lets-all-be-jehan-for-a-while

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Announcement

Hello poets and other lovers of words! @redthepear here.

I'm taking advantage of Barricade Day to announce that I would quite like for this blog to be more than just a place where a contest is sometimes organised. I love poetry and Les Misérables very much, they both are important parts of my life, and I'm sure many of you feel the same way too!

I have never seen a blog dedicated to Les Mis-themed poetry before. That's what I would like this blog to become. When there isn't a contest running, I will open submissions to people who wish to share their creations with other Les Mis and poetry fans.

No rules apply to these submissions, your poems can be fanfics, AU based, they can be song lyrics, you can even send in audio recordings of your works if you wish!

Bigotry, homophobia, racism, any form of discrimination and overall nastiness are strictly forbidden. Other than that, I will do my best to create a tag system for nsfw and potentially triggering subjects.

Stay creative and keep on looking at the stars - it flatters them and makes them shine brighter.

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A happy Barricade Day to all!

If the blood that Hugo spilled was but ink, let us remember that in this ink, there flowed the memories of flesh and blood hacked away by bullets. Let these thoughts feed your own pens, poets. Keep this ink of blood flowing, keep the memories alive.

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Crappy GIF to show the shine!

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It is over.

It is over, now.

Here it is, the prize drawing for @printfogey inspired by their poem “Mabeuf”!

Sorry for the delay, this proved to be quite a challenging piece to finish.

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What's this? At midnight, could this be a WIP for a new poem illustration?

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"Eyes graze the light of morning when Their hearts are pierced by lead" Portrait of Enjolras inspired by "Growth" for @seethenewdaydawn!

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For those wondering, I have not disappeared into thin air and the prizes are slowly on their way!

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Could I please get a more refined feedback on my Poem, if it's not too much trouble. Thank you.

Hello! No problem at all, I'll send you everything after I come home from uni!

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@flo-nelja if you're talking about the poems, right here on this blog! We have reblogged or posted all the submissions on here ^^

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The moment you’ve all been waiting for... Results!

Hello, poets!

After reading and re-reading your poems, checking and re-checking their grades, the jury has finally come up with a podium for this year’s Les Mis Poetry Contest!

First of all, let’s name those who have been behind the contest this year:

@aflamethatneverdies, @redthepear and @pilferingapples

We have graded the poems out of 5 based on the following criteria:

Musicality and formal beauty

Personal enjoyment

Originality

Pertinence to the theme and use of the words listed

And we are proud to announce the winners! There were a lot of close grades, and the top two were extremely close

First place goes to @seethenewdaydawn for their poem “Growth”

Second place goes to @printfogey for their poem “Mabeuf”

Third place goes to @courfee for their poem “Vivent les Peuples”

Congratulations to you and also to all of you lovely poets for your submissions! 

Curtain call for this year’s Jehans: @rosestormclare @icarusthepuck @themedusacascade @writingrevolutionary @classy-sassy-enjolrassy @eposettemyass @obi-wan-kxnxbi, you were all amazing and thank you so, so much for your participation!

Now for remarks concerning the submissions as a whole: 

Redthepear:

First of all, I want to thank you all for joining me in this fangirl and poet wannabe project (this goes for the poets, my fellow jury members/ organizers and all those who have supported the project and spread the word!)

This year had seen 10 poems submitted, it’s a wonderfully round number but also wonderful news to this fandom that has so many poets and writers in its midst. The poems were all very different, ranging from free unrhymed verse to more restricted, traditional forms such as sonnets. Adding the challenge of words to add in the poem was in my opinion a good thing: that way we could see how you all treated them. However, the choice we gave of using them or not made it more complicated in the judging process, so we will have to think about it!

The themes in the poems were more varied than during the first edition of the contest, going from our classic Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk to poems about Cosette or Mabeuf. The Brick is such a rich story, and this year, many, if not all, of its faces were covered. I also have a lot of respect for the poets who decided to tackle several aspects of it at once, it was a hard task and you managed it honorably. 

Even if I am no literary critic, I would advise all of you to keep writing! There were some slightly awkward things in your works but also some lines that have made me quiver from their force and beauty. You are most welcome to participate in the future editions of the contest! 

Pilferingapples: Like Red, I really appreciated the poems that tried to handle multiple aspects of the book at once. It’s hard to cover even part of the storyline in Les Mis (as many adaptations have discovered), but if anything can do it, it’s poetry!   I’m also really impressed with how much the poetry this year covered the varied moods of the story. Everyone tried to bring together the despair and horror with the hope and love and defiance,  and it made for really affecting work.  Though that did make it really hard to judge! Thank you everyone who entered! I hope you’ll make more poetry–it’s been a treat to see.  (and extra thanks to @redthepear , for putting this contest together again!)

Aflamethatneverdies: 

I’d like to mention that everyone did a really great job. I thoroughly enjoyed reading and judging the poems.

There were lots of different styles this year, from the sonnet to free verse and I enjoyed seeing how the poets played with the language. Overall, I liked how everyone interpreted the words and the themes. There were quite a few poems with original takes on the theme, such as ones about Cosette, Mabeuf, Gavroche, poems which involved several characters and poems that took one metaphor and applied it to different characters. There were many places in the poems where I really liked the turn of phrase or how the metaphor was employed.  I would like to see poets keep trying new things and experimenting with the style and forms.

Thank you everyone for being a part of this, hope to see you all in future contests. It has truly been a pleasure being involved and I would also like to thank my fellow jury members and everyone who spread the word out for the contest, a special thanks to @redthepear for hosting it again this year and for doing much of the legwork for organizing it. Last but not least, to all the participants and future poets, keep reading and creating poetry and I wish you all the best in this wonderful journey.   

If any of you want more individual feedback, your grade(s) and the like, please send us an ask and we’ll do our best to send them to you!

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The jury has deliberated...

However, until the final report is written, with our overall impressions and such, we will keep you waiting a bit like Hugo would do when he leaves us at Waterloo just after an exciting scene ;) 

The results should be out tomorrow at its latest, I’m truly sorry to keep you all waiting!

In the meantime, we forgot to mention the prizes!

 As in 2015, the 1st prize is a drawing by @redthepear, of one of the characters from the poem, and this time, it’s @aflamethatneverdies who agreed to write a fic request!

The 2nd place will get to choose between a fic and a drawing and 3rd place gets what 2nd place did not choose.

Stay creative, Jehans!

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Good evening/day!

The judging is in great progress, luckily it should be done in a few hours!

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The submissions are closed!

We will keep you updated on the progress of the judging!

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Hello all poets!

Today is the deadline for the poems, you have until midnight to send yours in!

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3 days left to submit your poems!

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Here’s our 10th entry!!! Thank you for your participation! 

Reminder, that everyone still has time to submit their entries till 20th August. Three more days to get your poems in!!! 

my entry for @lets-all-be-jehan-for-a-while‘s poetry competition! Good luck to everyone who’s entered! :)

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Oh, we had knives pressed to our throats While standing back to back, hands locked Darling, we had gun barrels pressed into our necks, just above the coats And flowers in your buttons, later on pavement, carelessly dropped

Oh love, we have stood in embrace Souls like roots, not to be separated We listened to the other’s fears and chaste Lips met to lock on this cold, o so cold day, undated

For I now know, we are a marvel For I know, what it means to love For I now know, love can be marble

And the stars watch us, radiating brighter than before See how we shake the universe to the core Oh Let it crumble, oh let it fall

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@icarusthepuck just submitted the ninth entry for the contest! Thank you!