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Reflect · Poetry Minific ·
Organised by Anon Y Mous
Word limit 50–1000

Original fiction.

Show rules for this event
00111111
When Ogg and Grogg
Hungry, beaten
Found a bullfrog
So idly, then,
“Mine!” said Ogg, but
Grogg was faster—
A fist was shut
A fight, a blur.
“No u!” cried Grogg,
“U!” an answer,
Punching, mud slog,
Untimely slur,
In the end who
Won? A winner
Never found to
Claim their dinner.
A hundred years
Ogg Clan Grogg Clan
Joined their blood-peers
To reclaim land,
“U!” yelled Grogg Clan,
“No! No u, Grogg,
Our reign will span
A million fogs.”

A war to last
Permanently, to
Honor the Groggs past
Prove they were true
To arms! They fight!
Bullfrog damnèd,
“Duh, we were right!”
Ogg programmèd.
Five thousand years,
Much had changed, yes,
Ogg was high-gear,
No mace, no mess,
Poland steamrolled,
Then France, mishap,
“Nö ü!” one doled,
“No u, old chap!”
Today the fight
Gone, but still there’s
Still that damn blight
Putting on airs,
“U! No u!” is
“You’re fake! I’m not!
You’re just bad biz,
Idiots. Hotshots.”

And in the future, it continues
Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Who cares? You lot?
But in the end you’ll find it in you
Dispel the fight with one word:

Ot
« Prev   7   Next »
#1 · 3
· · >>_Moonshot
Clearly the winner.
#2 · 2
· · >>_Moonshot
The title is lost on me. It's binary for 63, but I don't see how that number is significant. Given the "No u" theme, I might have expected some exclamation marks interspersed with the ones.

Is there a structure? In the first stanza, all the lines have 4 syllables, but in the second, some have 5. Most of the rhymes are good, but some are stretching it a bit.

I like the theme that stupid arguments have been going on since the beginning of human history, but to me, the ending disarms that by making a glib in-joke that doesn't really have anything to do with it. Honestly. I would have ranked this higher if you'd stopped with 2 stanzas.
#3 · 3
· · >>_Moonshot
I'd suggest:

Adding a third stanza that carries the fight into the internet age so you can introduce the idea of dueling memes before giving us the ot-ful anti-climax. Other than that, though, I got n-ot-hing.

Mike
#4 · 5
· · >>Pascoite >>_Moonshot
IVE FIGURED OUT THE PUZZLE

00111111 reflected is 11111100

That makes the letter ü

Author, when you read this, I hope you know that I hate you.
#5 · 3
· · >>_Moonshot
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. You meme'd on me so hard, and I didn't even see it coming.

Okay, jokes aside, I loved the stupid brutality of the first two stanzas. Every line is a club to the head, and it's wonderful.

The structure of the last stanza is a little murky to me, though. Since the lines are longer than 3 words on average, I'm assuming that there's a way they're supposed to be read, but it's not coming across strongly right now. The best that I can figure is that the last word of the poem is supposed to rhyme with the last syllable of the third stanza's second line, but that's about all I can gather in terms of cadence/flow.

Overall, this was a lot of fun. It made me punt my forehead straight onto my desk, but it was fun.

Thank you for submitting!
#6 · 3
·
>>Anon Y Mous
You may be onto something! I was looking at what numbers the reflected version could be, depending on whether to take it as unsigned, one's complement, or two's complement.

Here's the other thing: if you take the original, it's binary for a question mark. When we sandwich your mood in there:

ü mad?
#7 · 2
· · >>_Moonshot
U ot not have done this poem.

As much as I hate shaggy dog stories and wish you would have done something more with the great potential you built up, this is the only poem out of the seven I've read so far which was actually pleasant to read. To the top of the pack you go.
#8 · 2
· · >>_Moonshot
I'd forgotten about Ot. I'm glad to see it still lives on.
#9 · 2
· · >>Trick_Question >>Pascoite
>>LoftyWithers
>>Pascoite
>>Baal Bunny
>>Anon Y Mous
>>Bachiavellian
>>Trick_Question
>>The_Letter_J
I forgot about this contest until just over an hour before it was due. I had this huge plan for the puzzle I was planning and just kept cutting and cutting significantly because obviously there's so much you can do in an hour :S
So yeah. This was written half as a puzzle, and half as a joke. There are so many mistakes in here it's not even funny. Yup, messed up with the syllables. Rhymes were almost 100% complimentary of rhymezone.com, and therefore a stretch. I'm not even part of the community that was actually around when "Ot" was a thing. I just learned about it a couple days before writing this and decided to include it because I thought it was memeable. How did this do so well. Help. Please. I'm going insane. apoisdfahpsfhipah

(Thank you so much for leaving comments though. Even though I didn't take this seriously, it was my first poem since middle school, and I really appreciate that people took the time to take a look at it -- even if it was anonymous!)

I even managed to mess up the puzzle, but at least I haven't given up on that part yet. No one's come up with a solution yet, although people have been incredibly clever, perhaps even cleverer than I! I think a couple comments are headed on the right track, although I won't say which ones for now. To make things right, I'm maintaining the prize money at $20 despite losing anonymity, and releasing a quick poem hotfix to make things a little clearer. Hint: the hotfix itself acts as a hint! (And hopefully I haven't messed it up this time too! Although probably I have! :D:D:D)
Here it is:
When Ogg and Grogg
Hungry, beaten
Found a bullfrog
So idly, then,
“Mine!” said Ogg, but
Grogg was faster—
A fist was shut
A fight, a blur.
“No u!” cried Grogg,
“U!” an answer,
Punching, mud slog,
Untimely slur,
In the end who
Won? A winner
Never found to
Claim their dinner.
A hundred years
Ogg Clan Grogg Clan
Joined their blood-peers
To reclaim land,
“U!” yelled Grogg Clan,
“No! No u, Grogg,
Our reign will span
A million fogs.”

A war to last
Permanently, to
Honor Groggs past
Prove they were true
To arms! They fight!
Bullfrog damnèd,
“Duh, we were right!”
Ogg programmèd.
Five thousand years,
Much had changed, yes,
Ogg was high-gear,
No mace, no mess,
Poland steamrolled,
Then France, to scrap,
“Nö ü!” one doled,
“No u, old chap!”
Today the fight
Gone, but still there’s
Still that damn blight
Gossip backstairs,
“U! No u!” is
“You’re fake! I’m not!
You’re bad for biz,
Idiots. Hotshots.”

And in the future, it continues
Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Who cares? You lot?
But in the end you’ll find it in you
Dispel the fight with one word:

Ot


No deadline, so no rush. Again, whoever solves the poem wins. Happy puzzle solving! :)
#10 ·
·
>>_Moonshot
Had I the time and inclination, I'd look at the 'i' and 'o' letters.

It matters not, however. It's a good poem without the gimmickry.
#11 ·
·
>>_Moonshot
You might as well tell people. Traffic's about to die off in this thread, and if nobody's solved it by now, they're not going to spend any more time on it.