Good morning, fellow soupers! (Not sure what a Rousing Ronnie is, lol.)
First, an apology for the delay. Things have been a bit hectic 'round the bend, and this slipped through the cracks - for that I am sorry.
Congrats to all who wrote their first Rondine for the contest. Lots of good entries!
Since this was a new form, I opened up the placements somewhat.
If you used the refrain properly (first part of first line) and you matched the rhyming scheme and the syllable counts (8 or 10 per line), you should be among the finishers. There were several that did not. On the syllable counting, I used howmanysyllables.com and the old finger counts, and if there was a question, I went to the PS syllable counter as well.
Exact rhymes, readability (how smooth is an out-loud read), and a more subjective "likeability" contributed to a placement of 2, 3, or 4. From the pool of 2s, I chose the two overall winners.
I guess it doesn't really matter, but just wanted to provide some visibility into my thought process. Ultimately, poems are deeply personal, and who cares what other people think? Thanks so much for participating and for venturing forth on a perhaps unfamiliar form!
-jeff