Remember contest start and stop dates I usually offer up one. I just did lyric poems and I came across a type called mad song. A little green man has just fried some fuel cells on Apollo. As he sits in the service module this is what he sang: Apollo 13's Gremlin They wish a taste of cold, void space; And now can't find Earth's cover. Out in the ark. Out in the dark. Far from their loving mother. Now see them float like a feather; Going nowhere in their raft. Not where they planned. Not where they land. Like a bee I stung their craft.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12436&Form.ShowMessage=945307

So do we post here or in the other thread? jon

Post'em here that's why I usually put up one: To mark the spot.

The reason I asked is because it looks like some others are posting to the other thread. Might want to visit and post a reminder? Anyway, this one is inspired by Kim Stanley Robinson's Red/Green/Blue Mars series, which I think is the best SciFi to come along in a generation. Have no idea if it's free verse or not. jon Martian Dawn By J. M. Strother Ocher skies raise up to swallow the night, As frigid night gives way to frigid day. The small horizon curves before my sight, Yet vast expanses now before me lay. Martian paradox. The barren plains stretch ever on, without cheer, Forever unbroken by any waters flow, Red dust devils swirl on poisonous atmosphere, While at my feet transplanted lichens grow. Martian paradise.

Touch of Gold I walked enchanted fields seeking release from pain. Magic slowly crept into my heart drying up the tears. Silence broke by footfalls echoing my own I turned to see my soul reflected in unblinking orbs- Eyes deeper than the sea. Ancient wisdom, compassion and hope Welling forth from a creature so pure. I lifted my hand to touch its face- Washed by waves of peace I let my burden go. I opened my eyes, alone in a flower spangled glen; There sparkling on my palm, like sunlight in the mist, Were tiny flecks from a unicorn's horn.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=277771&Start=1&Artist=dialyn&ByArtist=Yes

My Grandmother's Tale It's my grandmother's recipe, thank you. While you dine, I'll tell you a story which She told me before this same fireplace about a lost traveler, like you, who stopped At a cabin, like this, where a lone woman lived, like me. There cats resided, like mine. She did not decline when he asked for shelter and for food. She liked his demeanor; She served him soup, she served him wine, and, meantime, she told him stories strange and fine Of persons more cat than human, and felines more man than beast, and, as she talked on, He fell asleep and dreamed of night hunting, fanged mouths, and torn flesh-now you look tired; rest. He woke to her hand's gentle touch, but he felt something was not quite right, not as it was. He had ears remarkably sharp; clawed paws instead of hands; his voice to protest, gone. He looked then much like my grandmother's cat, and mine. Have some more soup, if you're so inclined. *Okay, it's not free verse and it's more prose than poem, and probably more fairy tale then fantasy, but at least I entered something, and it is the right number of lines. :)*

Got the link fixed so it points to this thread. Sorry for any confusion. Cheers! There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=271093&Start=1&Artist=Synapse&ByArtist=Yes

Standing by the light of the Auricle portal, the misshapen mother was willing to sacrifice the reptilian foetus she had been sustaining even outside of her body. The cord still attached, her face betrayed sorrow and resignation. Her heart shone as it was about to break. Among her, the hair crops swayed gently in the subterranean breeze, regardless.

Again mine is more prose than poetry, but what the hell, it's my first entry in this forum :-)

Now what would happen if? into the air, flat out . . . and, fancy, some. . . I can't believe my eyes!! Yet there they hang- My thoughts; all vivid and colorized~ in comic serif, and Bodoni no less issuing forth in an unbiased stream,for all the world to see! Who would have thought? . . .a hologram transmitter in my head??! Oh no! THAT "encounter" wasn't a dream??!? My startled thoughts in IMPACT, SCREAMmmmmm. . . This isn't the one I planned. I had another in mind, but it slipped away, before I could pixelate it. Dang aliens~

The Traveler I am a walking rainbow. The creation of twin suns Firing through space over flickering cliffs across an ashen sea to greet their only visitor. Melting and boiling away my crystal shell. I am a lone traveler from a distant sphere Leaving footprints no one will see. I have witnessed the violent beauty of death and creation-- Unimaginable, unending beauty held by the infinite fabric And glimpsed what god created for himself.

whats this chalenge about

It was about free verse in a fantasy/science fiction theme but I think a winner was declared somewhere along the line. I haven't seen a new challenge go up yet.

Who won?

Attached Link: The winners.

Jon. :)

Yay, Jon! It was a wonderful poem.

Thanks. blushing Now investigating ironic parameters for the next challenge. Or was that iambic pentameter? :-) jon

LOL, check out the websites i put up on the rules thread for more info on poetic forms, etc.

Thanks for the links. They should prove most useful. jon