NoRhyme Challenge: Free Will On the visual monitor, the blue slowly turned, gauzed with whorls of white over brown and green patches. The Commander stared thoughtfully, stroking a mandible with serrated forelimb. "Second!" he bellowed. "Send in the poets!" Clacking in unison, the most imaginative of the crew, the cadre of creativity, marched smartly onto the bridge and turned to face the Commander, feelers uniformly drooped in deference. " What are we to make of this chaos below?" asked the Commander. "Explain to me how this can be, how this disordered hive can even function or survive! What is this thing they call Free Will? Are they deluded? Too stubborn and contrary to accept their own fate? Blind to the forces that bend us to act?" "Or do they know something we do not grasp? Have they a spark that sets them apart, and if so, where did it come from? Can we obtain it?" Chitinous heads turned to look at each other, up and down the line. Mandibles flexed silently, until all had extended forelimbs apart in the gesture of empty return, a fruitless search. "Bah! Out of here. I don't know why I don't pitch every one of you out of the airlock." The poets retreated in single file disappointment, chastened by the Commander's multifaceted glare. "Second, collect all transmissions concerning Free Will you can find. For the next 7 planetary rotations save everything designated #norhyme and tag it with @VikingHorn for my review. I shall get to the bottom of this mystery, this perverse obsession with resisting the flow. "You know the drill."

The Price Of White Lies Everyone knows that these fields are haunted By whistling leather and screams. The blood and the sweat churned into the mud Beneath fluffy, white, cotton clouds. Everyone knows of the bodies interred Behind the white walls of the church. The soldiers who died defending the South, The freedom of slavery's rule. But nobody speaks of the soul that departed Centuries prior to that. A bondage that lasts even longer than chains, But willingly donned for a price. You can not dehumanize anyone else And not cut away your own heart. The lies that were told as bales were sold Carved wounds that persist to this day. The hymns and the sermons defending The burden of whites to impose their God's will. The jokes that were never intended For humor, but rather to cultivate hate. Corrupting the minds of young children Rather than answer for your own mistakes. A sacrifice of generations to come To make horrors seem commonplace. The truth is that lies enslave the liars With hollow prosperity built out of filth.

15 Word Results I hope everyone had a good Valentines weekend! And I thank you all who shared your hearts with me: AmethystEyes2014 TaintedTulip sammielee46 sjw ckahn yikici dcgrace15 leelee101 There were many fine pieces, all worth a read if you haven't gotten to them already. But there was one that stood out as exemplary: our winner is @leelee101 with Beat, Burns and Strings. Congrats to Lee and thanks to everyone who entered!

Legacy ##acrostic Thorny and gnarled limbs madly conduct Windswept symphonies amid canyon walls. Insect arias rise to a chorus, Songs of persistent defiance to all. Torn from the landscape, remnants of hubris Erased among ruins of highways and malls. Desolate concerts bear solemn witness, Dirges to mourn our spectacular fall.

Hearts Hearts so tender, hearts so hard Bruised, coddled, shattered shards Can beat together without guard #15words