What to Submit? A well written clerihew per rules shown below
In honor of MLK DAy and also President Day, coming up Feb. 18 in the USA, I want to see poets write ONE clerihew specifically on a leader or a freedom fighter (human or civil rights, etc.) not currently living. This could include leaders from ancient times as well as more modern. IMPORTANT RULE: It can't be about Washington, Lincoln, or Martin Luther King because I already know a lot about those three. I want to learn about an important leader, ruler, or figher of freedom from YOUR country (though any other country's dead leader or freedom fighter you choose is acceptable). Choose someone interesting! Educate me in humorous clerihew fashion! My Iowa home girl, Caren Krutsinger, will be co-judging with me and to honor her wishes for no bad feelings due to our current political climate, that is the reason for the rules to not write about currently living leaders.
I like to think of my contests more as "challenges." Write a decent clerihew with good spelling and correct adherance to my above rules and to cleirhew form (see rules on form below), one which both Caren and I enjoy, and we will place it. Do not be too wordy. Don't make things up. Tell us real things about your subject, and for heaven sakes, try to be FUNNY!
Here is the rule for clerihew, as shown at Wikipedia:
A clerihew () is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. The first line is the name of the poem's subject, usually a famous person put in an absurd light, or revealing something unknown or spurious about them. The rhyme scheme is AABB, and the rhymes are often forced. The line length and metre are irregular. Bentley invented the clerihew in school and then popularized it in books. One of his best known is this (1905):
Sir Christopher Wren
Said, "I am going to dine with some men.
If anyone calls
Say I am designing St. Paul's."[1]
Multiple placement! No prize, just glory!
Preparing Your Entry
Submit one copy of your poem online. Format your poem. Please make your entry easy to read — no illustrations or fancy fonts.
English Language
Poems should be in English. Poems translated from other languages are not eligible, unless you wrote both the original poem and the translation.
A Note to Poetry Contestants
You are welcome to enter this contest, whether or not you won a prize in one of my previous contests.