We were well pleased with our first Open Mic Challenge for dragon-themed limericks. You can read the entries here.
This month’s challenge is a little more ‘out there’.
Write a poem of any kind, from sonnet to free verse,
of 19 lines or less around the theme
MOTHERSHIP.
Winner gets this pic for their personal use!
Now, I’m not much of poet, but I think I can rhyme, some of the time…Never mind!
There are two poems below that I wrote (with our ed’s help) to get us started. We challenge you to do much, much better!
HOW IT WORKS
See the CRES Submissions Guidelines for what we like (hint, no horror).
Enter your 19 line-or-less poem as a comment below this post. Limericks are always welcome!
One entry per a person, please.
The Winner gets two Bs, a prize, and a pic: Bragging rights & a Badge, a gift subscription to Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores online magazine, and a .jpg of the challenge pic 😀 Also the chance to be part of any anthology we do.
Vote by commenting with MY VOTE under your favorite entry. Comments on the entries are welcome!
If there’s a tie, we’ll get Fran, editor of CRES, to make the final judgment.
Please keep entries and responses friendly to all ages and as lighthearted as possible.
Challenge ends on 22 May 2020. Winner will be announced soon thereafter.
Thanks, and enjoy!
* * *
We lost our fuel cells near Betelguese,
Our home ship was caught in a noose.
Along came some shy Aldebarans,
and offered helping tentacled han’s.
Now we’re loose!
* * *
It looms,
in the gloom,
the ship of many rooms.
Darkness flees its bright beams,
bringing us hope for our dreams,
Grey worries never enter its seams.
A rush of boarding activity
to a ship large as a city,
aurora hull gleaming pretty.
Then its engines inhale,
with a roar like a gale,
and the great ship sweeps off like a whale.
* * *
Over to you!
Update: 24 May 2020
And we have a winner!
We had a great challenge with a diverse range of emotions and views of Mothership. Thank you to all who’ve entered and to those who’ve voted!
The winner is Glenn Lyvers with Waiting For Mother.
Congratulations, Glenn! Please email me at leennamythslegendsfairytales at cosmicrootsandeldritchshores dot com for your badge and prizes.
Stay tuned for our next challenge, and feel free to browse through the rest of what Openmic has to offer.
‘Til next time, good health and happy writing to you!
* * *
Oh ship of Earth
Oh ship of Sky
Do not, I beg you, pass me by.
Take me with you when you go
Into the bright day’s dawning glow
Enjoyed this.
Beautiful!
_The FatherShip_
They watch through the portholes. He looms from the dark.
The lights on his hull advertise R&R.
He docks and the MotherShip opens her doors,
Allowing her raucous crew to disembark.
She waits in the silence while they drink at the bar
And chill in the holosuites. Thunderous applause
Follows the androids’ contortionist feats.
They squander their wages then stagger back home
To the still-waiting MotherShip, thanking their hosts,
Complaining it’s over, but enjoying clean sheets
And nutritious meals. Meanwhile, beyond the dome
Of the observation deck, the other ship coasts
Into the black without hailing ‘Goodbye’.
The trinkets are lost and the memories fade
But the MotherShip provides and holds their course true.
The crew never thanks her. Standardized days tick by
And she toils without reprieve or accolade
Until those bright lights return, long overdue.
Love the world building and strong message.
Waiting for Mother
I die a little every 182 minutes,
waiting, watching her pass by
with so much life inside –
bone-white against a teal sky,
mothership in orbit. She,
no bigger than a grain of rice
from my buglike perspective –
standing on an ancient glacier,
a wind-swept ice-blue river
of brittle frozen crystals,
looking up – still waiting.
Last night, I felt the darkness stir,
timeworn and pregnant with fear;
I am here, restless in the stillness,
look down, mother – look down.
I like the imagery of the glacier. Great sense of drama and story. I’d like to know more about the lonely soul.
Wow, beautiful piece!
Wow, this one is good.
The Spider (A Haiku)
Hark! It watches me
From the wall of my shower;
I scream for mother.
LOL! Fun. But I don’t see how it fits the theme of Mothership.
I guess the mother is like a whole supportive ship that she can rely on in a spider crisis.
My daughter also has me ‘take care’ of spider problems, although when she lived in southern Japan she had to deal with huge monster spiders usually by herself.
Ah, I see it now, like an extension or inversion of the Earth as mother concept.
Wow! Didn’t know there were monster spiders in Japan. They’re everywhere! Guessing spiders are going to be the first hitchhikers into space on our crafts…hopefully not the monster ones!
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