DISCLAIMER - Yes, I know that the Steemit logo has changed, but I like the old one more and do not want to change it :)

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My Greetings To You!

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Friends! I wish you lots of fun, joy, and happiness in the upcoming holidays, the new year and in the life of a whole! This is the last Steemit Poetry Contest... in this year, of course :) The next will be later than usual, I can not say exactly for now. I'll be out of the house, the city... and I will not have a computer. Therefore, I apologize in advance and want to tell you - I love you all :)

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The theme for Steemit Poetry Contest #9 - Christmas / New Year

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About Prizes:

First Place - 7 SBD

Second Place - 6 SBD

Third Place - 5 SBD

Fourth Place - 4 SBD

Fifth Place - 3 SBD

Sixth Place - 2 SBD

Seventh Place - 1 SBD

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Entries will be accepted within five days from the date of publication of an announcement!

Deadline - December 24 15:00 AM UTC

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The winners of the Steemit Poetry Contest #8

1st Place - "Mirage" by @kneelyrac

T'was a lovely day on May

That you approached me with bouquet

A blissful happiness with butterflies was spotlighted

And a crescent moon-like smile accentuated

Flames are dancing under the moonlight of big waves

Singing between the clashing of hitch in full raves

Spent the whole day with you by my side

Feeling your strength as our arms and chest collide

As the twilight infiltrates my room

A masculine figure in white uniform loomed

Injecting fluid that runs painfully through my veins

And the mirage of you my love disappears all of a sudden

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2nd Place - "Soulless As Glass" by @awolesigideon Full version here

my heart bleeds when i feel your pain

Unspoken though it is real as rain

Your eyes betray you

And even your loud laughter cuts the soul like Glass

I hear your silent screams

I hear it, yes its real

Your eyes betray you

And even your smile is as brittle as glass

You will drown soon

Your thoughts are heavy and they will kill you too

Your steps betray you

And even your excuses are as tasteless as glass

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3rd Place - "A Friend"by @tomogiroe

My breathing hitched that I struggled to catch,

Because we ran around too much.

A good day like this is hard to pass,

So we went outside to play on the grass.

We had fun all morning and afternoon,

We did not realize that it’s night time soon.

I heard you bark and called your name,

I called and called but no one came.

I looked around and then I see,

The people pointing and laughing at me.

“A crazy woman”, they said aloud.

And I remembered you’re now under the ground.

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4th Place - "Fear is an Illusion"by @chrisroberts

Fear is an illusion, with no power of its own,

But leads to such confusion when its ugly head is shown.

The bravest of the bold and all the boldest of the brave;

When terror takes ahold they know not how they should behave.

With second-guessing madness, they will face the thing they dread,

Often backing down and going another way instead.

Don't judge their fall, when after all, how could they have known

That fear is an illusion with no power of its own?

We're stuck in our illusions like a kitty in a tree,

And nothing's quite as treacherous as what we think we see.

Through all these years, our deepest, darkest fears have only grown,

But fear is an illusion, with no power of its own.

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5th Place - "Steem's Oasis"by @geke

A desert, drawn and wind-swept, where the howls

of barren airs can drown the clicks of mice,

the basement crypto trades of secret scowls,

on friendless evenings, tossing digit dice:

her lonely finger, reaching, found a node.

Connected via blockchain to a crowd,

their eyes, a billion backlit screens had glowed.

Then over desert dunes there formed a cloud.

Its rain, a pool's reward for content wrought,

a mining of the world's attention panned.

She spotted Steem's mirage and found it's not

the water that's illusion, but the sand.

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6th Place - "Illusions: Truth or Dare"by @yombo

We're taught what's wrong and right

and not to question what we're told.

Why not tell us day is night

or ice is hot or the sun cold?

The facts are manufactured

by the crooks that cooks our books

Our thinking muscles fractured

by their lacerating hooks

The so-called facts are bullshit

but its not hard to see

that the teachers dont control it

its the money powers that be

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7th Place - "Outside, Inside, and In Between"by @danmaruschak

What's real exists without your attention.

Out in a forest, the trees do not care

Who listens as they crack under tension

and lie down like logs with you unaware.

Dreams are inconstant ephemeral stuff.

From within they seem true, in light of day

When you think back it will always prove tough

To focus on things that won't melt away.

Illusions exist somewhere in between.

You can know the truth, but look and you'll find

That the same false image you think you've seen

still appears on the path from eye to mind.

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Rules of The Contest!

• Only one entry is allowed.

• Your entry-post must be tagged both #poetry and #poetrycontest

• The Title must be "SteemitPoetryContest #(with the number of the actual episode)" + the name of your poem.

• You can use any types of rhyme - End rhyme, Cross rhyme, Internal etc.

• The size of the poem - three quatrains (one quatrain = four lines).

• Do not steal! The contest is only original works!

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I wish everyone good luck and creativity!

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Let's make STEEMIT more interesting and varied together!

Sincerely, Terry Craft.