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I wrote a poem for my creative writing class a few weeks ago. I seriously had a huge story about how it came to be, but its long and not that interesting, so I'll skip to the blog-worthy parts.
So I wrote a poem called "Play to Win" after reading David Sirlin's (The guy who made Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix) article Play to win
I submitted the poem to Poetry.com about 2 weeks ago. They finally contacted me with a barrage of awards and stuff. After counting, I was printed in 2 poetry books, and qualified for a crystal trophy, and the dedicated member award - All of which costed money, so that was a no-no. I was still published in a book though.
Favorite Memories
Immortal Versus
The poem was edited to fit 20 lines, so I had to take an entire verse out for it to fit, but the full one can be read at the end of this post.
From what I gather, I can still win some 'daily awards' if people vote for it. I'm not asking you to give me 500 10/10's, I just ask for you to vote truthfully.
http://www.poetry.com/voteforme/poemvote1.asp?PID=13309356
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Play to win
You gotta do what must be done
A cheap shot from behind
You gotta act like slime
Or you'll be overrun
Your morals are strong
Get rid of them
Throw away this gem
To sing the victor's song
Getting over your walls
Will tire you out
And the final bout
In the end you'll fall
Your walls must come down
A paradigm shift
It's a load to lift
An epiphany found
Put your honor aside
Play to win
Or it'll be your skin
No justice if you've died.
I hear the nonsense, and all of the lies.
The world is ignorant
Its not approximate
Good and evil don't apply
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United States3824 Posts
Congrats man that's really cool. Were you directed to that article? It seems to be a TL specialty to send people that way.
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Edit: woww tl is critical of this poem..is it really required to tell him beyond that the site he used is bullshit?
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I hate to be a dick, but I feel sorry for you.
You didn't make a cent off your work, and now someone is making money off of you by printing it in a book.... But the fact is, if you tried to publish it yourself, no one would care because the book is a niche for amateur poets. The entire thing just sound rather unfortunate... I mean, had you even heard of these awards before you were nominated for them?
I dunno. TBH I didn't like the poem either lol, so maybe I'm just an asshole 
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I dont really get 90+% of poetry (most of it doesnt seem all that special to it even if english majors drool over it)
but congrats
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On October 31 2008 12:54 PsycHOTemplar wrote:I hate to be a dick, but I feel sorry for you. You didn't make a cent off your work, and now someone is making money off of you by printing it in a book.... But the fact is, if you tried to publish it yourself, no one would care because the book is a niche for amateur poets. The entire thing just sound rather unfortunate... I mean, had you even heard of these awards before you were nominated for them? I dunno. TBH I didn't like the poem either lol, so maybe I'm just an asshole
I could care less. It was an assignment, I got an A. I got recognition, they gave me a printable certificate, so now I can brag of my accomplishments to whoever I want, if I wanted to.
Writing for a living is as much of a career for me as progaming to your average not-a-no-life-loser.
On October 31 2008 12:41 cgrinker wrote:
Congrats man that's really cool. Were you directed to that article? It seems to be a TL specialty to send people that way.
http://www.gamereplays.org/redalert3/portals.php?show=page&name=how-to-stop-rushers
That article was written about all of the Singleplayer idiots forced to play online in the RA3 beta. Its understandable that they be stupid, but there were so many, they didn't learn, and they had no common sense, even when you made a game called "1v1 no noobs" or even "1 versus 1 experienced players only".
In the discussion of the article, someone linked to Sirlin's article.
The only part TL played in this is that TL introduced me to esports and competitive gaming =P
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Don't respond to anything they send you, and don't buy any of their shit.
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On October 31 2008 13:01 fusionsdf wrote:
I dont really get 90+% of poetry (most of it doesnt seem all that special to it even if english majors drool over it)
but congrats
You'd be surprised.
I read my poem aloud to the class, everyone thought it was about whatever. Sports, the proverbial high school popularity ladder, you name it. Laughter ensued when I truthfully told them "competitive video gaming"
I guess the poem is meant to be interpreted in your own way.
I never like writing - and reading, for that matter- poems. I seriously did it in 10 minutes before it was due.
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Seriously, that's not at all surprising 
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On October 31 2008 13:10 PsycHOTemplar wrote:Seriously, that's not at all surprising
Honestly, what didn't you like about it?
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LOOOOOOOOOOOL dude you are dumb. Poetry.com is the biggest bullshit. All you have to do is submit a poem there and you get the same thing. I signed up and submitted something and got the exact same shit about 6 years ago.
It's a scam to get you to buy their shit.
sorry to sound like an asshole, but your ignorance is funny 
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On October 31 2008 13:15 Xeris wrote:sorry to sound like an asshole, but your ignorance is funny
You learn something new every day...
How disappointing.
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On October 31 2008 12:54 PsycHOTemplar wrote:I hate to be a dick, but I feel sorry for you. You didn't make a cent off your work, and now someone is making money off of you by printing it in a book.... But the fact is, if you tried to publish it yourself, no one would care because the book is a niche for amateur poets. The entire thing just sound rather unfortunate... I mean, had you even heard of these awards before you were nominated for them? I dunno. TBH I didn't like the poem either lol, so maybe I'm just an asshole
Then don't be a dick. If he doesn't feel sorry for himself why should you?
Although I would have to agree with you, I didn't like the poem either. For some reason it feels like the words were forced out simply for rhyming.
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On October 31 2008 13:13 RoieTRS wrote:Show nested quote +On October 31 2008 13:10 PsycHOTemplar wrote:Seriously, that's not at all surprising Honestly, what didn't you like about it?
Tbh, I didn't like it much either, but congrats on all that stuff you won.
To point out a few that i had problems with, you rhymed ignorant with approximate, according to the rhyming scheme you were going for but those aren't very close. Unless you wanted to highlight this certain verse, but i don't see why you would. Didn't really flow, I kinda got a sense of what it was about, but the theme didn't pull through that well. I don't want to analyze it in too much detail but yeah. Since you put it together in 10 minutes, i suppose just raw emotion comes into the making of this poem with little forethought.
In the end, a writer's work is up to the reader to decide <-- forgot who quoted that, but obviously if you got some neat stuff and went onto be published many people obviously disagree with me. It was just my two cents, not really credited though I do find english writing interesting (poems and literature and the like.) Congrats again.
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On October 31 2008 13:13 RoieTRS wrote:Show nested quote +On October 31 2008 13:10 PsycHOTemplar wrote:Seriously, that's not at all surprising Honestly, what didn't you like about it?
It doesn't flow well, it's instantly forgettable, and it doesn't make me think about anything... It's just crap lol. Sort-of rhymes aren't the only thing that makes good poetry. I mean... there didn't even seem to be a coherent idea.
That's what I think, and I only tell you because you asked for it. But honestly, before you go nominated for these worthless awards, what'd you think of your ten minute creation right after you'd made it? Before your teacher gave you the A? If you didn't tell someone about the awards and junk you'd gotten, would someone your age appreciate the poem beyond "well it's better than I could do LOL."
I dunno man. Take it from me and Xeris, there are a lot of people who try to take advantage of naive hopefuls... Even if you don't care, you're basically bragging to people that you got used to sell a book and you didn't make any money.
PS: It should be noted that though I think your poem is meritless and terrible, my opinion obviously may not be shared among the general populations. It's just that it is my strong suspicion it is Really, I find it likely you don't particularly think your own poem is so great either.
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On October 31 2008 13:26 PsycHOTemplar wrote:Show nested quote +On October 31 2008 13:13 RoieTRS wrote:On October 31 2008 13:10 PsycHOTemplar wrote:Seriously, that's not at all surprising Honestly, what didn't you like about it? It doesn't flow well, it's instantly forgettable, and it doesn't make me think about anything... It's just crap lol. Sort-of rhymes aren't the only thing that makes good poetry. I mean... there didn't even seem to be a coherent idea. That's what I think, and I only tell you because you asked for it. But honestly, before you go nominated for these worthless awards, what'd you think of your ten minute creation right after you'd made it? Before your teacher gave you the A? If you didn't tell someone about the awards and junk you'd gotten, would someone your age appreciate the poem beyond "well it's better than I could do LOL." I dunno man. Take it from me and Xeris, there are a lot of people who try to take advantage of naive hopefuls... Even if you don't care, you're basically bragging to people that you got used to sell a book and you didn't make any money. PS: It should be noted that though I think your poem is meritless and terrible, my opinion obviously may not be shared among the general populations. It's just that it is my strong suspicion it is Really, I find it likely you don't particularly think your own poem is so great either.
Agree with this completely
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i just know there's a word that describes this scenario perfectly
jesus christ i hate when i can't think of a word..
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yes, sorry to burst your bubble T_____T !
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anyways read this:
" Poetry.com is a fraud publishing organization that features it's online writing contest. It literally accepts 100% of applicants as 'Semi-finalists' in their 'international poetry competition' and sends a letter to the poor victims. The letter is full of flattery saying that you are a wonderful poet and the 'sectional committee' or 'panel of judges' has decided your poetry is good enough to be published. They ask a 'modest' payment of $50 plus extra if you want your page on a page of it's own. Publishing only those who paid, 6000 poems per book at $50-$75 a poem with 60 books published a year is a lot of $$$$.
Flattered writers are quick to give them money and order a few copies of the book they were featured in. After some time a message saying their poetry was good enough to be read on a cd then asking you to go to some expensive winning writers convention and getting a silver cup comes in. It's all to leach more money from the ones that haven't found out they've been scammed. They were even featured on ABC's 20/20. You can read about that in this link HERE from windpub.com (see moreinfo page). They have been scamming people since 1996 and continue to do so! It's disgusting because the state they're in LETS the continue to operate, despite all the complaints. If you need more evidence just search "poetry.com Scam" on google search.
--Misconceptions--
Poetry.com does NOT publish your work if you do not pay for the book.
Poetry.com publishes 50+ books a year and does NOT sell them anywhere other than to the victims of their scam.
--Don't believe me?--
Have some fun and enter the contest. Write a crude poem about jibberish. Words like poetry.com, "dot com", sucks, etc will cause you not to get the letter. If you already used your address in the last couple of months use a friends address. You can also add a DR or ST to indicate drive or street and it may catch it as a different address in the database. "
http://www.eliteskills.com/writing_scams/poetry.com.scam.php
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and this funny comment:
"WRITERSWEEKLY.COM COMMENT: We stopped posting complaints about Poetry.com long ago because we couldn't keep up with them (so many!). However, this heart-breaking story is one you have to read."
this was back in 2002, so you can guess how many more complaints they've gotten O_O!
although Wikipedia says (probably accurate) that no successful legal action has been taken against Poetry.com, because the "books" are actually real, they just arent disseminated anywhere, have 0 checks on quality, and are essentially designed to steal money from naive people.
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Oh god, that's even more exploitative than I thought. Makes the brag post really fucking funny though.
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Yo Roie you should make a poem about how Sirlin SLOWS TIME
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id nominate that for worst possible rhyme award
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Korea (South)11595 Posts
hehe 5 years ago i sent in a poem that i did for an english project in 8th grade
+ Show Spoiler +The men standing on the other side
Seemed to be always endlessly supplied
Not once did they stop coming
And I always heard their drumming
It never stopped echoing through my head
As I saw the children who bled a deep, deep red
I could never understand the reason of man
Until the fighting of the centaury began
The power of the confederates will never die
The battle would not just zip on by
The war was a horrific time
Why won't war just be a crime?
The bullet slashed into my side
I would die with all of my pride
I felt as cold as the flakes falling from the silky blanket above
I let my eyes go and heaven is what I will be part of.
and got the same thing. i thought i was good or something, and then i googled poetry.com and found out it was a huge scam. my hopes were crushed instantly
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I also agree with the criticisms of the rhyme scheme o_O the poem itself in its tone and diction seems really amateur, and "it's" the second time it is used didn't have the apostrophe... that is a huge grammatical error ;p
tons of random vague imagery and cliche statements also oo;
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Holy crap...
That's... genius.
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This is worse than a Rick-Roll.
This is a Poem-POW @ your face.
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EPT
