Contest Lizardmen April Poetry Contest Voting Thread

An informal review by Scalenex


Poem 1: Short and simple. Rhyme and rhythm okay, tells a complete story.

Poem 2: Nice rhyme and rhythm. Has a nice conclusion (literary speaking anyway). It’s better than most but I cannot vote for something that mixes up Slann and Slaanesh.

Poem 3: Even though I’m not familiar with the song, I like the adaptation. I like this poem better than most. I think it would better to actually write the chorus in instead of “repeat chorus,” but that’s a minor misgiving. If this contest wasn’t loaded with so much talent I’d probably give this a vote.

Poem 4: Good rhyme and rhythm, tells complete story. Seraphon save yet another bunch of human villagers. Narrator has a personal emotional connection to the problem. Mildly unhappy this included Stormcast Eternals but I like this better than most, though I cannot spare a vote.

Poem 5: I like this piece a lot. Good rhyme and rhythm. Epic, regal language. With only three votes I cannot give this one a vote. The poem tries to tell a story and it’s hard for me to follow what is going, who is talking, where is this going?

Poem 6: My favorite of the first six. I like the rhyme/rhythm. I like the evocative story told with an economy of word. This is a probable vote.

Poem 7: It follows the Shakespearian sonnet style but neglects rhythm a little bit. I like it but I cannot vote for it.

Poem 8: I really enjoy “The Raven” so I’m going to grade this harshly. This piece needed to be longer or shorter. A short piece could have picked up the beloved pattern of “The Raven” made a quick punchline, bow and let the curtain fall. A longer piece could create a complete story with full characterization much like the actual Edgar Allen poem. This poem ran just long enough for the novelty of a Raven-homage poem to start running thin, but not long enough to tell a coherent story. I wasn’t sure who the narrator was, where the narrator was, or if Lizardmen were involved in this story in any way.

Poem 9: I like the imagery, rhyme, rhythm, and language choices. I like that it tells a story but a very simple one, but in elegant terms. That’s what I expect a good poem to do. I’ll probably vote for this one.

Poem 10: I like the imagery, rhyme, rhythm, and language choices. This is a fine war poem that captures many interesting aspects of war and the heady expectations with the march to war. I’ll probably vote for this one.

Poem 11: I like the imagery, rhyme, rhythm, and language choices. My misigiving is it’s a bit vague for me. I’m not sure I’m parsing all the metapahors, so I’m not sure what the Bowser the mystery author is describing. Still enjoyed this.

Poem 12: Now I have four pieces I would feel bad not voting for. Copy and paste my standard response. I like the imagery, rhyme, rhythm, and language choices. It tells an epic story and leads up to Sotek without being too overt…until the end. I really like Batman the Animated Series, but I’m not sure if that reference was a good idea or a bad idea. Sotek and Batman are both very cool, but this piece was strong enough that Batman did not need to get involved.

Poem 13: I’ll have to Bowser the mystery author later, but I suspect that this poem is not literal. I believe the author did not pen this out at the last minute but planned to make a last minute entry like this. “ Also a Lizardman was present.” Strikes me as a premeditated item, not last minute inspiration.

 

After reading some reviews, I feel an imbecile. I know why...

 

If it can help, I have voted for Sotek... but alas, I cannot vote twice for our bloodthirsty God.

 

I did not run this contest so I do not know which piece is yours, but I know you have entered most of the short story contests since the contests begun and I can say your command of English has steadily improved with every submission. I barely had to touch your piece for the current short story contest.