Crown of Sonnets,
7 will be picked to win in the contest, seven that fit the best together.
It is a 7-sonnet sequence in which the last line of each sonnet is repeated in the first line of the next.
The first line is repeated as the last line of the 7th. sonnet;
These will be MODERN SONNETS, 14 lines, 10 syllables per line
abab cdcd efef gg/ I want flow but strict meter is not necessary.
[we'll try 3 at a time & pick what works best] blend your writing style with Caleb's.
REMEMBER big Boy & Girl Pants On
1. Caleb
2. Charles Henderson
3. James Goff
4. Isaiah Zerbst
5. Roy Jerden
6. Carrie Richards, Joyce Johnson & Andrea Dietrich
7. Eileen Ghali, Sarah Kendrick & Dane Ann Smith Johnson
Everyone who tries will rank 2nd, the 7 in the crown will get a first place.
Then if others want to write a sonnet till we get to 35 I will rank them 3- 10.Stone in the Cold
#1 C. S.
Through the North's dark I come a stealthy hand
who but a man shadowed could be so bold?
My eyes hunt, take a reckon of the land,
look into the hollows, constant and cold.
My companion's solitude, still as stone.
I am the seeker of winds, and of scent,
by the trees yonder, I wait not alone;
my aim is true, and my purpose unbent.
Yet, death does not bring a smile to my lips,
nor a lift unto this wayfaring heart;
in grief I am fed, from silence I sip,
and from the old wood, I shall never part.
Caleb am I, a hunter true, and I pursue
a life that no death can ever undo.
#2 C. H.
A life that no death can ever undo,
for there are portals I've yet to find.
Hidden life in the green, I wish to pursue,
oh, the secrets of life and death entwine.
I search and search, I will know no defeat.
Each corner turned will find new paths to tread.
The deer or the bear, the fox that I meet
will reveal the secrets of life not death.
So, let the wood talk, hear what it reveals.
Riddle its meanings there to be understood.
The less armor worn, we brandish or wield,
higher truth follows our message of good.
Come into the woods as in days of youth,
we still face the test of absolute truth.
#3 J. G.
We still face the test of absolute truth,
the night's coming fast, I travel unheard.
The reverence I feel, was born in youth,
tempered by sage, burnt offerings for birds.
Tormented by brambles whose thorns I collect
I come to remains of struggles long gone,
feathers and crushed bone, on these I reflect.
I'm hoping once more, my arms are still strong.
A pine marten scurries, close to my step,
the sweet scent of birch gum, his claws unearth.
My arrow's still sheathed, for creeks I have leapt.
though I grow cold, my spirit is re-birthed.
Tracks at the creek, the water I savor
the brush moves, my aim must never waver.
#4 Isaiah Z
The brush moves, my aim must never waver;
with the strengthened arms, I bend my bow of yew:
my eyes pierce the brush, intent to savor
the sights of a good hunt, an arrow true.
The bracken parts, with rattling, empty sighs.
My draw fingers quake from the constant chill.
My quarries' breath floats to the clouded sky;
my own breath's muffled as I track my kill.
Overhead, an arrow in deadly arc
speeds toward the bear I'm seeking, still as stone;
a shadow moves, the arrow strikes its mark.
The hand that looses the shaft is not my own.
I am a man shadowed; death comes knocking:
The hunter hunted; the past comes a stalking.
#5 Roy
The hunter hunted, the past comes stalking
as three men in the high grasses arise.
Sworn enemies all, my skill they're mocking.
They wounded the bear; now they want the prize.
I load, I aim, I pull, my arrow flies
one enemy down, the others advance
I round the bear and turn toward their eyes
my buck knife out, I fight on in a trance.
My senses heightened, I exult in pain
So crisp each forest leaf and grassy blade.
So fresh the air, and wet each drop of rain.
Three are down and the bear lies in the glade.
A deathly still descends upon these lands.
Ahead, the bear in sudden motion stands.
#6 Joyce
Ahead, the bear in sudden motion stands.
focusing on the downed, forgetting me.
His pain now deadened by pure, primal rage,
he is intent on mangling fallen three.
My ignored conscience suddenly awakes.
My frigid fingers let an arrow fly.
Though they are criminals and I'm the law,
I cannot let these hardened felons die.
My heavy pocket holds a loaded gun,
though using arrows, I had placed it there.
My posse is nearby, they'll hear the shot,
a shame I had to use it on the bear.
Happy that my hunting has not failed,
my job's not done until I see them jailed.
#6 C. R.
Ahead, the bear in sudden motion stands.
With surge of emotion, not fevered by fear,
new strength wells inside me, I must take command.
In grim confrontation, respect, I can share.
The bear, uncontrolled, with impetuous roar
now smolders with passion, swings his blind head.
From bubbling bellows, an outcry which soars,
as if in slow motion, he stumbles. He's dead!
Slipping, by chance through death's devious plan
I kneel to the dampness of crimson drenched ground.
My own will to survive has lent me a hand
I pick myself up, as the darkness surrounds
The wild takes its toll as a frightful foe
I must build a warm shelter, to fight off the cold
even out for syllable count
Ahead, the bear in sudden motion stands.
with a surge of strength not fevered by fear
A force wells inside, I must take command
In grim confrontation, respect, I share.
The bear, uncontrolled, with impetuous roar:
smolders with passion, swings his bloody head
from thundering bellows his outrage soars
out through the woods into which he has fled.
I slip haphazard through deaths devious plan.
I kneel to the damp of crimson drenched ground.
My survival aided by my own two hands
I rise to face night as darkness surrounds.
The wild's full of creatures, stealthy and bold
I must build a warm shelter, to fight off the cold
#6 Andrea
Ahead the bear in sudden motion stands.
I want to turn and run, but this is not
my way; I grasp my knife in trembling hands.
This fight will be like none I’ve ever fought!
The beast is greatly wounded; I can tell
by how he weaves, and I must take his life!
His neck I’ll strike. I breathe in; then exhale. . .
With all my might, I lunge out with my knife.
My free wrist he has clawed, but I am good!
Again and then again, I thrust and thrust.
Blood gushes from him as I knew it would.
I willed his death, for in myself I trust.
His warmth I’ll take by scraping fur from skin.
I bow before the bear to honor him.
WE are winding down the action now in VERSE 6
Ok here's where we are; Caleb [who we have naked with a muffler, a bow quill, a buck knife & a fire starter -nice look by the way hubba hubba] in the North woods, there are ferns, thorns, birch trees, deer, bear, fox, & pine martins.
He only kills for FOOD. But, Roy has him in a self defense situation. 3 enemies are down [out of the fight for now - not sure if they are totally incapacitated, will revive, or dead] The bear is wounded. [We don't know if it's a mortal wound.] It's cold enough to see your breath [so like 32? degrees Fahrenheit] cold, wet. Since Jimbo did a burnt offering, he has matches - probably in his quiver? We don't know the time of day but to see shadows it is day.
so from verse 1-5 we had him stand, think, observe, load his bow, shoot down 1 man grab his buck knife [I guess he dropped the bow BUT the quiver is still attached to him] fight to incapacitate 2 more men around the body of a wounded bear & the bear alone REVIVES.
What does the naked hunter do now, what time of day is it? He must be freezing? hungry? thirsty? TIRED? and alone in the North woods. [Apparently he didn't get wounded at all during all this?]BE VERY SENSORY STAY IN FIRST PERSON PRESENT TENSE
STAY IN CHARACTER
PS Caleb would NEVER leave DEAD GAME in the woods
YOU KILL THE BEAR you have 1 sonnets to get the body home! or rid of it? you can't easily butcher a bear in the woods & if you start cutting it up you'll attract every scavenger there!
The is Caleb, the place is simply the North woods, the man thinks...thinks.. he is being shadowed night is falling [how does he react to the night coming on when he thinks he is being shadowed?] no mention is made yet of how far from home he is or what his
supplies are, does he have a camp set up? does he have to set a camp up with dark coming on? He's too far in the woods to get home now before full dark. Is there an old hunters cabin or a hunters platform he can go to? where the water? What's he eating? Is he cold? Perhaps there is no shadow perhaps he has a fever mounting?
[no fantasy or magic, a real person in real time, who hunts to put food on his table not for sport a woodsman who has hunted since he was a child]
ENJOY
Cyndi's Present to Caleb
Ahead, the bear in sudden motion stands…
Again we breathe and upon the earth spar,
I, Caleb, know how a night can expand
for I faced Ursa Major, far from stars.
Sagittarius and Libra lay still
and the mighty Centaur would rear no more,
but this bear lives on and forever will,
shining its white fangs in a soundless roar.
The woods were real and the rain I recall,
I morn for the loss of both flesh and bone,
even clouds are moved, even the moon crawls
But for all time I'm forbidden to roam.
Earth was mine; I damned each constellation
when ancient ones renamed me Orion.