Introduction:

Hello! As you may know, /t/poetry holds a monthly poem writing competition based on a selected theme. (Here's the link to this month's.) This thread is meant to serve as a directory for the previous Poetry Challenges and as a meta post for the discussion of the Challenge system. Please use the comments for suggesting future Challenge themes and for offering input as to how we can make the contests better.

Links to Previous Poetry Challenges:

• [Weekly Poetry Challenge] Write a pantoum

Please keep in mind that you are very welcome to create a poem for previous topics! Though they will not be counted in the process for determining a contest winner, it is still a great way to improve upon your writing skills.

Introduction:

Hello! This is the November 2015 installment of /t/poetry's Monthly Poetry Challenges. To begin, allow me first to explain how these threads will work:

On the first of every month, a new sticky will be posted with the tag [Monthly Poetry Challenge] and a theme in the title. The idea of these Challenges is to write a poem as described by the theme. (For example, in a thread titled "[Monthly Poetry Challenge] Write a poem about changing times," you would write a poem about how times are changing. ) After you've written a poem, please submit it to the comments. There, users will upvote poems that they like, that they find to be especially fitting to the topic, or that they think are of exceptional quality. At the end of each month, a winner will be crowned based on who has the highest comment score. So, your typical online poetry competition.

Rules:

1. Submitted poems must be OC. Meaning, only submit something that you wrote.

2. Poems should be on-topic and should follow the theme.

3. Please do not downvote submissions unless they are exceedingly and purposefully off-topic. If you feel that a particular poem was not of quality, instead offer constructive criticism to the author in a polite manner.

4. You may submit as many entries as you like.

5. Please upvote other submissions. How would we determine a winner if people only upvoted their own works and never others? Comments are also greatly appreciated!

This month:

This month the theme is "Write a poem describing a single, specific moment." The moment which you choose to describe can be about anything you wish. Your moment can be a fleeting one, gone in an instant, or one that seems to never end, encompassing eons all within a single second. Go in any direction that you want with your description!

Good luck and have fun!

Note: Due to a change in plans, the former Weekly Poetry Challenges have been replaced with a monthly variant. We hope that by doing this, users will feel less pressured to complete their works within a short time limit and that these threads will gain more participants.

Introduction:

Hello! This is the first installment of /t/poetry's Weekly Poetry Challenges. To begin, allow me first to explain how these threads will work:

Each Monday, a new sticky will be posted with the tag [Weekly Poetry Challenge] and a theme in the title. The idea of these Challenges is to write a poem as described by the theme. (For example, in a thread titled "[Weekly Poetry Challenge] Write a poem about changing times," you would write a poem about how times are changing. ) After you've written a poem, please submit it to the comments. There, users will upvote poems that they like, that they find to be especially fitting to the topic, or that they think are of exceptional quality. At the end of each week, a winner will be crowned based on who has the highest comment score. So, your typical online poetry competition.

Rules:

1. Submitted poems must be OC. Meaning, only submit something that you wrote.

2. Poems should be on-topic and should follow the theme.

3. Please do not downvote submissions unless they are exceedingly off-topic (ex. a poem about pineapples in a thread about finding love). If you feel that a particular poem was not of quality, instead offer constructive criticism to the author in a polite manner.

4. You may submit as many entries as you like.

5. Please upvote other submissions. How would we determine a winner if people only submitted their own works and never upvoted others?

This week:

This week the theme is "Write a pantoum." A pantoum is a poem which follows a pattern of repeating lines mixed with new lines. This is the basic structure that your poem should follow. Each repeating letter signifies that a line is used again. (Please note, however, that many different varieties of pantoum exist; all variations will be accepted in this contest, so long as it is still recognizable as a pantoum.) Your poem can be about anything you like, and it is not required to rhyme.

Good luck and have fun!

Note: Due to a change in plans, this challenge will now be open until October 31st. On November 1st, a new challenge will be created under the name [Monthly Poetry Challenge]. This thread will remain open, however, in case anyone still wishes to try their hand at the old topics. We look forward to your support and participation in the future!

(Sorry if this is a little weird for /t/religion, as I didn't see any other discussion topics here.) To elaborate, I've already read the Bhagavad-Gita (one of the Hindu texts) and am currently in Genesis of the Tanakh (Jewish canon Bible). After finishing the Tanakh, I intend to read the following books in order:

1) Kojiki (Shinto text)

2) Koran

3) Ramayana (piece of Sanskrit/Hindu literature)

4) KJV Bible

5) Nihon Shoki (Shinto religious/historical work)

6) Mahabharata (longer Hindu book)

This isn't exactly something you can accomplish in a day by any means, but I'm very eager to at least try at my goal. Has anyone else here attempted this? Any tips? Any pointers on what books to try after reading the above list would also be appreciated!