Triolet Challenge: More than Honorable Mentions

The Triolet Challenge yielded some wonderful More Than Honorable Mention-winning poems. Enjoy!

High Road to Taos

A flare of sumac, rush of red,
a gleam of yellow, aspen’s gold,
an orange glow: fall leaves are shed.
A flare of sumac, rush of red—
the colors live, though leaves are dead.
Confetti greets the spell of cold:
a flare of sumac, rush of red,
a gleam of yellow, aspen’s gold.

Scott Wiggerman

Bio: Scott Wiggerman is the author of two books of poetry, Vegetables and Other Relationships and Presence, forthcoming from Pecan Grove Press this year. A frequent workshop instructor, he is also an editor for Dos Gatos Press, publisher of the annual Texas Poetry Calendar, now in its thirteenth year.


The City

Trash accrues like interest on a debt
no one remembers ever was incurred.
A body knifed, a splayed-out marionette—
trash accrues like interest on a debt.
A stranger's face is easy to forget:
witnesses disperse without a word.
Trash accrues like interest on a debt
no one remembers. When was it incurred?

José Edmundo Ocampo Reyes

Bio: José Edmundo Ocampo Reyes was born and raised in the Philippines, and worked in finance for five years before coming to the United States to study poetry at Columbia University. His poems have appeared in such journals as American Literary Review, Crab Orchard Review, Hudson Review, Rattle, and Pleiades, and have been anthologized in Crowns and Oranges: Works by Young Philippine Poets.


Late November

As sky unfolds its winter shawl
the land collects its sprawling lace
beneath pale pines. The clouds confess
as sky unfolds its winter shawl
around shale shoulders. Hawthorns ice.
Crows take flight and caterwaul
as sky unfolds its winter shawl.
The land collects its sprawling lace.

Janann Dawkins

Bio: Janann Dawkins's work has been featured recently or is upcoming in Two Review, decomP, Poesia, Ouroboros Review, Suss, and Existere, among others. Her chapbook Micropleasure was published by Leadfoot Press in 2008. She resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she assists with editing the eclectic literary journal Third Wednesday.


Film Noir at the Courthouse Door

We could be done with all of this.
If only you would say the word,
I'd go from Mrs. to a Miss.
We could be done with all of this
and yet...I still await your kiss.
Although at this point it may sound absurd,
we could be done with all of this,
If only you would say the word.

Jennifer Schomburg Kanke

Bio: Jennifer Schomburg Kanke serves as an Academic and Pre-Law Advisor at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.


Drizzles and Downpours

In this rainy weather, I want to pull inside
to explore an inner terrain, so far, unknown,
to paddle in mist, in fog, a primeval ride.
In this dreary weather, I want to pull inside
to be alone and quiet, a solitude I can abide
in comfort. Within, my life my own
in this dreary weather. I want to pull inside
to explore. An inner terrain? So far— unknown.

Joan Mazza

Bio: Joan Mazza has worked as a psychotherapist, certified sex therapist, writing coach and seminar leader. Author of six books, including Dreaming Your Real Self(Perigee/Penguin 1998), she has published work in Potomac Review, Möbius, Permafrost, Writer's Digest Magazine, Playgirl, The Writer, and Writer's Journal. She’s now a poet in rural Virginia. website: www.JoanMazza.com


Fear Triolet

What were you scared of when you were young?
Of boys on bikes, strange men in cars,
the dark, the bomb, an iron lung?
What were you scared of when you were young?
The mumps, the measles, white spots on your tongue,
of dogs that bark or green men from Mars?
What were you scared of when you were young?
Of boys on bikes. Strange men in cars.

Sarah Freligh

Bio: Sarah Freligh's poetry and fiction have been widely published in literary journals including The Comstock Review, Iowa Woman, Painted Bride Quarterly, Third Coast, Elysian Fields Quarterly and Tar River Poetry. Her book of poems, Sort of Gone, was published in February 2008 by Turning Point Books.


Beachcomber

Blue stone, violet spiral shell,
Souvenirs of summer in my hand,
Salt relics of our last farewell.
Blue stone, violet spiral shell,
Sea-tumbled fragments cast a spell--
Brown glass a tiger’s eye in sand.
Blue stone, violet spiral shell,
Souvenirs of summer in my hand.

Charlotte Mandel

Bio: Charlotte Mandel's seventh book of poetry ROCK VEIN SKY (Midmarch Arts Press) was listed as a Best Poetry Book Read for Fall 2008 by Monserrat Review. Previous titles include two poem-novellas of feminist biblical revision, The Life of Mary, and The Marriages of Jacob. She recently retired from teaching poetry writing for several years at Barnard College Center for Research on Women.

Walking Home

Your smallest smile belongs to me
as day begins to rightly fade,
for bluest nights are jubilee.
Your smallest smile belongs to me;
the glint of teeth is but a plea.
Your eyes are quick. Don’t be afraid.
Your smallest smile belongs to me
as day begins to rightly fade.

Rachel Lim

BIo: Rachel Lim is an undergraduate studying English and East Asian Studies at the University of Virginia.

Triolet Challenge Winner: Rita Mae Reese

Terrible Holy Joy: Reading the Norton Anthology of Poetry in Bed

We take our poetry lying down
And smuggle old words into our sleep.
As we trudge through Pope to get to Brown
We take our poetry lying down.
We take the old women and the boys that drown
And by morning lose every line but keep
“Their terrible holy joy.” We take our poetry lying down,
And smuggle old worlds into our sleep.

Rita Mae Reese



Bio Note:
Rita Mae Reese's poems have appeared in New England Review, Southern Review and The Nation, among other places. She teaches writing in UW-Madison's Continuing Studies program and is currently working on a book of poems about Flannery O'Connor.

UPDATE: Triolet Challenge Results!

It is with delight that I announce the winner of the Rondeau Roundup's Triolet Challenge!

The winner is Rita Mae Reese for her triolet "Terrible Holy Joy: Reading the Norton Anthology of Poetry In Bed."
She will receive a gift certificate for $25 from Amazon.com and her poem will be featured on the Rondeau Roundup Blog on February 8.

More than Honorable Mentions went to Charlotte Mandel, Rachel Lim, Sarah Freligh, Jose Ocampo Reyes, Joan Mazza, Scott Wiggerman, Janann Dawkins, and Jennifer Kanke.

Details about the blog's next contest, the Paul Laurence Dunbar Rondeau Award, can be found on the Rondeau Roundup Blog at
Dunbar Award
Deadline for the Dunbar Rondeau Award will be February 26, 2010.

Thanks for your patience with the judging process and thanks for letting me read your triolets!

Best,
Allison Joseph, Rondeau Mistress
The Rondeau Roundup Blog

Announcing the Paul Laurence Dunbar Rondeau Award

In honor of African-American History Month and in memory of a great American poet, the Rondeau Roundup Blog proudly announces the

PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR RONDEAU AWARD
http://therondeauroundup.blogspot.com/

This award is given to the best rondeau on the subject of African-American history, life or culture submitted for consideration to the Rondeau Roundup Blog starting February 9th (the anniversary of Dunbar's death) and continuing until Friday, February 26th, 2010. The author of the winning rondeau will receive a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate and publication of his/her rondeau on the Rondeau Roundup. Up to five More Than Honorable Mentions may also be selected for publication on the Rondeau Roundup Blog.

Rules of Entry:

Writers of any race or cultural background may enter, but the subject of the rondeau must relate to African-American history, life, or culture.

Only one rondeau may be entered per poet. No entry fee, but entrants are encouraged to make voluntary donations to the United Negro College Fund.

For this contest, I'm looking for rondeaus that follow the standard definition, as given on poets.org:

"The rondeau’s form is not difficult to recognize: as it is known and practiced today, it is composed of fifteen lines, eight to ten syllables each, divided stanzaically into a quintet, a quatrain, and a sestet. The rentrement consists of the first few words or the entire first line of the first stanza, and it recurs as the last line of both the second and third stanzas. Two rhymes guide the music of the rondeau, whose rhyme scheme is as follows (R representing the refrain): aabba aabR aabbaR."

Example of the form: "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar

No other poetic form will be accepted for this contest. Non-rhyming rondeaus can be entered, but the blog moderator's preference is for rhymed and metered rondeaus.

To enter, send a single rondeau on the topic of African-American history, life or culture to

rondeauroundup(at)gmail.com (replace (at) with @) from February 9, 2010 to February 26, 2010.

The title of the winning rondeau will be announced on the Rondeau Roundup Blog on February 28, 2010, with publication of the winning poem and the More than Honorable Mention poems to follow in early March 2010.

UPDATE: Apologies on the Triolet Challenge!

The Triolet Challenge has not yet been judged--apologies for the delay. Life got busy for your Rondeau Roundup mistress.
Contest results will be posted on February 8, 2010.