This is a reprise of the first contest I ever ran on PS, which I remember particularly enjoying judging. So here, as before, are the rules:
What to Submit?
1 original rattling rhyme!
I would like you to write me a rhyme which rattles along, barely pausing for breath! For this contest, please use a metre which stresses every third syllable, like this:
YA ta ta YA ta ta
Or this:
ta ta YA ta ta YA
Or even this:
ta YA ta ta YA ta
I don't mind how many "feet" to a line, or how long or short your poem is.
I use this metre a lot in my poetry, and it's well suited to fun poems, speedy poems, action poems... but it's up to you! If you'd like an example, take a look at my poem Hillbilly Hank https://www.poetrysoup.com/poem/hillbilly_hank_1013465 - I want that "I'm not sure when I can next breathe" feeling! Or you could take the chance to read "From a Railway Carriage" by Robert Louis Stevenson - a childhood favourite of mine.
A few rules:
- Please write a NEW poem, dated on or after 1 March 2020
- Please call your poem "A Rattling Rhyme" (that, and only that) so I don't read it - you're welcome to include your own title within the body text if you like.
- Please also left align your poem and don't italicise the whole poem (you can use italics for emphasis within the poem if you like) - this is so I don't recognise your "handwriting"!
- Also, please don't format your footer (if you include one) in your 'signature' way.
- As ever, no names.
- Have fun! (That's an actual rule...)
Prizes
Up to ten, and only ten, placements.
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.