I like this sonnet's strong portrayal of an unbeautiful and disturbing emotion that is intimately tied to the scene. It's much less flashy, yet has its moments, which rise above the ordinariness and magic-free zone, absent the one s/he loves, accurately giving the sense of that absence, both its "ordinary-ness" and its extraordinary sadness. "A scene that is and isn't what I want to see tonight"— caught in uncertainty too. A contender.

I like this one. The quirkiness of it and the intentional plainness of imagery, set off against that line Gail and others mention, as well as "what’s the matter / stays obvious"--which I think is rather brilliant. This is in my top three.

Forgive me. I see I cross-posted with a number of others in the matter of the "unrhymed" sonnet. I owe the greatest apology to the DG, the last sentence of whose penultimate paragraph I completely failed to see last night. I am sorry if I caused offence.

It is a postcard so it's meant to be generic but a lot of the language is flat

largely devoid of ships
the same old
is and isn’t what I want (make up your mind)
seagulls, dogs, and joggers
by now the generic endulgence has really worn off for me

this land from everything seems so meaningless. The rhyme is great because you don't notice it and gives the poem a subtle musicality I liked, it reminded me of the last part of 'From Gloucester Out' in terms of sentiment.
I don't like straight literal poetry devoid of imagination, it's prose without a plot
but the rhyme scheme saves this,
impassibility: incapable of suffering or feeling pain, I thought it meant 'you can't pass this' a new word for me.

Hilbert is an antiquarian bookseller. How splendid. And what a fine sonnet.

I like this, but it's difficult to identify a volta, which casts a doubt on its credentials to my mind. Pity.

The volta is in the middle of L10.

Shakespeare seems to manage very well without a volta in many sonnets. And, come to that, so do I. It is not obligatory.

It is a beautiful love poem. This embodies the craftsmanship that everyone strives for but so few achieve. Masterly.

I'm so sorry this year's presentation is concluded.

Yes. As always, I'm left wanting more. Didn't the 'sphere used to do a baker's dozen? A cool dozen seems fitting for a bakeoff. With 150 entrants, the percentages are pretty low as is.

For me, there are four poems fighting for three slots at this juncture. This poem is one of those four...I just don't know where it slots in quite yet.