Contest Native American quotes: 7 prompts by Thunder SpeechEdit

Prompt

My first totally free verse contest.  Below are quotes by Native Americans.  I want poems in free verse using imagination and poetic devices based on these quotes.


"All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man does not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself." - Chief Seattle

"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I'll understand."  tribe unknown

"The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears." Minquess?

"Do not judge your neighbor until you walk two moons in his moccasins." - Cheyenne

"Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance." - Lakota

"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice." - Cherokee

"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset." - Blackfoot

  • This contest was judged on Aug 20 03:05 AM.
  • Awards 800 for gold, 600 for silver, 400 for bronze. 3 honorable mentions.
  • Categories: big points poems, creative poems, imagery poems. 204 views
  • Anonymous - host reads via 'read all'
  • Prewrites were not accepted.

Rules

  • No rhyme this time.
  • No more than 24 lines.
  • No cussing or porn
  • No bashing of God or religion
  • No reserves.
  • No dirty pretty.
  • Please place prompt used in AN 

About the Host

Thunder Speech has run 21 contests since joining in 2010.

Judging Notes

This contest was by far the hardest of all to judge.  Every poem is a winner in my book.  But there were three poems that stood out.  The gold went to one of the most powerful poems I've ever read about injustice.  The silver and bronze entries were almost equally great.  The HMs are not in any particular order.  Thanks to all for making this a great contest.
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Winners • Read 7 • Read all 14

  • A
    The Wail Of The Cherokee - Aztlanquill • New write, • commented  Were you there when we walked that Trail of Tears? / Were you there when you took away our he
  • The Four Winds of Life - Mr. Anonymous • New write, • commented  The child looked far across the plain. / With curious eyes he looked to the old Indian. / W
  • Endurance - ICULookn • New write, • commented  your journey will cross clouds of sadness / into an aching, scotched unbarring plains, / sacr
  • Busy Bee of the Cree - Sonny • New write, • commented  Young boy of the Cree tribe / Kicking Cougar was his name / eyes for shooting arrows and / ri
  • Only Remembered By What We Have Done - Emmanuel Jessie • New write, • commented  Holding along tightly / To every strand. / Born into the world / Clothed in nakedness / Dying
  • Riverbank - Unorthodox • New write, • commented  Scream breach into the world smiling faces warm hearts / Begin your life enjoy the seasons /
  • Life {An Acrostic} - liquidmindforever • New write, • commented  w inter richly stitched with cornhusks herds of buffalo warmth without white men / h owl of c

Entries

  • C
    nature calls - Carole212 • New write, • commented  life can be a dream to some / it calls nature and animals to see / we are all so connected an
  • M
    limbs to bend - Michelob • New write, • commented  I did not ask the limbs to bend / nor beckon leaves to fall / I simply enjoyed the shade /
  • After the Storm - Mel Patterson • New write, • commented  Compassion is an expression of love / a heart so moved giveswithout cost / selflessly shari
  • Wisdom Awakened - Ellie Le Jeune • New write, • commented  All the pain of all the years / all the tears that were shed / fell into the sea of strength.
  • Interlace - senryu - hspllj • New write, • commented  web of life / defile strand / silence wisdom / Linda L Johnson August 7 201
  • Treasure One's Soul - PrincessOfFire • New write, • commented  A person must / be able to sense / to experience / great emotions / such as that / of shed
  • Laramie - ThisPaperDream • New write, • commented  At lifes first cry / did the world rejoice? / Or did my mother worry / that I should be br

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