I really like the cool contrast here between the tones of the two stanzas. It does a good job of justifying the existence of the hidden stanza, and lends the piece a feeling of greater complexity.

I think my main personal issue with this one is that it doesn't feel particularly structured. I know I've said this before during previous poetry rounds, but I personally believe that even free verse needs some guiderails to stop it from becoming pretty-sounding prose. But I know that some people do disagree with me on this point, so I'll chalk it down to individual tastes. But personally I still would appreciate some repetitions or juxtapositions here, just to reinforce a sense of flow.

Other than that, though, I'd say this is pretty top-tier. Great imagery, great mood.

Thanks for submitting!

This doesn't appear to be something deep, just a riff on snowflakes. It has a feel of haiku to it, just because of the kinds of strange cadences that form often results in, and that fits with my understanding of what it's about, since haiku can frequently be little insights on nature. I'm not sure this one needs to be poetry either, but at least it doesn't sound like prose in its current form, so fair enough. Straightforward, pretty good, and an interesting departure from what would seem to make a good haiku theme.

When I first read this:

Thursday morning, I found it doing all the things I like "free verse" to do. The scattering of snowflake imagery just made me grin, and it immediately to the top of my ballot.

Then I came back Friday morning, saw >>Bachiavellian's comment about the hidden lines, selected the text, read the new lines, and found myself frowning.

I need to think about why it's affecting me this way...

Mike

It wasn't until now I saw the hidden lines. They feel... incongruous, I think? The more apparent lines have a more whimsical look at snowflakes, while the hidden ones are hyper-focused on the near-death state of hibernation. It's fitting, maybe, that those lines are hidden like the animals in their burrows, but it's a pretty big split in mood, and I don't really see the point of juxtaposing those, or what "love" has to do with it.

It's kind of a jarring mood change for someone like me, who doesn't see the hidden part until later. If I'd been able to take it as a single unit when I first read it, I don't think it would have been as severe an effect, but it still strikes me as odd. I'm not going to revise its placement on my ballot though.

Frigid similes * blanket the earth * to hide meaning
Hidden text lies under to spring surprise upon the unwary

>>Bachiavellian, >>Pascoite, >>Baal Bunny, >>Baal Bunny, >>Pascoite

Fall to Rise

Thanks for the silver! The comments seem to be divided but are all appreciated.

I first thought of writing a snow poem and putting hidden snowflakes in it (the white asterisks) with extra spaces giving clues to their presence. Then I though of the latent life being covered by the snow, dormant and awaiting spring, and I 'buried' it likewise. I didn't have a deeper reason than this for interleaving the poems.

This isn't likely to ever see print, so I'll leave it as it stands.