Are You Blue - Craig Cornish's Blog

I'm not, because I just got done placing some special poetry for the "Blue" contest and the top 3 could have nicely fit in the shadow of the tip of my pen...at noon, with the others falling nicely into the nearby glow. I picked 12 placements out of the 40. A few were centered or not left justified, a couple were way too long, one short one I think, but most who didn't place got too creative down a path I didn't want to go - naming every variation of blue within the poem or using too many cliche's or repetition etc. I pray you will see by reading the winners what my subjective pan was sifting for - and there was gold. Like I said, the big nuggets were very close so I'm anxious to finalize and see the names. First place went to "Rhythm and Blues", this poem had it all and in 16 lines was still growing in volumn after mutiple reads - from the after work reluctant temptation to submission much like the famous scene in "10" for a willing climax (if you will). The uncommon word use was/is priceless "fizzles like soap suds" - the blue mood building with a sense of what a side alley in New Orleans must sensually invite "roasting my senses". References to the old folk "scent of rhythm/perks ached limbs/gradually tapping a free movement" (can envision the old folk, many who came on walkers or shuffled, now loosening up - "CHEEKS LIGHTENED" (This phrase is a double, maybe triple header/uncommon word use "lightened" and SHOW DON"T TELL - most would say they smiled, but not this poet. This is metaphor wrapped in personification and begs to be read for what poetry is for - what does it mean to you.      Within the pen tip's shadow was 2nd place, simply titled "Blue" but not close to simply conceived and focused (no pun) on the color itself but in a VERY creative way, taking us on a journey from micro to macro - from its "cool" wavelengths "dancing on the retina" to the sun "painting" those molecules to sky blue and in the next quatrain returned to earth then "breathed" back to the sky only to rain back once more and be celebrated from space in all its majestic blue beauty. The whole creative concept is exceptional.    Rounding out the top 3, "There is Blue" somehow perfectly yet not planned (I love this poem) is life itself. This poem is full to the brim with both uncommon word usage but also pain and hope (hope being the blue/without saying so but by showing/leading) There is an undercurrent in this write that makes you want to reach for shore from dry ground. "THIEVING HOUR" "beyond the TREACHEROUS KISS OF ENTOPY"...there is blue  (thanks cuz I was reaching for shore...seriously, the kiss of entropy!--Delicious, heck, this is more machine than sinew and pages long in thoughts--"Itch of Fretfulness"/mocking,mirrored cage--thanks for blue. Yet we're promised cruel dreams of homes that "waft with cinammon and bonhomie" only to be smashed---but there is blue...and more---wowser. I will comment on the other winners seperately----THANKS!