuss is about? No? I didn’t think so. If you’re anything like me, you probably started the month in a majestic sprint the moment the starting pistol was fired, ran a couple hundred metres, twisted your ankle, pulled some muscle in your leg that you never knew existed, and have been limping along ever since. And that gap between where you were hoping to be right now and where you actually are is starting to look like an uncrossable chasm. Speaking of running, I learned something important about this in the last few months. I used to run a lot. And then I didn’t run for ages. And then, a few years ago, determined not to be beaten into defeat by the approach of a half century of existence, I started up again. But where previously running had been relatively easy for me, I now found it hard. I now found it boring. Running was suddenly something tedious, something I had to endure rather than enjoy. What I wanted to do – more than anything – was to get back to my level of fitness from about 2008, when I ran 10k in under 55 minutes. Well for 3 years now I’ve been trying to get back to that level, and I’ve improved slightly, but I’m still nowhere near that time. And then, this year, I discovered something. Because of social distancing, I’d decided it would be better if I ran without my headphones, just in case I rounded a corner and there were people there. I wasn’t really happy about this, because listening to music was my way of dealing with the dullness of running, my way of ‘getting through it.’ But needs must, and so on. Much to my surprise, I started to enjoy running again. I think the distraction of music had prevented me from emptying my mind and enjoying the run. Once I started enjoying that experience again, I stopped getting stressed about my speed. I wasn’t running to get to some target any more, I was running just because I enjoyed running. And that made me enjoy it even more. Then my speed actually did start to increase. So if you’re getting stressed about NaNo this year, just stop, take a moment, and remind yourself why you write: because you enjoy it. Turn off your music. Forget about your target. Immerse yourself in your novel. Love writing it. You never know, you might just find yourself back on track before you know it. ...
Read MoreNaNoWriMo Pep Talk with Lizzie Gudkov
Time usually flies pretty quickly when we’re immersed in a writing project. Yet, it seems to fly even quicker in November! After the fast-paced, highly motivated writing happening at the beginning of the month, your writing pace seems to be slowing down. And you’re panicking, right? I know I am… What can we do? I’m sure you’ve heard it all before. Write this way, don’t write that way, take notes, don’t take notes, keep going, take a break. What?! Get me out of here!! No! Don’t go! You cannot give up. Writing is tough. Yes, it is. Life happens. Yes, it does. However, giving up is not an option. So, here are five ideas to get you unstuck during NaNoWriMo®! And Then What? – If you go beyond the end of your story, what happens then? What can you bring into your plot from what happens outside its framework? You Are a Character in Your Own Book Now! – What if YOU waltzed into your own story? Would you admonish one of your characters? Would you encourage anyone? Would you rearrange the furniture? *grin* Would you get annoyed and go wash those dirty dishes in the sink yourself? Get your characters moving around you, and *evil grin* eavesdrop on what they are saying about you behind your back! Upside Down – What if the good became bad and the bad became angels? How would your terribly evil character act as an angel? What would he do if you told him he has to behave? You can even sneak inside your story again and tell him yourself. How would he react? Would he throw a tantrum? Ha! A Wombat? A Shoebill? A Glass Frog? – Transform all your characters into animals and see how they would relate to one another. Try to think of unusual animals. Make one hate the color of the other! Or love it, and be extremely annoying because he wants to take a photo for his social media! Who Are You?! – What if a character from your favorite author decides to waltz into your story? How would your main character react? What kind of impact would it have on the other characters? Would all your characters, friends and foes, unite to expel him from your story? And how about the story itself? How would it change? Could there be any secret alliances in the making after this unexpected intruder was kicked out? These are only a few fun activities that will trick your brain out of being stuck. Will they help increase the word-count? I don’t know. Will they trigger fresh ideas for your plot? I really don’t know. But one thing will happen for sure. You will not give up! Keep writing. You can do this! See you at Milk Wood. 🙂 Lizzie — Lizzie Gudkov is a fiction writer born in Portugal. After a career as a teacher of English, she rediscovered writing. In her blog http://lizziegudkov.blogspot.com, she features fiction mostly (micro, flash and short...
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