[Catherine Chandler]

In past bake-offs (for example, last year's Light Verse Bake-off, Deck-the-Halls in 2010), updates on vote tally have been issued from time to time.

To date (with lots of time left), the sonnets are, for now, in this order (points):

1. Requited Love (96)
2. Last Dance (54)
3. Childhood (45)
4. The Baby and the Bathwater (37)
5. For Two Lindens Newly Planted on Avenue D (29)
6. Calypso Calls on Penelope (19)
7. Film Noir (14)
8. Mower's Song (10)
9. On the Ubiquity of Mobile Devices (5)
10. The Keepsake (4)

Voting will continue until 11:59 p.m. EDT Saturday, July 27.

[Christine Whittemore]

1. The Keepsake.
2. Requited Love
3. Childhood.

I had trouble with the third choice; Last Dance, Calypso and Two Lindens were also contenders.

[David Anthony]

1. Keepsake
2. Requited love
3. Mower

[Jesse Anger]

Requited
Baby
Childhood

This bake-off was an entertaining one. Gail and Cathy did a commendable job.

J

[Christy Reno]

1.Requited Love
2.Last Dance
3.The Baby and the Bathwater

Thank you for hosting, Cathy and Gail. It was a tough decision. I enjoyed the reading the discussion threads. I look forward to seeing who the authors are.

[Lance Levens]

1. Last Dance
2. Requited Love
3. Childhood

Cathy and Gail, thank you so much for the time and expertise here. Great bake-off!

[Janice D. Soderling]

If there were 300 to 400 entries there ought to be (or so it seems to me) at least that many votes. So bumpity-bump, a reminder.

[Catherine Chandler]

Yes, but the submitters who are not members of the Sphere would have to register in order to vote. At this point, I don't think that's going to happen. Even many longtime members are among the "missing" .

[Siham Karami]

1. Childhood
2. Requited Love
3. The Mower's Song

Thanks, Gail and Cathy, for a lively and enjoyable contest.

Siham

[Brian Allgar]

1. The Baby and the Bathwater
2. Requited Love
3. Calypso Calls on Penelope

My notes on the poems:

The Baby and the Bathwater
I thought at first that I didn't particularly like this one, largely because of the title and the final couplet. On re-reading it, I found the first 12 lines grimly powerful ... but I still find the couplet weak and the title offputting.

Requited Love

A nicely understated, touching poem, even if, for me, the ending doesn't quite work.

Calypso Calls on Penelope

Despite a few unsatisfactory phrases (e.g. 'Truth, dear' instead of 'Truth is, dear') this is an amusing romp in the vernacular, with a snappy ending.