This Contest of Poems
To pick a good subject - to know what to do
A matter that matters 'bout what, where and who
To stick to the script and be stuck in a crowd?
Or stick out as lonely as bright mushroom clouds?
To take an old topic and make it sublime?
Or try something different? A new paradigm!
So what is my title? My content? My muse?
This contest of poems - a fourth wall to use
How can I triumph? The road that's less travelled
And stop my quaint entry by judges be gavelled
Perhaps a sob story just like a soap actor?
But strongly suspect this is not the x factor
I'm taking a risk on my own burning deck
McGonagall style may become a train wreck
With hope for good fortune and fame - we will see
With outrageous fortune - perhaps not to be
To quote from old masters like Kipling? As if!
Or study Ed Lear and Og Nash to be diff
I free inner Loki to help with this verse
My rhyme is his strength and his metre my curse
OK it's not perfect - at least it's a pause
From praiseworthy entries without any flaws
A poetry sandwich that's too good to bite
A cheese marmite filling 'tween bread that is white
If this is discarded as mere doggerel
I'd be most offended - I'd be most unwell
Perhaps not as lovely as J Kilmer's tree
But entered by website - at least paper free
So let's get this turning - let's get this run in
But run short of wordage quite near to the fin
My finger has typed - having tapped and moved on
With such bad quotation I should sign anon
I now reach the finish - I now read the rules
My palm hits my face! Doh! I've been such a fool!
I look at the clauses and take a self kick
It costs six pound fifty - that's taking the mick!
I have a spare stanza - to make lines two score
Will use up this limit - no less and no more
Win, lose or baffle - was well worth the strife
Each year I shall enter - you've got me for life!
Copyright © Mark Martin | Year Posted 2017
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