Ed’s Top Ten Favorite March Madness Poetry 2012 Poems: #5

We’re now just five days away from the start of March Madness Poetry 2013! (And I’m starting to freak out about it!)

Continuing my one-a-day posting of my Top Ten favorite poems from #MMPoetry 2012 … today we turn the volume down with Allan Wolf’s poem prompted by his 15-seed word “derelict” in the second round:

15-derelict
Silence
by Allan Wolf

The pirate ship is derelict, abandoned on the sea.
The garden is deserted, blossoms withered into weeds.
The tire swing spins slowly as its lonely rope unravels.
The secret trail is thick with leaves. The quest is left untraveled.
The jungle gym is choked with vines. The tree fort stands alone.
Imagination moved away; the children have all grown.

This poem captured 60% of the vote in its matchup (besting another excellent poem by Kristy Dempsey) and pushed Allan into the Sweet Sixteen. For those unaware, this poem followed Allan’s now-famous (around these parts) first round poem, where he rhymed his 15-seed word “kinkier” with a made-up word “thinkier”, a turn of phrase that has since come to emblematize #MMPoetry and that has literally been carved into stone. Allan is a master of verse and it is a pleasure to have him back in the mix again this year.

Click here to see this poem as it originally appeared in #MMPoetry 2012. I also recommend reading the comments within that matchup page, which are very funny and I think representative of the positive and playful spirit of this event.