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Showing posts with label C-c-c-c-c-combatWords. Show all posts
Showing posts with label C-c-c-c-c-combatWords. Show all posts

Friday, March 30, 2012

Toylit for March 30, 2012: 2 Poems & Some #Combatwords


Toylit for March 30, 2012: 2 Poems & Some #Combatwords

Combatwords will be here from now on. To play, just post your composition in the comments section: http://toylit.blogspot.com/2012/03/combatwords-march-30-2012-trayvon.html



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Combatwords, March 30, 2012: Trayvon Martin vs George Zimmerman

Combatwords, March 30, 2012: Trayvon Martin vs George Zimmerman



Do you see Trayvon Martin & George Zimmerman waving you over here? They're directing you to the new CombatWords arena. Do you even need a primer? Some pics should do it. I guarantee it. 



Combat Expiration: 12am PST, 4/2/2012

Bonuses/Penalties: Time: +1 if posted before 2am PST, 3/31/2012. -1 if posted before 6am 4/2/2012

Updated Rules:

Scoring: +1/-1 under the WITS structure:
Wit: wordplay, cleverness, clumsiness, choppiness etc
Ideas: good/bad, whatever. Got to be a cut above the ordinary poem.
Taste: Liked it/hated it
Structure: Is the sonnet a sonnet or the essay an essay? Does the structure help the composition? A bonus would go to an outstanding structure, not just a competent one.

The highest score any one critic can give could be a +4 & the lowest could be -4. Scores are cumulative.

Finally, you need to defend each portion of your WITS score. Either the composition has or doesn't have wit. It either does or doesn't have good ideas. Etc. These are not objective traits, but they can be calculated somewhat by the readers/critics.

Critique: Any critic can question any part of another critic's WITS score. Majority rules in deadlocked cases.

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Saturday, July 16, 2011

You could have had anything and yet this is what you chose? Combatwords July 15-18

Balance does not mean order. It means a chaos antidote for chaos. Examples:

Angus: "it was hard to tell exactly being that he had boobs like some porn deva 30 years in retirement.The only articulating male factor apparent was the summer beard he displayed in patches."

Rtoady/Seann McCollum:
"I carry my shopping bags straight to the second hand shop.
I shit out my food the moment I’ve gobbled it up.
Even better, the stove sits beside the rubbish bin.
I’m bailing this ocean as fast as it’s trickling in."

Khakjaan Wessington (Me): "A ripe gourd fell at my feet and detonated, launching a thousand insects upon impact. Above us, I could see the bloatwood tree teetering, its branches full of parasite-filled fruit that trembled as rockets escaped."

There's still time to play Combatwords. Dare ye join in?

http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/07/combatwords-july-15-2011-balance.html

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Saturday, July 09, 2011

Science Fiction or Fact? Combatwords, July 8-11, 2011

Sean McCollum: "In the future every baby was born with a computer in its skull which in turn was inhabited by a pixilated ghost prostitute. In the future, cannibalism. In the future, nuclear-powered unicycles were pedaled into the holographic wastelands where we did battle with a race of subterranean Adonises. Moons were lassoed together and flung like giant bolos across the solar system."

Wessington: "Keystrokes and flickered intention on monitor
Linked by the wireless data to trolly:
Sphinx of the fogbelt, lynx of the kilobit,
Minx of the fence—she is orange or tabby."

http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/07/combatwords-for-july-11-2011-rules-of.html

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Saturday, April 30, 2011

Heirs of Air [Combatwords, April 30, 2011]

Heirs of Air [Combatwords, April 30, 2011]

From http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/04/combatwords-april-29-2011-ancestors.html

Retrieving nothing home tonight;
Sedated, belated lovers slight the western star—they head to beach
And play with hair they've dyed with bleach.
On Seven One from Haight to beach,
The night's too far, they've lost the bliss
That evening summoned with a kiss.
Acquaintance met and lost, they surf the bus
And slide from triteness, greeting nothing;
Citing names, the nothing names:
A hopeless lay, that skirtless play.
The loneliness that fills their leather boots
Is truth aboard the bus en route
To chicken feather beds and ocean salt:
Determined beach, a terminal breach.
For Ballard wrote about the crash:
Erotic engines, loss and crash—
Wrote about the unseen trash.
Erosion meets the sacred clash
Where plovers meet the city's ash.
It's gone, it's gone to trash at last;
So stand alert and make a joke.
Ride the bus, make silly oaths
To pave the way to bed,
And leave behind this better night,
Offend the sight of moon
With brooding lust and traffic lights.
Farewell, my otter fake-fur coat.
We've gone to sleep at last, at least.

Kiss it—call it kismet.
Where McDonald's floodlights meet
The cunts of red,
The hippy dreads.
Kiss it—fake a joke and fake the fear of joke
And spill the fucking beer upon the Muni floor
Where stench perfume defeats the moon.
So kiss it—cut the cheer in half
Aboard this Viking boat, this fuck-up booth.
Choke the night in search of hundred proof.
Clutch the skateboard, youth is fleeting;
Gone to joint and gone to broken bleating;
To broken-asses in search of weed.
Bleed it out and search it out and kiss the knee that grazes notebooks.
Kiss the legs that open up beside you,
Open where you fear to tread with eyes.
Kiss her every orifice.
Forget it: kiss goodbye.

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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Silk Knight Swoons [Combatwords Poem, April 23, 2011]

Silk Knight Swoons [Combatwords Poem, April 23, 2011]
From http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/04/combatwords-april-22-2011-declared-and.html

Knight of granite squares, night of business casual wear;
Fights by chessboard bets—I swear, Ruy Lopez has the night sweats
Underneath tobacco palms and gritty nails and Lasker psalms.

Even though I wore a suit, I paused and watched the two galoots
Murder pawns and trade a pair of dollar bills for several prawns
Fried and battered—basket case: they fed while chessmen scattered.

Low and you'll become the queen.
Slow and knives become serene.
Laugh alone to laugh like hell;
Crazies knew I shared their smell.

"Glasses ain't afraid of anything."
"Watch that tie; he wants to fight."
Silk cocoon and pace of concrete moon—
A silver goon, a briefcase croon;
A stroke, a grand mal swoon:
A check and mated loon.



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Saturday, April 02, 2011

Tales From The CombatWords Arena. 26.75 More Hours of Combat Left!

http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/04/combatwords-april-1-2011-nostalgia.html

If you've been avoiding CombatWords because you are threatened by the idea of competitive writing, maybe you should be. I want you to note the timestamps for this combat after you admire the quality of the offered samples. If you can't take the heat, that's cool, but consider being an anonymous chicken and critiquing the comps. I mean, you might bring up valid points, but trust me, nobody is going to feel threatened by someone too scared to step into the arena him or herself.

Onyxsupersonics (April 1, 2011 4:52 PM PST http://onyxsupersonics.blogspot.com/):
"my first trip to philadelphia, my first trip to new york, when i saw guernica at moma, my first flight to london ... i always thought i could do it again and it would be even better ... sometimes i did it again and it was, sometimes i did it again and it wasn't, but usually i couldn't and i'll never know whether it would've been or wouldn't have been ... "

Valerie Valdes (April 1, 2011 5:32 PM PST http://candleinsunshine.com/asthemoonclimbs/):
""In Cuba, it wasn't like this"
was the common joke
when something bad happened
in America."

Amalia Dillin (April 1, 2011 6:42 PM PST http://blog.amaliadillin.com/):
"My cousins and I jockeyed for the center seat, crawling over one another, climbing, twisting. The hammock twisted and one of them was hanging upside down on the outside, clinging like a monkey. We helped him back in, pulling him up like a sailors dragging a drowned man from the sea. "

Steven Marty Grant (April 1, 2011 7:30 PM PST http://roomspimp.blogspot.com/):
"Of course I know
I fought with her too
but those battlefields
are green and over grown;
Appomattox, Utah beach,
Hue City. "

Seann McCollum (April 2, 2011 11:34 AM PST http://carrioncall.blogspot.com/):
"In all the years since the weekend you
“didn’t sleep with” that fellow
you met at GothFest at the Trocadero"

I can't sit this one out--looks too fun. It's an extra good combat this week which is why you should try it out. I respect anyone willing to fall flat on his or her face in public, even if not for the quality of composition.

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Friday, April 01, 2011

COMBATWORDS IS ON RIGHT NOW! April 1, 2011 [Last Week's CW Poem Enclosed]

Fight, read, or critique; it's up to you: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/04/combatwords-april-1-2011-nostalgia.html

Fruit of Knowledge [Combatwords repost from 3.25.2011]
From http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/03/combatwords-march-25-2011-hooray-for.html

Should you call it a baby tooth tucked in a pillow
Or call it a molar that crumbled with grinding?
Maybe it's better to say it's a fang
With venomous sacs, else a poison saliva?

You could wish for anything, but instead wish for money.
You ablate in the night as you sweat out anxiety—
And you ache for a cushion for teeth:
Something to suck-in your antidote.

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Saturday, March 26, 2011

CombatWords Hype for the Week: Hooray for Dystopia

CombatWords Hype for the Week: Hooray for Dystopia

Welcome to cyberpunk. May I take your order? Play, critique, or read the game here: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/03/combatwords-march-25-2011-hooray-for.html

Tell your friends and especially tell your enemies. Hook a lit-goon up w/ Stumbleupon, Facebook, or whatever you post-print kids are doing these days.

Jeff Chon, http://jeffchon.blogspot.com March 26, 2011 12:10 AM PST:

"this black man is president and ugh he’s trying to take away all my rights he wants to take away my guns he wants to take away my religion oh won’t someone save me from this black man and the horrible nightmarish world he is creating the world is such a rotten place to live in now because in the old days I might have been poor I might have been dumb Hell I might have even been a bad person but at least I was white"

KW March 26, 2011 1:07 AM PST:

"Should you call it a baby tooth tucked in a pillow
Or call it a molar that crumbled with grinding?
Maybe it's better to say it's a fang
With venomous sacs, else a poison saliva? "

Anton Gourman, http://forpuck.wordpress.com March 26, 2011 1:18 PM PST:

"Then the police arrived with Their Shields.
Their shields were windows and the men
looked out. Their eyes were square, and
who knows what the law thinks? "

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Saturday, March 19, 2011

The World is Ending! So Play Some CombatWords!

Sure seems like the end of an era to me: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/03/combatwords-march-18-2011-end-of-era.html

Steven Marty Grant http://roomspimp.blogspot.com:

"It is finished

Two thousand years of grace
covered the lower ground
of man’s last temple; Manhattan

Allah Akbar "

Seann McCollum (RToady) http://carrioncall.blogspot.com:

"How could they prohibit our tradition?
Our memories condemned, our past made sin.
Would they deny Marcel his madeleine?
Reproach the kosher Jew for eating brisket? "

Read, play, or critique: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/03/combatwords-march-18-2011-end-of-era.html

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Deteriorating Facsimile [Combatwords Repost, March 12, 2011]

Deteriorating Facsimile [Combatwords Repost, March 12, 2011]
From http://combatwords.blogspot.com

Admit it, you've suffered reversals.
Desire, so the Buddhists declaim,
Is the root of one's woe as if life
Were a trifle. It's huge. It's the only
Certainty, other than death.

But love is as likely as dinner,
As likely as children—they're us
But they're smaller; repeating our lives.
We diminish each time and forget
Failures: we copy and shrink,

Then we're gone
And return
And then vanish.


Catch all the action here: http://combatwords.blogspot.com

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Sunday, March 13, 2011

Combatwords Wants YOU

I know your kind: your hollow fealty to words. You claim you'd die for literature, yet you fear to be slain in the arena. Well Combatwords ain't your uncle and it ain't Sam neither... but it wants you. It wants you to fall on your face and break your dainty nose. It wants you to scream for blood between the lines and it wants a final, wordless yet implied 'fuck you' as you lie defeated in the sand.

http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/03/combatwords-march-11-2011-reversal.html

RToady (Seann McCollum) http://carrioncall.blogspot.com March 12, 2011 2:20 AM :
"A modern Salome, or Magdalene,
all she had to do was grin;
gripped between her perfect teeth, the blade
she emancipated bananas with,
flinging them up to the grubby gamins
begging at the edge of the pier."

I was late to the game March 12, 2011 9:58 PM :
"Admit it, you've suffered reversals.
Desire, so the Buddhists declaim,
Is the root of one's woe as if life
Were a trifle. It's huge. It's the only
Certainty, other than death."

Go forth and fight:



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Saturday, March 05, 2011

Tales From the Combatwords Arena: Randomness

Anton Gourman (http://forpuck.wordpress.com/) won last week's Combatwords, so he selected this week's topic. You can see him win here: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/02/combatwords-february-25-2011-friendship.html

Read this week's combat here: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/03/combatwords-march-4-2011-randomness.html

Valerie Valdes http://candleinsunshine.com/asthemoonclimbs/:
""When the time comes, choose
the top one." Lucky numbers
six, nine, forty-two."

Amalia Dillin http://blog.amaliadillin.com/:
"I am Europa, and this bull is my god. Zeus, Poseidon, Jehovah, Allah, Odin, Thor, or Amun-Ra. He leans into my touch, and I am blessed. I am alive. I am electric."

Seann McCollum http://carrioncall.blogspot.com/:
"Instructions tumble from your unclenched fist.
Each word can be interpreted six ways..."

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Sunday, February 27, 2011

11.5 More Hours of Combatwords

Get your Combatwords right here: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/02/combatwords-february-25-2011-friendship.html

Hikimadwoman http://preservativewoman.posterous.com/:
"i
hold
still
a rubber kick
my hands shattering"

RToady/Seann McCollum http://carrioncall.blogspot.com/:
"saguaro phalluses ablaze with blossom,
clumps of opuntia best approached with caution."

Vandamir http://vandamir.wordpress.com/:
"my lover sent me an irate message. His family read my online journal and confronted him regarding our relationship. They were concerned because I practiced magick and openly discussed birth control."

Anton Gourman http://forpuck.wordpress.com/:
"Five tables stood in line
Small candles flickering Morse promises
of future greatness and the perfection of the moment,
casting shadows of time on
the crayfish, cheese, bread and the paper plates,
which were ready to lose their innocence for our pleasure"

Naomi McArdle http://harmlessnoise.wordpress.com/:
"And yet, we're bound by
invisible blood-brother rites,
the ink of life that decrees
in small-print clauses and codicils
the benefactors of emotional wealth
on a pre-mortem testament."

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Friday, February 11, 2011

Excerpts From the Combatwords Arena 2/11/2011, 11:25pm PST

Combatwords (http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/02/combatwords-february-11-2011-sales.html) started 2/11/2011, 2pm PST. Here's the game so far:

Steven M Grant (February 11, 2011 4:27 PM PST) Dear Object of My Desire,:
"I called her cold
and she responded by
adjusting her caller ID."

Seann McCollum (February 11, 2011 9:20 PM PST) Fiji Mermaid:
"“You’d be so easy to love,” she warbles, but the fact remains
she’s awfully difficult to buy for."

HikiMadwoman (February 11, 2011 10:53 PM PST) committed:
"mom has her knives out
she's grinding them down
their edges stochastic infinities
and her eyes smell like rust
her breath full of religion
from a greased green bottle"

If you think you can write better, prove it. Go to http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/02/combatwords-february-11-2011-sales.html and bring your ink!

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Vise Sales, Vice Sails [CombatWords Poem, February 11, 2011]

Vise Sales, Vice Sails [CombatWords Poem, February 11, 2011]
From http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/02/combatwords-february-11-2011-sales.html

The purchase one dare not speak or name
Has purchased the fullest claim,
All secrets, its blame.

Gilded pussy-pounce:
Cats devour the sea by ounce;
Rubs the pole in buxom dollar bounce.

Speak me so horny, yowl in the heat;
Star in a movie conceit:
Plasma from starbeats.

One's pulse is divided
By molecules blood provided
And needles injected. Sharps. Junk-sided

Sails through the veins to pleasure, pain.
Sales through the brain to leisure, strain.
Sail all our sales; our treasure's slain.

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Savage Disobedience [Combatwords Poem, from February 4, 2011]. Also, Combatwords JUST started.

Savage Disobedience [Combatwords Poem, from February 4, 2011]
From: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/02/combatwords-february-4-2011-mischief.html
Wanna play? Go here: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/02/combatwords-february-11-2011-sales.html The game is aggressive or tame, depending on the readers and players.

How does it feel to attract the whole mob?
Web intersections by hand and bike rage
Circles around you. They're calling; you come
Reaching for drivers like you—they've had it.
One of them swings at the crowd with truck door.
Missing, he leaps to the street and flings bikes
Out of the way and the crowd's confused. Pride
Strays to an anger—you call out, "hold hands
Break for the light and the traffic shall pass."
Spirits of violence giggle, slap off
Glasses and push you; they're balling threats, fists.
Shouldn't pedestrians trump their bike ride?
Shouldn't a carefully argued speech sway
Cyclists protesting cars... is it you?

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Friday, February 04, 2011

Get Your Stalkers, Sluts and Sociopaths in CombatWords, February 4, 2011: Mischief

http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/02/combatwords-february-4-2011-mischief.html

Started at 1:53 PM PST, 2/4/2011:

Steven M Grant February 4, 2011 3:12 PM, PST: "The days that followed were so magical and painful for me. Every morning on my way to work I would walk past Pete’s hoping to catch a glimpse of her. “If she sees you just smile at her, don’t be such a pussy” Sometimes I would see her through the window but she was always busy behind the counter. I really started to get a sense of who she was. She was kind of shy like me, not a lot of friends and she rarely went anywhere after work except straight home. I was pretty sure that she really had been flirting with me that Thursday evening because she did not have a boyfriend. She never went out at night and she never got cards or letters from any men."

Roxi Xmas aka Misti Rainwater-Lites, February 4, 2011 7:33 PM, PST:
"I'm all about dick
he spews CUNT
I hiss pusSsSy"

And I wrote something too. See you there: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/02/combatwords-february-4-2011-mischief.html

Vlad, please escort them to the next exhibit:

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Friday, January 28, 2011

Come, Run-Away From the Sea [Combatwords Poem, January 28, 2011]

Come, Run-Away From the Sea [Combatwords Poem, January 28, 2011]
From http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/01/combatwords-january-28-2011-waiting-for.html

Life as we know it is supple and bitter;
Life as we know it is vicious and glitter.
We look for our lovers in movies,
At networked computers as psychics,
Unknowable God in our psyches—
Our secrets are obvious vices.
Flows to the heart, ebbs fall apart—we're reaching.
Blows shall impart hesitant starts—stone to sandy beaching.

--
The battle has just started. Try to defeat this poem here: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2011/01/combatwords-january-28-2011-waiting-for.html



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