by River Urke and charles wm. martin
the molten steel
of this anger
flowed onto the plains
of his reason
scorching the fertile
ground of his thoughts
he falls to his knees
pain of the deepest slash
bleeds through tears
flooding him with despair
as his knees sink deep
into mother earth
he calls out for mercy
only to hear laughter
a sinister laugh of no other
then his wretched foe
the murderer of his love
sword in hand he took stance
facing empty air
the laughter reverberating
through the valley
cutting deeper into his moral soul
than any weapon could every do
he puts down his sword knowing
a battle will be his death
avenging his love is another way
he calls to his foe
you’ve murdered only one
of my two beloveds
i still have your wife’s love
and she waits for me now
a flash of light explodes
knocking him down
tearing a hole in the earth
fuming with fury stands his foe
hands of attack they both roll
falling down to their deaths.
River Urke and I have entered into a duel poetry challenge and this is the resulting poem. Duel Poetry: a prearranged poetry writing challenge between two people to evolve a new poem where each writer must respond to the other writer’s lines (4 -5 ) until both parties agree that the poem is complete
Read Between the Minds 
You’re very well matched; I’d love to hear this read as a dialogue. Well done, River and Charles.
I’d like to hear the echo of the lovers – the other side. One side is wrought with jealousy and fury I wonder…
Lovely duel River and Charlie
I wasn’t sure I was going to like this one a couple of times during the process of writing it together. It is very different than both of our writing styles in my opinion. The final I really like in all its intensity and strong moral lesson. I applaud our unique gift of writing duel poetry. May the poems keep flowing….. 🙂
To others I posted a reading if you care to view.
this is dark, but I do like the tango that the two of you danced!
An epic write.
a duel poetry challenge sounds daunting enough, and how you weave a story with such suspense! sharp imagery, great stuff!
brilliant !!! i quite enjoy duel potry !
This is without a doubt.. excellent! I love the dance and the depth…the very feel of this one. Wonderful job …River and Charles
A duel, eh!
Here ya go! lol
molten steel anger
overflowed
plains of reason
scorching
fertile grounds
of thought
pain slashed
bleeding
through tears
his knees
fall
onto mother earth
calls for mercy
only to hear
sinister laughter
from his wretched foe
the killer of his lover
sword in hand
breathing empty air
his enemy’s laughter
reverberates
through the valley
cutting deeper
than any weapon
could ever do
laying down his sword
he knows
a battle
will be his death
avenging his love
is another way
to call out his foe
you’ve murdered
only one
of my two
beloveds
i still have
your wife’s love
and she waits for me
flash of light
an explosion
knocks him
down
tears a hole
in the earth
his foe
stands fuming
with fury
hands attack
both roll
down
to their deaths
Like what you’ve done my friend.
I’m allergic to the word duel.
Can’t relate to collaborating in a labor of love, which poetry always is, no matter the topic, with that word used to ‘inspire’ each other to write together.
So, I decided to make light of my allergy to the word duel and just throw together a poem out of what the two of you wrote as a fun way to stretch my mind and get over my allergy to the word duel.
All in fun, of course, otherwise, I would have spent more time and created a better poem than I did in my pathetic piece of minimalism and playful mischief to my allergy!
Well done–truly amazing.
rhe duel poetry far, far excellent …..but martin are you satisfied with this way of penning poetry&
What a tremendous challenge–and the finished product is stunning.
jane
Deep, dark, vengeful, fatal. Well done.
well, if his foe believed him then he sure settled his score.
Excellent collaboration resulting in excellent, most engaging poem. Thanks!
I never heard of duel poetry before. Fascinating concept. Interesting result too. Well done.
Mike Patrick
I really don’t know that’s a term used in poetry circles or not…but River and I thought it would be a good term to apply to what we were going to do and so I made up the definition so folks would understand the process…I’m sure others have done similar things but may have not used that term.
INTENSE
Incredible results, you are both amazing