Wow, I really like this format...I think it expands creativity (if its already present) Cool stuff and very illusionary and dreamlike...:)Snake

"The blood of shadows in the future cold." Wish I had written that line.

thanks...you've plenty of oustanding lines I'm sure we all wished we'd written at some point... I suppose being able to share in them is the enjoyable thing...keep up the good work :D

Dig this piece, and definitely a tasty contender for the new contest. Soulistic surrealist yearning. Top bananas :)

"British/Aussie"? Bleugh. You're English in my eyes, my brother =)

Last four lines are hypnotic.

so the other 10 are poop then? :P

some daft and dark dogma to some wintery discontent:: "heathens drool ecstasy"/"haul their carcass souls" ((all that alliteration could asphyxiate a soul)); such a darklit painting this would make, but what i really want to know is, do you actually speak words like 'chilblain' or do you use some highly selective thesaurus for the extraordinariy literate? :^) i really like this format though, so absolute yet abstract, so it really defines your words and images and all that innocence lost kind of hyperspace..i'm partial to the closing two, the couplet. .."the orchid blooms the blood" with that "soft sun"---such a feminine thing really, wicked and wild and a bit weary, woesome..... [[and ahem; good heavens what a wildthing compliment... you shouldnt have, you silly marsupial ;) ]] ~(\)+

I didn't answer your question...I suppose I don't use words like 'chilblain' too often, as I can't imagine too many topics of conversation where I'd be bringin it up! However, I don't scrutinise over some bulky thesaurus, I do always have a dictionary at hand; sometimes I select words from it that I might want to use for my particular poem, words that might be unfamiliar to me or that I didn't know of; not to try to be pretentious or clever or any other gimmicky thing; but to improve my use of vocab, delivery, freshness - keep my poems from being 'less static' or 'samey' or stale. I know there's many a word that crops up that I have used umpteen (umpteen? Is that right? :P) times - so it's mainly to make the poems as fresh-sounding as possible. Less to be technical, more so to attempt to originate. I still feel I've so much to improve on and learn; I think that's what drives me on. Thank you...always :D

and I'm glad you picked up on the 'lost innocence' as that's mainly the theme I was gunning for, albiet darkly. I used 'chilblain' as well as 'blizzard' to help give the poem tone and action, as well as to reresent a cold feeling (snow), ala sadness, or a sense of dying innocence. Snow is seen as beautiful mostly; so I suppose 'black snow' is the antithesis? And I liked the sonnet format for it too; tried to keep it fresh by making it 'unrhymed'...

Love it, well done Hatter *salutes*