Where do we begin, indeed?  Pandora’s Box surpassed our wildest expectations, providing all with a selection of thoroughly entertaining poetry. Opened on May18^th with an inauspicious walk down Gropecuntelane, the box closed on May 30^th, shut tightly by the hand of Epimetheus himself!  Between those dates 26 of our finest poets pitched in to thrill, enthral, amuse, bewitch us all, each with their unique take on the Pandora theme.

 

Throughout the ‘competition’, for some strange reason, I found myself haunted by an old Andy William’s song, which I thought I would post, and share with you.  The line that echoed for me ‘she fills my heart with wild imaginings’.  It occurred to me that the whole Pandora project had done much the same for me.  It also reflected WOL at its very best – a community pulling together, getting on – having fun…  On another level (and just to justify the song), Pandora’s /Eve’s story is an age old one – the relationship between man and woman – strained at times – but driven by love/desire/need – rich themes for our poetic drive.

 

Pandora’s Box was a perfect subject matter because it afforded such a wealth of interpretation.  To illustrate my point, I shall list what I have observed:

Origin of myth, origin of evil, fatalism verses self autonomy, dynamics between the two sexes, Pandora the temptress, Pandora the victim, the modern male condition, the importance of hope, the danger/folly/lack of hope, the questionable nature of certain religious tenets, the importance of knowledge, the lure of the unknown, the box as an allegory for illicit love, the box as source of all missing socks…

 

How now to judge one winner from the produce of our combined talent?  This has laid heavily on Francine and I – so many different styles and genres within the theme.  We have therefore decided to throw the voting open to all poets on the site – much as WOLOP operates.  Before doing this however, we would like to award some notional slices of cakes to a few poets on the list, where they have excelled in a particular area.

 

Most Startlingly Original Use of Imagery

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10516 Marianne Daniels 

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10605 Marianne Daniels  (The Rib)

 

Most Clever and Thoughtful Use of Religious and Mythical Allusion

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10575  Rachel Bond

 

Most Original Accompanying Photographic Artwork

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10538  Val Cook

 

Most Original Accompanying Painted Artwork

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10567  Olga Gerke

 

Best Haiku

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10534 Dave Bradley

 

Best Use of Yorkshire Dialect combined with Cringing Punch Line

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10530  Anthony Emmerson

 

Best Clever Play on the Words Ailuropoda Melanoleuca

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/poetview.php?poetID=1414 Darren Thomas Profile Page

 

Best Lust Story with an Unexpected Twist  (and we loved the setting!)

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10500  Banksy

 

 Best ‘One I cooked up Earlier’

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10512  Gus

 

Best Depiction of the New Age Pandora

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10535  Andy N

 

Best Depiction of Pandora, the Temptress

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10521 T C

 

Best Love Poem Heavily Disguised As a Pandora One

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10523 Francine

 

Best Use of Classical Rhyme

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10524  Cate

 

Best Gentle Feminist Take on the Pandora Theme

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10520 Ann Foxglove

 

Best Angry Feminist Rant Guaranteed to Get up a Man’s Nose

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10556  Isobel

 

Most Hopeless Poem  (and we mean that in the very nicest sense)

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10527  Steve Kenney

 

Most Simple Yet Poignant Take on the Theme

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10513  Nash

 

Best Exploration of Curiosity Verses Reason (as with Nash we enjoyed the simple yet subtle handling of the theme)

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10579  Chris Dawson

 

Best Dark Menacing Poem involving a Sex Change and a Tower

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10603  Kath Hewitt

 

Most Enigmatic Take on the Pandora Theme (though I hold that my interpretation was correct)

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10541 Cynthia Buell-Thomas

 

Best Humouress Take on the Impotence of Modern Man

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10618  E Dowd

 

Best Male Cop Out Poem

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10545  Ray Miller

 

Best Exploration of why Men Smell More

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10651  Dave Carr

 

Best Original Use of Words and Structure to Spell Out Hope

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10529 Graham Sherwood

 

Most Amusing Exploration of Pandora’s Revenge

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10511  Alison Johnson

 

Best Weird Poem Depicting the Cruelty of Man and Earth’s Retribution

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10665  John Togher

 

Most enigmatic poem pertaining to a box, a cigarette and a pint

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=10692 Isobel

 

It has been great fun running this project. We must extend our gratitude to Gus for coming up with the idea, theme, and nominating us to run it. It brought many poets out, each with their own distinct style, to share in the spirit of the WOL community. Anyone wanting a more formal winner can email farmoorgirl@yahoo.co.uk with

his or her vote by 7^th June.

 

Isobel xx

 

Francine xx