January 11, 2026

Winners

NicotineStained are teeth, and fingers yellow, / Softly whispered lies we keep. / Smoke unfurls in breath so mellow,

#1

29

She Was in the Field Counting Stars~ / In the mist of late night solitude, / from a mislaid plateau,

@Carlo-C-Gomez17

#2

25

complexitiesI drenched my sorrows neat, / on the veranda in this stifling heat, / while the rest of ‘Stralia’s dying, trying to fight bushfires, floods, and other catastrophes —

#3

21

Other poems

REALITY OF LIFEIn life, you need to give people their distances, / Because not everyone appreciates your time. / You might talk and relate with everyone but only few appreciates your company.

18

mystery and the mysticInspiration is dancing with the breeze, insouciant / Dawdling, yet doodling dreams perchance / Locking hands with the non-existent, extant

@sarita-aditya-verma9

15

The Yard Without ThemBy the fence line, / where thistle gives up and grass returns. / Her horns had learned the shape of my hands.

14

Between the StarsDo you feel inspired? / While we whisper late at night? / Stars floating all around us,

12

Twilight YouTwilight You mere Cousin / to our friend Dusk, / You fold & slide blue

11

Are You Okay?The question hangs, a fragile thread / In evening's dusty, silent air. / A phrase so often lightly said,

10

HourlyThey want bodies. / Warm, compliant bodies. Moving parts. / Hands that open doors and flip switches.

7

In My HandsI reach / I hold / I crush

@Aegis-Vistoria-Penumbra6

4

The Architecture of a MomentIt is not the thunder that defines the sky, / but the way the light leans against the hills / at the end of a long, gold-tethered day.

4

NOT WHAT I WANTED TO BEI am not what / I wanted to be. / I am not where

@Blue-Sapphire7

4

The Self That Emerges From The StormWhen the storm finally spent itself, / I found no revelation – / only a steadier breath,

4

Cherry TreeThe branches of a cherry tree bent down, / their leaves moving above my head. / Back then, I didn’t speak.

@Agnes-de-Lodz35

4

The Loud QuietI cry without dropping any tears, / I don't even hear my own shouting. / I've wanted you in my heart for years,

4

CrystalizeOnce upon a time / In a place I did not know / There was a fire burning in the snow

@Aegis-Vistoria-Penumbra45

3

Always and ForeverThe familiar timbre of a voice, / the trembling skin of water, / and two slow-drifting

@Agnes-de-Lodz24

3

With White InkThey used to mean something, / The words that I would write — / A pane of shattered glass

3

Nowheretown (badwords cut)I wrote a short HePo series, an amalgamation of poetry and narrative. I tried to make a journey out of it for the reader in the classic Choose Your Own Adventure style in the sense that the onus was on the reader to continue the narrative instead of simply imploring the reader to turn the page. / This is the 'Director's Cut' for those without copious free-time to invest in internet sleuthing. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it: / Chapter One:

3

Until My Feet Touch the GroundI am still here, though already gone. / The room holds my outline. / The air remembers my breath.

3

“Creative Mind”Creative mind, / Deep thinking, / A brain that wanders,

3

BorrowedToday won't be tomorrow... / I really can't understand, / My heart... Why did she borrow?

3

Ash and WantingI’ve heard their lies. I heard them all. / I read the names carved in the wall. / I saw the soldiers clear the hall

@William-A-Gibson29

2

HP Writers Spotlight: Druzzayne Rika~ / January 2026 / HP Poet: Druzzayne Rika

@The-Timetables26

2

Love Before The WarfareBy an old castle on a hill / the birds go flying, flying, flying / through the windows of yesterday

2

FINDING JOYI never asked for the world; / all I ever wanted was a simple life. / I find joy in the smallest of things,

@Blue-Sapphire6

2

Borrowed FlowerI know the joy of giving. / I know the smile that blooms afar. / I know the moment they drift away,

2

good night, my dearI couldn't get enough of the way you sleep / How you laced your limbs with my body / like a vine clinging for life, for support.

2

CONJUGATIONdawnmade / i am not of meat / nor name.

@RastislavKnezi174

2

One-Eyed Buckwell, i went out hunting / for this one-eyed buck. / i didn't have faith

1

Before I Existed.Before my mother learned to talk, / I was already there. / Not ME me, but the beginning of me.

@EliskaPetras44

1

Subtitles Between Usit's a quiet misery / to know you only by smell, / by what lingers after you leave—

1

Unknown stepsAs I ponder, I wander along paths / Where the endings I do not know — / You may say this could be perilous, others say it is treacherous.

1

SilenceChained to a memory / I lose myself in a moment / of deep reflection.

1

Sorrow hollowThe closeness is burning / my stomach is turning / lead wars with them tear drops

@fodorovakikus12

1

DivisionDivision / Like an incision / Into the fabric

1

in 2026we’ll be parasocial (enjoy one‑sided emotional relationships). / practice ineffective communication / swim the algorithmic swamp

1

DawnThe silver blue morning, the chill skin biting dawn. The world calm and quiet. A small breeze whispers through the maples, that stand as if Adam and Eve, the first heartbeats to meet the day. / A warming in the eastern cold sky. The welcome to the resting world to open its sleep crusted eyes, and see this day yet to be perceived. / The birds start their laurel song. The squirrels adding their chittering gossip to the song of this newborn day. An almost unheard crunch of russet leaves underneath an unknown paw, completing the daybreak orchestra.

@Kathleen_Howard6

1

Maybe, I'll get It RightShe carried his cards and letters, / bundled with a rubber band, / in her yellow raincoat.

@thomas-w-case20

1

Of Men, Mice, Liver, and LoveNine years old. / Paperback, tattered, / rough in my hands.

@thomas-w-case63

1

The Lingering Ghost of You“Spare themselves of this,” she says, / while refusing to spare herself at all / unaware that her escape

1

Where I Once StoodI didn't notice time / until everything began to change— / when color quietly left the day,

1

ThoughtsGetting old is mandatory. / Growing up is a choice / some years harden,

1

Nihilistic conflictThought, / a simple one- / What

@GyanmanjariPathak18

1

why did you raise the white flag?It was the silence that sounded the loudest. / It was the gloss in my eyes that shined the most. / It was the absence of your hand in mine that felt the heaviest.

0

ended

Hello PoetryVoting