Creative Endeavor Unofficial Poetry Challenge WINNERS!

Welp, here we are again. Another very late announcement of winners for one of my unofficial challenges. I have no excuses, other than having spent much of the past two months in social-media-fueled crashout regarding the state of my nation. I have been so emotionally and creatively drained by the darkness of this era. I mean that not as an excuse, merely a word of explanation for my failure to draft this post of winners - a beacon of light in dark, dark times. For anyone who has been waiting on this announcement, I am truly sorry; I hope I can count on your grace and understanding. Much love to you all.

Anyhow - on to the main event!

To begin with, I just want to say that I am so honored by the participation of so many dear friends on this site in my unofficial challenges. This truly is a remarkable community, where poets and authors flock to each others humble challenges with such inspiration and verve. I don't want to take it lightly, or for granted; so to everyone who has submitted a piece to my Creative Endeavor challenge, you have my deep thanks and artistic respect.

Now, without any more sentimental waffling, let's get to the winners!

As a reminder, the prizes for this challenge are not monetary, but original works of art, created by yours truly, to be dispersed to the winners. (details for this below) Alas, I have not yet gotten most of the works to a state at which they can be shared on here. I may yet share some photos of them on here when they are in their complete form and ready to be shipped off to the winners!

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FIRST PLACE WINNER: "Building Birds" by Harper Lewis

I was absolutely enchanted by Harper's take on the challenge: swept along in a feathery storm of chaotic creativity. This piece is at once a brilliantly insightful window into Harper's creative process, and a remarkable work of artistry standing all on its own. Absolute magic, Harper! Inspired by this work of brilliance, I have started drafting a ink pen/watercolor mixed-media piece of a flock of birds, wheeling about in lovely chaos. This piece is not near enough completion to be shared here yet, but I look forward to completing, sharing, and sending it off soon! Most likely, I will edit this post by adding photos with the completed artwork within a week or two, and then respond to comments to notify winners of the update.

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SECOND PLACE WINNER: "The Many Uses of Rope" by Alexandria Stanwyck

Alexandria delves into the dark and achingly painful process of creation, forming comparison after comparison with rope-made products as metaphors for her artistic journey. Her poem is raw and honest about the costs of creation - but also tenderly beautiful, and laced with hope for connection and comfort amidst the aches of her storytelling. The artwork which I have begun for this piece is likewise not as close to completion as I would like, but I still look forward to finishing and sharing it as well.

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THIRD PLACE WINNER: "A walk in the park" by kp

kp takes us all on a huge, winding journey, by trees and birds, which defines writing as motion - and puts our hearts and minds in motion, surveying nature with lenses for different scales, questions about the nature of creation, all painted with stunning sublimity. This piece is the one for which I did manage to get an artwork to completion: upon finishing the poem and judging it as placing on the podium, I immediately began drafting a drawing. of a yellowthroat - the bird mentioned towards the conclusion of the piece. I can't wait to send this drawing to kp!

REGARDING PRIZES:

Winners, please reach out to me through whichever method you prefer. You can email me at [email protected], or reach out to me on Instagram at keep_telling_stories_ , and we can communicate about how best I can get you your pieces of original artwork!

Thanks again to everyone who took part, and for your patience and grace for my late conclusion to this challenge. I would love to host more challenges, and would really love to share more original artwork as prizes! Feel free to let me know in the comments if you like the idea of future challenges with artwork as the prize. I am so excited to complete and send off the works in progress right now, and hope everyone enjoys them. :)

Much love, friends. Hope you all are keeping well - thanks for being such a wonderful community.