# 4/29/08 | Regrets



## Shawn (Apr 29, 2008)

Challenge Prompt said:
			
		

> Is there anything in your past that you regret? Life altering decisions are made every day, and most of them turn out well; but this topic is addressing the things that don't turn out right. These are the vestigial haunts of youth, the lingering malignancies of innocence. What spirits plague you?



The challenge is to write a poem addressing the topic of "regrets." Submissions will close on the 13th of May. Judging will begin then. If you have any interest in being a judge for this round, PM me and I'll try to figure something out.

*Important Dates*
April 29th - Submissions Open
May 13th - Submissions Close/Judging Begins
May 20th - Scores Due/Winner Declared
May 20-26th - Break Week
May 27th - Next Contest Begins

Remember that all entries are judged on five points:

Thematic Resonance
Technical Excellence
Composition
Message
Originality

Resources that may be beneficial to your entry:
A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices
Rhythm and Meter in English Poetry
Poetry, Poesy, Lyricism...and other such matters

*Note:* Submissions will be extended yet another week due to hardships finding judges. Submissions due, now on the 27th.


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## MisterJack (May 4, 2008)

.


*Her Shoes Once Danced*





_she held stones_
___her fingers ached for reprieve_
_as knees collapsed to whitewash_

Windows opened without oil
as she laid her mention in boxes,
saved days in cups of rice
so her children could grow
among trees and fields of ashes
where wind would force old laundry
inside her broken skin.

_depraved of linen_
___her pores wept_
_as a tissue soaked in blood_

His hand gripped ice and torment;
knuckles burned and blistered
as fifteen years drew closer
through photographs of sullen;
his heart dissolved sandcastles
that she had build with glass.

The haunt that knifes to flashback
guided eyes and sickness;
a burn where stomach melted
discharged the birth of new,
replaced with cold fish suppers
stew, and wilted dumplings.

Now blood taints the bed sheets
in a room that’s filled with ants;
wrapped in barbed wire blankets,
she waits for someone’s sunshine
to smash her bricks with iron,
then take away his Atlas
and bring back fifteen years.














.


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## Matthatter (May 5, 2008)

*Hurting Loved Ones*


My heart has inflated, celebrated
The smiles of those minds fate has sewn me to.
Iron muscles, rusted and so weakened
	Released, ballooned into honeycomb youth.​
Those eyes that filmed me with pre-natal care,
Wet starry smilies with my pain’s demise,
As the insect—twin to the one in me—
	Flew out of their wound, to peacefully die.​
But the sandstorm anger—tippling feet
Turned them into demons out to get me
For it covered my eyes to white-out mess, 
	To spit at them intoxicant medlys.​
Snapping them down off of their pedestals,
Though I set their golden thrones myself,
Not omniscient and always ignorant,
         I've stabbed angels for deeds they could not help.​


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## Baron (May 7, 2008)

*Reflections or Regret*

*Reflections or Regret*​ 

_____Eyes
reflected in the mirror,
_____reflect –
the eyes that lied;
still - the sound 
of seductive words
resounding - mesmerised. 

Catherine wheels whirled 
_____when eyes
_____met eyes – 
with lust ignited -
spinning selfish thought 
_____far distant
from that place 
_____where we delighted.

Looking at me – 
I see just you;
regrets are only for the wise;
_____I gaze 
_____and gaze 
at my own face,
still drowning 
__________in your eyes.

Those sapphire lights enslaved 
my willing soul
and put to death the need 
_____to question,
if I’m left alone 
_____to feel regret
_____in moments 
__________of reflection.

Rich man clutches at life –
cannot comprehend
_____the ease 
with which the poor man enters 
_____sleep;
as those who grasp 
_____for love 
will never know
the intensity of this dream 
__________I cannot keep.


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## vangoghsear (May 7, 2008)

*Regrets*

regrets spawned in
prodigal children 
immersed in the 
squalor of distraction,

niggling termite larva
squirm ink dipped 
across clean crisp
cotton sheets 
to gorge on
festering lethargy
and burrow deep 
in the psyche

to lurk in soulless crevices.

shunned despised,
return undaunted
uncleansed reprise
continually haunted

grasping apparitions, 
garbed in the gauze 
of misspent moments,
want for waste 
a recompense

promises unkept, 
beauty undisclosed,
life undervalued
time misunderstood 
an accounting
a restitution.

find only
remorse.


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## TheRaven12 (May 9, 2008)

*What I Should Have Said

*________-Pages turning
my thoughts converging
__________-Like photos
____From this sad show.
_______We were young,
_____jus' begun to grow
______________Leaving,
____-Mistakes behind us.

________________________I,
____________can hardly bear
______my thoughts your care.
___________________Neither
___________bring me comfort.
__________When on that day,
_________________-the path,
_____________-it went astray,
From what your hands provided.

_____Sadly seated
____now defeated,
_________Longing,
_-For that one day.
__-I wanted to say,
just wanted to say.
____________This,
_-"I truly love you."


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## Garden of Kadesh (May 11, 2008)

*Retrograde*

_Dark downward spiral_ 
pulling me back into the past
_Viral memories_ 
infecting possibilities 
_of the present_
New days sucked into the whirlpool 
_of regression_ 
Barbs in my weary, crying flesh 
_pulling back_ 
Backward to singularity 
_To the womb_ 
Corrosive acid of mistakes 
_Burning _
Peeling away all healed skin 
_Failure _
To resist, to learn, to transgress 
_Hell _
Choking on the brine of my youth
_Help_


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## Patrick (May 13, 2008)

*At The Station.*

The sun had fallen behind the folds of the western hills,
early stars filling a dome sky -
the kind of perplexing roof that made you feel upside down
loomed closer now than it had then.

Memories drifting on the wind.
A summer breeze was still welcome to the skin;
lifting layers of sweat under your shirt,
embracing, holding you up when it all hurt…
............too much,
I wanted to turn my back on the scene,
flee, forget everything that might have been
as I watched the trains leave the station.

From the hill, the lights were a trap,
guiding, grabbing the attention
of my wandering memories,
pointing in one direction:

The night the stars and sky formed the same dome,
I could only watch you go -
my friend and my love
boarding the last train to leave the station.


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## Amber Leaf (May 14, 2008)

Several bets on losers.
Hanging around with users.
Mistreating the pets.
Still - no regrets.

Never met my mother.
Blame it on the other.
Two that I'll never get.
But still no regrets.

Ignore debt and demands.
They're out of my hands.
Not scared by their threats; 
and still no regrets.

Don't let anyone in.
Load gear in a pin.
Pretend to forget; 
that I have regrets.


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## CMM_Kaleido (May 19, 2008)

*Blue: Entendimiento Triste*

Carnelian tyrants march
up miniature dunes;
six smooth tines row
across glass water drops, oblivious--
___intent on life-leached boards
___staunchly standing; but I 
see the blue strand, treasure 
nestled in warm sand pressed

into the back seat--
we saw the Alamo today;
I am squished beside thick-rimmed 
glasses, clean-cotton folds, 
raisined skin, and adobe smile 
___full of tumbleweeds 
___and armadillos in-
comprehensible stream 

of azul rolls free; broken
links pour 
from tiny leather pouch dripping
countenance. I sweep 
cherished grains into a curve 
and wait: blue
___beads blink
___an empty smile.


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