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BLAKE AND TENNYSON ROUND ONE BATTLE IN POETRY BRACKET, MADNESS 2017
William Blake, the Romantic Era painter and poet (1757–1827) is the author of many famous lines of poetry. He seeks the crown of this season’s Scarriet Poetry March Madness with this one: He who mocks...
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FROST AND BUKOWSKI: POETRY ROUND ONE
Charles Bukowski goes up against Robert Frost in this final Round One Poetry Bracket contest. These are 20th century poets, so don’t expect beautiful poetry. Bukowski is essentially the child (whoring...
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THE PROSE BRACKET: HOLMES VS. ORWELL
Eric Blair changed his name to George Orwell to hide from Stalin. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. –George Orwell A dinner party is the last triumph of...
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F. SCOTT FITZGERALD AND OSCAR WILDE FACE OFF IN THE PROSE BRACKET SCARRIET...
F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby is a beloved American novel—a short novel—almost like a long poem. The writing is delicate, sensitive; the narrator is reflective, sad, moral, demure—not really...
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PORN IN MINIATURE
John Ashbery has been fooling around with girls on the side. Do you believe this? Decide. Decide. If you need attention, It pays to be outrageous and get a mention In whatever forum supplies Notice to...
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MORE PROSE BRACKET MADNESS: HEMINGWAY VERSUS MRS. MILES
Poetry was going down the tubes fast in 1936. Mad Edna Millay (“what lips my lips have kissed and where and why…”) was about to be replaced by a grey suit… Paul Engle, with his Iowa Masters Degree...
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MAKE ME WANT YOU
Make me want you, but don’t give in To my poetry, my poetry of desires; The best poems burn with helpless fires; A poem wins if the poet doesn’t win. For my poems as poems to grow Lead me on and on...
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PROSE BATTLE IN MADNESS: WILLIAM GADDIS AND JONATHAN SWIFT
The post-modern novelist William Gaddis To be post-modern is to be self-referencing in a despairing sort of way, and who has time for the egotistically bleak? Gaddis said the writer was the “dregs” of...
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I SURRENDERED
I held my breath under the New England trees. The grass was soft where I bent my knees, By the broken twigs and flowers, and I wept openly in the park Until large buildings were immersed in the...
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THE LIQUID BLACK
I remember her face, Classical and long, Like a Mediterranean song. I remember her neat lips Always had a faint smile, For she knew I wanted her all the while. I remember her nose. Any woman going to...
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THE MADNESS CONTINUES. STEPHEN CRANE VERSUS D.H. LAWRENCE
Stephen Crane. 1871–1900 Red Badge of Courage ponders the American Civil War bloodbath. This prose bracket contest features war (Crane) and love (Lawrence)—and it probably doesn’t get any better...
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SCARRIET SUCCESS
We are busy at Scarriet—publishing new posts on an almost a daily basis: original essays, poems, epigrams, Scarriet March Madness Poetry contests—in its 8th year, going on right now, Scarriet Poetry...
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FINAL ROUND ONE PROSE BRACKET BATTLE IN MADNESS: DICKENS VS. HAWTHORNE
The young Nathaniel Hawthorne. He aged quickly. Empires are obsessed with money. Their colonies are obsessed with sex. The greatest author of the British Empire, Charles Dickens, invented Scrooge. The...
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YOUR DISAPPOINTMENTS AND YOUR TEARS
Smile that gleams like a star. Smile that seems to be everything you are. I knew you before I loved you, And then my loving grew, My love became pleased at all my imagination could do: To walk by your...
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THE CHARMS OF WOMAN
The charms of woman are not that many And are easily bought—by a pretty penny. If they have charms, they are human charms: Conversation, eyes, comforting arms. If you want to insult a woman Praise her...
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ANY SONG
Any song you hear with him You can hear with me. Any thought you have, Any connection or memory You have with him you can have with me. The favorite things you count on, or like to do Are yours. They...
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THE FALL FALLS
The fall falls and the leaf is dry. All your reflected beauty, Cynthia, Is beautiful, but will die. Look! The mist drowses. The breeze blows your belief back into your eyes. This is love—if you let me...
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SEX ROBOTS GO TO WAR
I’d rather have a Paper Doll to call my own than a fickle-minded real live girl “Paper Doll” —Lyrics written by Johnny Black 1915, recorded by The Mills Brothers 1942 Get this. The song “Paper Doll”...
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LOVE ONLY LOVES
Darling, describe your stubbed toe, Not your success. Your success everyone will know. Talk to me about your minor pains, The sad ones no one understands. Love only loves when it is low. Your smile...
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TOO MUCH TALK RUINS LOVE
Too much talk ruins love. Does she let you keep talking? Be quiet. Or you’ll be walking. If you unfurl all you have to say Love, who looks, who loves looking, will silently turn away. Love is...
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