Snake Poem by Felicia Manning

i posted this poem on my site today. it is about the monthly Challenge poetry contest. : 2014/12: CONTEST TITLES (2) AND INFO FOR December Challenge ACTC: 2014/12: CONTEST TITLES (2) AND INFO FOR December Challenge POEM WRITING CONTEST: GENERAL information: NO entry fee; NO prize; PH members decide the winner; entries sent to Bri Edwards' PH site for December contest; DEADLINE for entries: end of December, Pacific Time Zone in California, u.s.a.. I think ACTC (which Brian Johnston has been using recently) stands for A Challenge Title Contest/Competition.2014/12 is the year and month to submit poems to be judged. IF I HAVE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ACTC: 2014/12: CONTEST TITLES (2) AND INFO FOR December Challenge POEM WRITING CONTEST: GENERAL information: NO entry fee; NO prize; PH members decide the winner; entries sent to Bri Edwards' PH site for December contest; DEADLINE for entries: end of December, Pacific Time Zone in California, u.s.a.. I think ACTC (which Brian Johnston has been using recently) stands for A Challenge Title Contest/Competition.2014/12 is the year and month to submit poems to be judged. IF I HAVE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR READERS IN THE FUTURE, I SHOULD POST THAT INFORMATION AT THE TOP OF THIS poem or create a new poem beginning with ACTC: 2014/12: NEWS or something like that. Feel free to message me through PH. SUGGESTED TITLES: 1 - OOPS! OR 2- A History Of The Future OOPS! is from my mind. A History Of The Future is from the mind (I guess) of member Abekah Emmanuel. ============================================= ===================== POEM CONTENT AND LENGTH: Poem entry MUST have the suggested title AND have something in the body of the poem which conceivably pertains to the wording of the suggested title …. OR … The title can be different, but the poem, in part at least, MUST pertain to the wording of the suggested title. The decision of whether a poem's content qualifies it for competition, rests with me, the CONTEST MANAGER (also has been called Webmaster when Brian Johnston came up with the idea and ran the contest from his PH site the last few months) . ============================================= ====================== POEM LIMITATIONS: NO MORE than two pages in length. A poet may submit one poem with her/his name as the author. In addition, that poet may collaborate with another member in writing another poem which would have the names of two PH members affixed as co-authors. ================================== ============================= POEM STYLE: ANY STYLE I GUESS. It will be nice if the majority of readers recognize it as a poem. OFFENSIVE language may be grounds for disqualification, and the CONTEST MANAGER (that's me this month, but usually Brian Johnston) shall decide whether a poem is potentially offensive enough to be disqualified. In case I question the suitability of a poem, I shall do what I can to accommodate a poet, including suggesting that the poet make changes before it is made public on my site. If a poet chooses to use a word which many would find offensive, such as the infamous F word, I suggest using f++k (maybe F===) or something else. I would probably accept that; we ARE all supposedly over 13 years old. Try not to say anything considered racist or bigoted in any way, but I will use my (sometimes good) judgment in deciding what is allowable. I can agree with Brian that a poem consisting of a copy of the alphabet, and just that, would not qualify. OWNERSHIP OF POEMS SUBMITTED TO THE CONTEST MANAGER'S SITE: Brian and I (Bri Edwards) have no interest in owning or taking credit for the writing of any poem submitted by another PH member. We welcome your participation. Your submission of your poem will act as permission for us to post it on our site(s) , giving each poet credit by affixing their name to their poem. POEMS WRITTEN IN OTHER LANGUAGES: I haven't heard this subject come up, but since many PH members speak a language different than English, I would accept a poem written in another language. Hopefully the poet would supply and English translation. I would, of course, take no responsibility for the poem's content, as I only know a little Spanish and Japanese and a few words of a few other languages. Capisci? Es verdad? nyet? konnichiwa! ============================================= ======================POSTING OF SUBMITTED POEMS ON THE CONTEST MANAGER'S SITE: Poets are to send their poem via PH message to the manager's (my) PH INBOX. Brian generally would wait until the first day of the following month to post all of the entries. I PLAN TO POST THE ENTRIES AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE TO ME. ========================================== =========================READER COMMENTS: Readers of the manager's Poem, [THIS SET OF INFORMATION IS MY FIRST POEM FOR THE DECEMBER CONTEST], are encouraged to make comments on anything I write and on any poem or poems which are submitted. VOTING ON THE POEMS SUBMITTED BY POETS FOR THE CONTEST: Voting in the past has been done during the first 12 days of the month following the month when submissions are accepted. But, since I plan to post poems as they arrive, voting can be done throughout December and (for now at least) until the end of the 12th of January, Pacific Time Zone time in the u.s.a. Readers are encouraged to enjoy (or not) the poems, one and all, and to vote for their favorite, using whatever criteria they choose, though attention to poetic skills is encouraged by me. Hopefully, readers will not vote for a poem simply because they feel sorry for the poet, or they dislike the other POETS (!) , or they prefer humorous poems over love poems, or haiku over limericks or some other kind of poetry, or because one poem has rhyming and one doesn't, etc. etc. Remember that poets are supposed to be allowed some leeway in how they use the (English) language and how they present things as being factual even though they aren't sometimes. DO NOT VOTE FOR MORE THAN ONE POEM. If a member votes for more than one poem, the last vote cast should be the one which is counted by the manager. If you accidentally vote for a poem and don't want that vote to count, or you change your mind (perhaps you vote before all the entries are posted and then you see one later which you like better) BE SURE TO CAST A NEW VOTE. I shall try to keep track, but if you change your vote, it would be helpful if you SEND ME A MESSAGE TO ALERT ME TO A NEW VOTE BY YOU. Thanks. This contest is not meant to be a burden to anyone, and, in fact, besides being meant as a CHALLENGE, it is meant to be a fun outlet for members and a way to perhaps find a wider audience for the entrants' poems. ======================================= ========= VOLUNTEERING TO BE CONTEST MANAGER: Brian Johnston will probably step back into the shoes of contest manager aka webmaster for the next month's contest, unless he wants me to do it again, or unless ANOTHER MEMBER VOLUNTEERS TO DO THE JOB and Brian accepts that member's offer of help. Please send a PH message to either Brian or me (Bri Edwards) if you are INTERESTED IN BEING contest manager aka Webmaster for a month.  ======================================== MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION: Late entries (after December, but before January 12th, may be posted on a separate poem beginning with ACTC, at the discretion of Brian and me. The same may be true for poems submitted JUST for fun, if the poets do not want them to be part of the contest, and for poems which are longer than two pages in length. Poets are encouraged to post their poems also on their OWN PH PAGES IN THEIR POEM LISTS. PREVIOUS MONTHS' CHALLENGE CONTESTS: Some record of previous contests should be available on Brian Johnston's PH site, most recently in poems starting with ACTC. I think previous contests have each had less than 10 entries. The NOVEMBER CHALLENGE contest entries are available for reading, commenting, and voting at Brian Johnston's poem which begins with this: _A C T C - 2014/11 ***FINAL ENTRIES - VO... there are five fine poems with the title and/or topic of: Small Gifts: Contributing To Other's Happiness I wish you all a nice day!  bri Edwards, temporary contest manager. Bri Edwards Submitted: Thursday, December 04,2014

Those tricky thieves and their dirty deeds. That attack from the back shows you didn't have your guard up and isn't it always when we feel like we can be comfortable enough around someone that we get it from behind? And not in a good way either no pun intended there.

yikes! i hope you got the anti-venom in time. nice 'not-nice' poem. thanks for sharing. :) bri