Hey thank you very much YesNo an congratulations Calidore!!
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Hey thank you very much YesNo an congratulations Calidore!!
Thanks, YesNo. Give yourself credit for the meter, though, since it was your line.
Back into the Comfy Chair of Judgment I go. Here's a classic line that has inspired a prominent anti-literary contest named for its author, but which has also been used in some pretty good stories. Which kind of poem you use it for is up to you.
"It was a dark and stormy night."
Let's make the deadline October 13. That'll enable the next contest to run until Halloween, should the next judge choose that theme.
Off you go, and have fun.
Trying to write a novel
My ideas just won't scan
I need some inspiration
To pick up my thoughts again
Saw a little red doghouse
Pictured Snoopy as he typed
Say, that just might kickstart me
"It was a dark and stormy night!"
Pendragon
(C) 9/26/2012
It was a dark and stormy night
the rain was kicking it out a roam
the wind blew rage
it was a gale
I tried to think
quicker and write
it was getting later then late
I had to pause
the sound was force
I would come back
collect my thoughts
when the weather and I
are gold
Once
Once upon a time I heard
With joy the chirping of a bird,
But now such pleasures mock my plight.
It was a dark, bewitching, stormy night.
My love was singing in the rain
Like one who had just gone insane
Enchanted by that God of flight
Who thought, like Gods, he had the right
To take whatever he might find
To calm the wierdness of his mind.
That's when my Julie flew away
To play the angel night and day.
No doubt she really loved that guy
Who pounced upon her from the sky.
It's not the way that I would woo.
That's likely why she left me, too.
If I had wings, I'd win her back,
If I could beat off his attack.
It happened many years ago
One stormy night, one tale of woe.
My mind since then has been a mess
With inner voices causing stress
And telling me, "Remember this:
You saw her give that God a kiss!"
Tonight another storm comes in
To let more pounding rains begin.
I'm old, defeated. I don't care.
Wind, blow my ashes anywhere.
Come, rinse my mind, let me forget
As pecking raindrops get me wet!...
I'm sorry....I got it all wrong.
My tears should long have turned to song.
So patiently you waited smiling.
Forgiveness can be so beguiling.
Now I know how joy brings laughter,
And we lived happ'ly ever after.
The Midnight Soliloquy
I heard him pacing again
back and forth across the floor
ever restless he was
this phantom of mine,
slowly I opened my eyes
to wonder just what has perturbed him now,
"It was a dark and stormy night"
he began his usual soliloquy
skeptically I turned mine eyes
to the window and looked upon
the moonlit night, shining
full and bright, in the cloudless sky,
I had not it within me to interrupt,
of course my haunt would be of
a melodramatic temperament,
"and the rain began to fall in torrents"
I rolled my eyes as he began again
oblivious to my presence
while he bemoaned agonies as figmentary
as himself, thus I murmured "Goodnight"
before closing my eyes again
and pulling the blankets over my head.
Hallowed halls, once ringing joy, now eerily deserted;
Furtive whispers in the walls, wan downcast eyes averted;
Scribbled fear, a frantic plea, last hope in inky meter;
Bloodshot eyes, a vacant stare, this ghostly, hollow reader;
Dawn’s faint tendrils, ever near, cast shadowy pale fright!
Quoth professor never more, twas a stark and dormy night!
Infinite Monkeys
Infinite monkeys,
Typing.
Words come up,
And down.
(Simian grammar is complex.)
Arranged for,
Describing
A
Ripening
Kumquat tree or fig.
A
N
D
Suddenly (after a thousand years or more,)
Tails prehensile,
Or thumbs opposable,
Rampaging and chattering over infinite keys,
Manufacture a sentence,
(Young Gibbons learn fast.)
Not Shakespeare – yet,
Infinity has still a way still to run.
Gibbonish hands,
Hold up the words in triumph.
“Twas a dark and stormy night.”
Thanks for entering, everyone. Nice to see a couple of new folks (to this thread) as well.
This one I'm going to give to prendrelemick; I liked the million monkeys story and the left-side structure. Very well done.
Also, as a lifelong Peanuts fan, I have to give bonus points to Pendragon for the Snoopy reference. Nonetheless, everyone's poems were, as always, very enjoyable to read, and thanks again for posting them.
So congratulations, prendrelemick, your go!
prendrelemick congratulations!!
Thank you Calidore and Cacian. It was a case of constraint leading to creativity.
The next phrase is that well worn legend "May contain nuts". I'm not bothered if you chop or change or pun it, but bear in mind I shall be judgeing enteries around Hallowe'en!
Days retain ruts
Staff explained cuts
No ifs, ands, or buts
May contain nuts
Stay abstain, adjust
Pray, feign trust
Survey proclaims you a klutz
May contain nuts
Today gain guts
Dismay? Constrain fuss
Essay written on a bus
May contain nuts
Obey brain thus
Stray, you vain cuss
Make way for the rest of us
But we may contain nuts!
Pendragon
(C)10/16/2012
Nutty Halloween Guests
As leaves lose green before the fall
And days lose sun to bring a chill,
The ghosts that haunt McKendrick Hall
May flip the lights or screech until
We, owners, know they're back again,
Those spooks who cook rare feasts for men.
Each time they serve up a delight
From stuff they've killed the previous year.
The meat's from beasts who screamed with fright,
Slow tortured while sautéed in fear.
They're nutty like the nuts they use
To flesh out slime-green, yummy stews.
We eat and drink and fight for fun.
McKendrick Hall will shock the town
With flame and noise until we're done.
Our neighbors hope we burn it down.
I know they wish we'd go away
While I keep wond'ring why they stay.
may contain some nuts
use with caution
don't
fill yourself
with blunt
take each something
with plump
it's easier to stump
which gets the nuts
right out