Oxymoron poetry contest 2022

March 4,2022 | Wingless Dreamer | Contest

Oxymoron poetry contest 2022.

Theme:

This March Wingless Dreamer Publisher brings an exciting challenge for our aspiring writers. We are looking for poems that can give us a dramatic effect, a playful tone, reveal a deeper meaning, and add irony. There’s only one figure of speech that checks all the above-mentioned purposes i.e., Oxymoron.

Oxymorons have been used in English Literature for centuries. It has made it into the mainstream vocabulary of literature. Oxymorons can support a lighthearted tone, as well as foreground conflict. So here’s the challenge: Write a poem based on any one of the oxymorons given below:

Open secret
Only choice
Deafening silence
Living dead

Reward:

The certificates will be provided to the winner and top finalists. All the selected participants’ poems will get published in our upcoming April anthology which will be available on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Nobles, and Walmart among other reading platforms. All the published contributors’ names will be mentioned on our website.

Rules:

The competition is open to anyone aged 18 or over.
Poems may be on any subject and in any form or style as long as it goes well with the theme for the contest.
They must be typed and not longer than 40 lines (excluding title).
Remember one poem submission per contest.
Poems should be in English, must be the entrant’s own work, and should not have been published or accepted for publication elsewhere (including online), should not have won another poetry competition, or be the translated work of another poet.
All poems are judged anonymously and should not bear your name, or any other form of identification.
Our judges will read all entries.
No changes can be made to a poem once it has been submitted.
The decision of the judge is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
WinglessDreamer Poetry Festival Trustees, employees or associates, or members of their families, may not enter.

Submit

Announcements

Irony at its Best: Martha Heggs takes the Crown in the 2022 Oxymorons Poetry Contest

April 16, 2022 | Wingless Dreamer | Announcements

We organized an Oxymoron poetry challenge, and we got an “awfully good” response! Wingless Dreamer publisher held a poetry competition in March 2022 and is overwhelmed with the mind-blowing submissions of many talented writers. Phew! We are glad we were not given an “only choice” when selecting the winner, runner- ups, and finalists for this competition. Writers were given the liberty to explore the space between an open secret, the living dead, the deafening silence, and the only choice. After careful thought and consideration, we finally come up with a winner. Before we announce the winner, let us know what our founders and editors have to say!

Drumroll please…

RUCHI ACHARYA – FOUNDER’S PEN

Why the name Wingless Dreamer? I am so glad you asked. You need to know this before you understand what this publishing company is all about. Wingless Dreamer Publisher stands for dreamers who are undoubtedly courageous, amazing planners, self-lovers, honest artists, bolder producers, and strong believers who declare their devotion to bringing a world-class change by following their passion. We open the door of opportunities for such fascinating writers to support in their journey to their most heroic life – colorful, inspirational, tumultuous, and most definitely glorious.

Life had warned me on numerous occasions to give up on writing. But with self-trust and self-confidence, I evolved, elevated, and eventually transformed to become a better poet. If I can do it, so can you. From my personal experience, I can say, you absolutely have the power to make tectonic changes and to follow your heart. All you need is to avoid distractors and block naysayers, and instead, follow your enthusiasm where it is leading you.

This year, with the help of my incredible team, we were able to offer a multitude of themed writing contests designed to present global publishing opportunities for our authors. In the month of March 2022, we held a contest called Oxymoron Poetry Contest. Our editors, Chris and Rebecca were awestruck by seeing the volume of submissions and carefully selected the grand winner, runners-up, top finalists, and contributors for this contest. The anthology for this contest named, Oxymorons and Poets had been handcrafted for poetry lovers with artworks that will leave you speechless. Hope you will enjoy reading our anthology. Congratulations to all the winners. Once again, thank you for all your support and love. Keep writing and never give up on your dreams. Be a Wingless Dreamer.

He had come such a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close he could hardly fail to grasp it. -F. Scott Fitzgerald

CHRIS VALLES – EDITOR’S PEN

I had such a good time absorbing all this amazing literary art! Every poem was like that one song on the radio that you just can’t get it out of your head. It’s a special kind of beauty that just hits you in a place deep within your heart and makes you feel something that you never thought was possible. The level of creative ingenuity that I found while editing this collection was mind-blowing. Editing Oxymorons and Poets has truly been one of the greatest joys of my life. Thank you to all those who submitted work; your poetry will forever have a place in my heart.

REBECCA RAUSH – EDITOR’S PEN

Hi! This is Rebecca, and I just wanted to say that it has been an absolute joy and honor to serve as an editor for the Oxymorons and Poets poetry collection. Every poem that was submitted was obviously crafted with such care and originality that it made my task truly easy as I spent most of it just enjoying having the chance to read incredible poetry. I am so grateful to Wingless Dreamer and everyone who submitted poems for giving me this opportunity, and I cannot wait to see what you all accomplish next!

Without any further ado, let’s announce the winners. Today we are proud to announce the grand winner of the Wingless Dreamer Oxymoron poetry challenge 2022.

Beat the drums. The grand winner is:

MARTHA HEGGS – FIFTH WEEK BLUE

Martha Heggs is an undergraduate student of English Language and Literature at Jesus College Oxford. Instagram: @martha.heggs

The first runner-up is:

GAVIN BOURKE – AT WAR WITH SILENCE

Gavin Bourke grew up in the suburb of Tallaght in West Dublin. Married to Annemarie living in County Meath, he holds a B.A. in Humanities from Dublin City University, an M.A. Degree in Modern Drama Studies and a Higher Diploma in Information Studies from University College Dublin. His work broadly covers nature, time, memory, addiction, mental health, human relationships, the inner and outer life, creating meaning and purpose, politics, contemporary and historical social issues, injustice, the human situation, power and its abuse, absurdism, existentialisms, human psychology, cognition, emotion and behaviour, truth and deception, the sociological imagination, illness, socio-economics, disability, inclusivity, human life, selfishness and its consequences as well as urban and rural life, personal autonomy, ethics, commerce, science, grand schemes and the technological life in English and to a lesser extent in the Irish Language.

The second runner-up is:

RAVICHANDRA P. CHITTAMPALLI – WHY SHOULD A LION NOT BARK?

Ravichandra P. Chittampalli was formerly Professor and Chair of the Department of English, University of Mysore. He was the Northrop Frye Fellow, Victoria College, University of Toronto; twice Shastri Fellow at University of Western Ontario, Canada, and K. Tirumalachar Fellow at Dhvanyaloka, Mysore. He was the President of the Indian Association for Canadian Studies, and a Director of International Council for Canadian Studies, Ottawa, Canada. His poems have been accepted and published by The Sunday Mail, Lakeview, Annual Shakespeare, Otherwise Engaged, Aurora and Blossoms, Aloe, Dreich, Dillydoun Review, In Parentheses, Havik Literary Journal, and Kind Writers Literary Journal. Kendra Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi has published his translations from Kannada to English. A couple of his poems are prescribed for study by the Karnataka Open University in their English Literature Masters programme as well as the Bachelor’s Degree programme. Hi He currently lives in Malaysia, practising poetry in English.

Another second runner-up is:

ELLIE WARDMAN – MERE EXPOSURE EFFECT

Ellie Wardman is a queer student from Nottingham, England. She is currently a sophomore at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and is studying Psychology and English. Her work is forthcoming in Outrageous Fortune. Ellie’s goal in life is to work with children on the spectrum and to one day become a published children’s book author. She enjoys writing poetry, photography, and drinking boba in her free time.

And now onto the finalists:

GRATIA SERPENTO- I ONCE MET A GHOST

Gratia Serpento is an Oregonian poet/journalist. Past publications include Poor Yorick, Wingless Dreamer, Crystal Crush Magazine, Sheepshead Review, Blue Things Zine, and The Scriblerus, among others. Check out her Instagram (@poet_serpento) for more.

BRETT SALTER – BLEMISH

My background in writing stems mostly from the inspiration I found as a kid when I read Fantasy and Sci-Fi books. These include The Chronicles of Narnia, The Xanth Novels, The Time Quintet, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and everything from Shakespeare to Dr. Seuss. In my formative years, I joined several punk rock bands and wrote songs, poetry, and short stories aplenty. As an adult (?) I took on a dare and wrote the first book in my Talisman Series. I loved the feeling it gave me and the idea of inspiring others so much that I kept writing until I had an entire series.

RON SMALEC – A SNIPPET OF YESTERDAY

For over 45 years, Ron Smalec has been observing the world and filtering it through a screen door of poetry. Slightly rusty. What comes out is mostly square. As it has become increasingly difficult to pass a screen door through TSA, he’s taken up RV travel. Which also provides much more elbow room for him to paint. His first collection, “Poetry Unrequited” is available on Amazon Kindle and paperback. You can find Ron at: www.instagram.com/rsmalec and www.youtube.com/rsmalec

SAMUEL SPENCER– MEDIA METAMORPHOSIS

Samuel Spencer is an emerging writer based out of Florida.

STEVE GERSON – STILL, LIFE

Steve Gerson writes poetry and flash about life’s dissonance and dynamism. He’s proud to have published in Panoplyzine, Wingless Dreamer, Route 7, Poets Reading the News, Crack the Spine, Decadent Review, Underwood Press, Dillydoun Review, In Parentheses, Vermillion, and more. Check out his chapbook Once Planed Straight: Poetry of the Prairies from Spartan Press.

TIFARA BROWN – THERE IS A RITUAL

Tifara Brown was born and raised in the Deep South and has been writing original poetry since 2013. She has shared her poetry on the TEDx stage and competed across the country in the art of spoken word. Tifara is a published poet with work appearing in online and print magazines, and she recently self-published a book of poems entitled Honeysuckle: Poems and Stories from a Black Southerner in memory of her ancestor who was a victim of racial violence. She is passionate about storytelling and uses her words as a vehicle for advocacy for the BIPOC community.