# At midnight in the month of June. (1 Viewer)



## Olly Buckle

Gumby has come back promptly with the new challenge, another 'first line' one.

 The first line from Poe's  The Sleeper.

*At midnight in the month of June*

For anyone who is new to this, create a poem using that 'borrowed' line as your first line and post below, you have two weeks to do it in, or longer if I do my usual trick of forgetting to close the thread to entries.


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## WanderingStar

Oooh found it. And I didn't have to use your busted link.


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## Olly Buckle

At midnight in the month of June
  The Ox was on his honeymoon
  Sat beside a blue lagoon
  Thinking “Is it bed time soon”
  Hoping then they could commune
  Not just sit and sigh and spoon.

  “Perhaps if I begin to croon”
  He thought and sang a little tune.
  But his amoureuse did soon impugn
  “You are out of tune,
  It makes me swoon,
  Honey by the tablespoon
  Might prove opportune”
  Such was Ox’s misfortune


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## Olly Buckle

WanderingStar said:


> Oooh found it. And I didn't have to use your busted link.



Sorry about that, I have remade the link, but I am glad to see you managed to wander this far on your own.


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## Chesters Daughter

Lost

At midnight in the month of June
I crawled atop a vast sand dune
to seek a single drop to drink
with eyes so dry they could not blink

but dismayed saw only sand
as I clutched my heart with a shaking hand
I tried to cry to no avail
just a croak emerged when I tried to wail

with skin and lips cracked like leather
stripped of moisture by the weather
my shrunken heart gave one last beat
as it succumbed to desert heat

a word of warning to the wise
don't brave the desert sans a guide
she is an unforgiving bitch
who does not cater to the rich

at midnight in the month of June
I died wide-eyed beneath the moon
a pillow of grains supported my head
no one aware the King's son was dead.


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## The Backward OX

*The Brisbane Flood, 1893.*

A true story, adapted for the Olly thread. Only the names have been changed.

At midnight in the month of June,
the waters rose in Lake Baroon.
‘Twas back in eighteen ninety-three,
and down the valley, near the sea,
the town was slumb’ring, unaware
of Nature’s fury, way out there.

Jack Oxley saw the flood begin.
He woke his wife. “Oh, Gwendolyn,
they must be warned, in Brisbane Town;
I’ll catch the horse, and ride on down.”
“Oh, Jack, take care! The night is wild.”
Jack shook his head, and then he smiled.

“Don’t worry, lass, we’ll see it through, 
old Betsy’s just as good as new.
And even though the tracks be mud,
between us we can race the flood.”
He kissed his wife, turned down the light,
and bravely stepped out in the night.

With Betsy saddled, off they raced;
the Stanley River first they faced.
The marker showed an all-time high,
with more rain tumbling from the sky.
Jack urged her in the rushing tide;
she struck out for the other side.

Once clear, they had to cross the range.
At night, the way all seemed so strange.
The tracks were rough, and vague, and steep,
and Jack was tired, from want of sleep.
But when they made it to the heights,
he saw far off the Brisbane lights.

They saved the town, received a plaque 
Put up where it would draw remark.
It said, “They never thought of failure,
‘cos this is, after all, Australia.”




Edit: I have driven that same forty-mile stretch of road, in my car. Even today, it's a prick of a road. Jack's alter ego, a feller named Billy Mateer, puts Paul Revere and Dick Turpin and The Man from Snowy River to shame.


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## WanderingStar

Smoldering 


At midnight in the month of June 
 Smoldering logs smoked crisp

 Air.


 Ghostly trees fiddled their branches

Above​Bats 
Fire 
Below​
Embers cast hypnotic dances 


At midnight in the wake of sleep
Whispered wisps part tired

Lips. 


Fingers laced as lovers lingered

Above​Stars 
Earth
Below​
Ash shadowed exotic rhythms 


At midnight in the month of June 
Pleasure paved an earnest 

Map.


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## Sigg

At midnight in the month of June
A boy slept quietly in his room
Dreams of his birthday ran through his head
Cake, presents and balloons made him smile
but clowns caused the boy to turn in his bed
He wished them away, if only for a little while

At just past midnight in the month of June
A man sat quietly in a room
Thoughts of release ran through his head
Tears, terror and torture made him smile
but impulse drove him to the side of the bed
He stared at the boy, if only for a little while



my attempt at poetry, idunno any of the rules so ive probably violated some sacred poetry laws or something


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## The Backward OX

Sigg said:


> ive probably violated some sacred poetry laws or something


 
rofl


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## The Backward OX

Close, but no cigar. Tell you what I’ll do. It’s getting late here on the bottom of the earth (You know of course that down here the planet rotates in the opposite direction?) I’ll give you a few clues and leave you to it while I catch some shut-eye. Maybe by the time I return in eight or nine hours you’ll have unpicked it. 

First you have to consider the design of the Home page of this site. You have to take in the itty-bitty details of how the various sub-forums and topics therein are displayed, and of how and why they change.

While keeping all this in mind, you then need to look at the thread about limericks. You need to look at the time stamp of the last post.

You then need to return to this thread and look at the time stamp for the Fart-Hinder post.

Then you need to consider the terminology used by the wankers that post to these threads. You need to think about what it’s called to artificially move a thread back up the page, and about what this moving does to the itty-bitty details on the Home page, mentioned above.

And finally you need to be aware _certain people _might believe a poetry challenge to be more worthy of replies than a limerick thread, which has had a good run anyway.

Light-bulb time? :idea:


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## Sigg

lol, you coulda just said you were bumping the thread


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## The Backward OX

But it was the play on words, dear boy. Or, more correctly, the picture announced its own purpose. Clever, nien?


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## Sigg

The Backward OX said:


> But it was the play on words, dear boy. Or, more correctly, the picture announced its own purpose. Clever, nien?


 
what does nien mean, i don't know that word, what language is that?


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## The Backward OX

> Originally Posted by *The Backward OX*
> 
> 
> _But it was the play on words, dear boy. Or, more correctly, the picture announced its own purpose. _


 

To a Swedish speaker, that is.


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## Sigg

much more effective


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## The Backward OX

nein smarty


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## The Backward OX

Sigg said:


> much more effective


 But I used that one last week.


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## The Backward OX

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz.


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## WanderingStar

The two 'bumps' look more like a bum when accompanied with the word fart, no wonder you had Sigg all confused.. btw, I didn't read the rules either. Doh'. Hopefully I didn't break any of the same laws Sigg obviously broke.


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## Olly Buckle

It is already top of the page as site announcements, rather than bump it with a lot of off topic street signs why not put an advert in your signature? 

Poetry anyone?


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## Olly Buckle

Sigg said:


> At midnight in the month of June
> A boy slept quietly in his room
> Dreams of his birthday ran through his head
> Cake, presents and balloons made him smile
> but clowns caused the boy to turn in his bed
> He wished them away, if only for a little while
> 
> At just past midnight in the month of June
> A man sat quietly in a room
> Thoughts of release ran through his head
> Tears, terror and torture made him smile
> but impulse drove him to the side of the bed
> He stared at the boy, if only for a little while
> 
> 
> 
> my attempt at poetry, idunno any of the rules so ive probably violated some sacred poetry laws or something



I know of no sacred rules
There are things which work better in some situations, or which suggest something.
Take, for example "At just past midnight in the month of June" and compare it with "Soon after midnight in the month of June". Although there is an element of alliteration in just and June the difference in the u sound detracts from it, the rhyme of soon and June gives a smoother sound, the effect can also be considered in juxtaposition to the midnight, month alliteration. Neither is right or wrong, it depends on the effect you want to achieve and what sort of images you are pairing it with. Some poets work over all these considerations carefully, some have an awareness of them but apply them naturally.


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## WanderingStar

Sigg said:


> At midnight in the month of June
> A boy slept quietly in his room
> Dreams of his birthday ran through his head
> Cake, presents and balloons made him smile
> but clowns caused the boy to turn in his bed
> He wished them away, if only for a little while
> 
> At just past midnight in the month of June
> A man sat quietly in a room
> Thoughts of release ran through his head
> Tears, terror and torture made him smile
> but impulse drove him to the side of the bed
> He stared at the boy, if only for a little while
> 
> 
> 
> my attempt at poetry, idunno any of the rules so ive probably violated some sacred poetry laws or something




Is this innocent or dark and pervy?


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## StealSniper

At midnight in the month of june
I found myself wishing it was the afternoon.
The sun shines in my tiny window painted maroon,
But the darkness tends to overpower the moon.

Tied down by a backwards button up shirt
I feel like I am being forced to convert.
It's hard to fight back when feeling so inert,
So I just try to find a way to revert.

Enclosed in my jacket, it makes me feel sublime
Maybe that's why this asylum calls me the perfect paradigm,
I mean, I don't really think I commited a serious crime,
but pleading insanity is much better than doing time.

At Midnight in the month of June
I killed a man because I saw it in a cartoon,
youth today sees murder way to soon.
It's because of Tom and Jerry I am a loon.


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## Sigg

Olly Buckle said:


> I know of no sacred rules
> There are things which work better in some situations, or which suggest something.
> Take, for example "At just past midnight in the month of June" and compare it with "Soon after midnight in the month of June". Although there is an element of alliteration in just and June the difference in the u sound detracts from it, the rhyme of soon and June gives a smoother sound, the effect can also be considered in juxtaposition to the midnight, month alliteration. Neither is right or wrong, it depends on the effect you want to achieve and what sort of images you are pairing it with. Some poets work over all these considerations carefully, some have an awareness of them but apply them naturally.


 
i see what you're saying, i chose "At just" because of the similarity between 'just' and 'past'.  although to be honest i didn't really give it much thought



> Is this innocent or dark and pervy?


 
i intentionally left it to be ambiguous


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## caelum

Had a bit of trouble rhyming with sharp, here.

At midnight in the month of June
three galaxies away from home
I find the foreign, stunted moon
and set my ship its sky to roam

beneath me I survey the sphere
see clouds of green on titan peaks
where is the prize that brought me here?
my instruments the quarry seek

a beep, a flash alert me sharp
he's there! I've found the fiend at last
engaging ship's chameleon tarp
I plunge and beach the planet fast

I stow the ship safe miles away
accoutrements and guns I don
but one will stand come end of day
I start the trek with blaster drawn

a noise . . . he knew! surprise attack!
a glowing blade at me careens
I dodge the sword with my jet-pack
returning lasers at the fiend

his sabre casts my blasts aside
I volley down a thermal bomb
his witchcraft flings the weapon high
it detonates and fries my COM

I plummet, crash, fire back with wrath
the blaster doesn't pose a threat
he charges, swings, cuts me in half
the Jedi has killed Boba Fett


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## Olly Buckle

There are not many, and a lot of them are technical botanical words ending in -carp. Ask for a rhyming dictionary for Christmas, very handy sometimes.


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## The Backward OX




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## Olly Buckle

Shutting up and putting on the poll now, but please continue to comment on the poems if you wish.


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## The Backward OX

The 14 days isn't up for another ten hours! Call the stewards!


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## Olly Buckle

Pure chance, I have to stay in and wait for the chimney sweep.


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## The Backward OX

That puts a different slant on "Only in America." A chimney sweep. Only in England. My god.


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## The Backward OX

tiny bump


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## Gumby

I just want to add that _all_ of the entries were very good. Some of you have been holding out on us. You have talents you've not revealed to us before.


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## WanderingStar

Darn I forgot all about this and missed the end!


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## The Backward OX

WanderingStar said:


> Darn I forgot all about this and missed the end!


 
We have been beside ourselves with grief, misery and discontent, wondering what had happened to you.


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## WanderingStar

lol. I was busy, it was the holidays. I'm sure you were devastated without someone to pick on and keep your ego from deflating.


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## Olly Buckle

Hope you had a good holiday and wish you a *Happy New Year*. Congratulations on tying for second place, I didn't vote and if you were away that explains why there were two less votes than entries, sigh. Still it matters not who won or lost but how you played the game. Hope to see an entry from you in the "Ocean" challenge.


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## WanderingStar

sorry about that, I didn't even realize being in the contest I could vote. I get distracted easily, you know by shiny things


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## Gumby

:joker:Ah, so that's what those shiny things are on your avatar... your distractions.
Don't feel bad star, I never voted in the ones I was in either. I didn't know you could vote if you were a participant. Duh.


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## The Backward OX

But consider the warm feeling you get inside if you don't vote for yourself...


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## Olly Buckle

I thought they were the fixed stars Gumby.

The warm feeling only comes if you vote for someone else Ox, unless it's some other warm feeling brought about because you were off doing something else instead of voting for yourself.

As far as I am concerned anyone can vote for anyone as long as they vote for what they genuinely believe to be the best poem, that is between them and their conscience.


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## Olly Buckle

I would also like to point out that anyone can set up a thread here, all the challenges don't have to come from me, if anyone else has an idea, great.


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## caelum

It was actually quite the internal struggle to not vote for myself.  I sat there deliberating for a good minute.  Not even because I thought mine was the best, just cause I wanted to win.  In the end, sadly, the good angel beat out the little devil and I didn't vote for myself.  Damn you, conscience!  Gonna clip your wings you little bastard angle.  That's right, I don't even spell your name properly.  Angle, angle, angle, angle, angle.  What you gonna do?


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## Gumby

Man caelum! I think you may need some angle management classes. 

I guess several of us just couldn't bring ourselves to vote for ourselves. I mean, really now, how could we be sure we weren't just being biased?


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## The Backward OX

caelum said:


> In the end, sadly, the good angel beat out the little devil and I didn't vote for myself. Damn you, conscience! Gonna clip your wings you little bastard angle. That's right, I don't even spell your name properly. Angle, angle, angle, angle, angle. What you gonna do?


 
Some time during the 6th Century AD, Pope Gregory I, while on a visit to the place we now call England, observed a group of fair-haired children playing in the market-place and asked what race they were. (Native Britons were all ugly bastards with square faces and black hair)

“Angles, Your Holiness,” he was told.

“_Non Angli, sed Angeli,” __said the Pope. (Not Angles, but Angels.)_



_So either way you were right._


_(Angle-land - England…geddit?)_


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## caelum




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