Second Chance

All right. I have had a few people say they'd be interested in entering my (sort of) annual Poetry Contest. So, even though it's not my birthday any more (which was pretty fabulous, by the way), it is still National Poetry Month. So here is your second chance to enter Loralee's Fancy Poetry Contest. Yaaaaayyy!!

This year's challenge, as you may recall from my April 1 post, is to write your very own nursery rhyme. You are probably familiar with nursery rhymes, but here are a couple of examples:

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider and sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.




I'm sure you recognize that rhyme about the very scary spider as a nursery rhyme. But how about this one?

Eeny-meeny-miney-moe
Catch a tiger by the toe.
If he hollers, let him go.
Eeny-meeny-miney-moe.

(Or this variation:
...If he hollers make him pay
Fifty dollars every day.)

Yes. While you may have thought that "Eeny-Meeny..." was just a rhyme to choose who was IT when you played tag, it is actually a nursery rhyme! Because it meets these criteria:

1. it rhymes
2. it tells a very short story

(You can learn more about that here: How to write a nursery rhyme)

So, your second-chance, 2017 Poetry Challenge is to
write a clever nursery rhyme.

Here's what you need to know:

* Your poem must have a clear, simple story to tell
(like a girl sat down to eat and was scared off by a spider).
* It must be between four and eight lines long.
* It must rhyme and be in good meter
* I won't ask for poems about cute little animals, but it should be something a child would understand. ;-)
* POST YOUR WONDERFUL RHYME AS A COMMENT ON THIS VERY BLOG POST. (Just click on "Comments" and type your way to poetic perfection. Make sure your name shows up with it.)
* You may enter (and are encouraged to enter) as many poems as you want.
* All entries are due on Sunday, April 30, by 7:30 p.m.
* Winners will be announced on May 1 (or May 2, depending on how crazy my weekend is).

The contest will have two divisions:

The Children's Division is for anyone up to twelve years old. The winner of the Children's Division will receive a lovely certificate and a large-size candy of their choice.

The Everyone Else Division is for everyone older than twelve years old. The winner of the Everyone Else Division will receive a lovely certificate and a delicious home-made dessert, prepared by my own lily hands.

So here's your big chance at literary fame and fabulous prizes!!! Ready... Set... Go!

Ding-Dong-Dell, The Contest's Death Knell

Well, today is the long anticipated day! Or, maybe not.

It is time to judge the 2017 Loralee's Fancy Poetry Contest. 

This year's contest was to write a nursery rhyme, but only one person entered, and that was Jason. (Yay, Jason!) He did enter two poems, so I guess there is a tiny amount of judging to do here.

Anyway, as per tradition, before we look at the new poetry or announce the winner, here is my token rhyme:

Mom thought it was time

To see a new rhyme.

A poetry contest? A must!

But only one son

Entered…and won.
As a contest it turned out a bust.

And now for the actual entries (which might be considered "College Rhymes" instead of "Nursery Rhymes," but maybe that's the same thing...)

First, from Jason North we have:

A young college student

did know it was prudent

To study by day and sleep by night.

But he met a nice girl,

in a dress she would twirl,

and together they dine each night.

Also from Jason:

Blaine the prankster

And Jason the jokester

Once got together to plot.

When their results they found pleasing

They both were laughing and wheezing;

Their victim, of course, was not.

I might remove the words "When" and "They" from lines four and five—my ear likes that meter a little better. But the poem is pretty great. 

And now for the big moment...

The winner of the 2017 Loralee's Fancy Poetry Contest is... Jason North with his "Prankster" rhyme.  Yaayyy! 

So, Jason, let me know what dessert you prefer, and I'll make it when we bring you home from school. And I'll throw in a copy of  Loralee's Fancy Book of Poetry, which features all the poems from the first five years of my poetry contest.

Thanks for playing! :-)

2017 Poetry Contest!

At last! After a break that was three years too long it is time for a new Poetry Contest! (But, you know, I had good reasons...like sewing for a fashion show, and moving...)

Anyway... Today is April first and, as you all know, April is National Poetry Month and, as I already told you a few weeks ago, my birthday is in April! This means it is time for the annual (almost annual) Loralee's Fancy Poetry Contest!  Yaaaayyyy!!! 

If you want to read poems from the past you can look here (2013),
and here (2012),
and here (2011),
and here (2010),
and, for the one that started it all, here (2009).

BUT If you want to live in the present and submit a whole new poem, written by your very own self––with the promise of fabulous prizes to come––then now is the time to learn about the new 2017 contest! Hooray!

This year's challenge, in keeping with my childish birthday wish for dolls and story books, is to write your very own nursery rhyme. I'm sure you are familiar with nursery rhymes, but here's a couple of examples:

Little Bo Peep
has lost her sheep
and doesn't know where to find them.
Leave them alone
and they'll come home
wagging their tails behind them.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again.



So, basically a nursery rhyme is a very short story that is told using rhyme and meter, and only takes four to eight lines to tell. (For more in-depth instructions and some examples, click here.)


Your 2017 Poetry Challenge, then, is to write a clever nursery rhyme for me.
* It must have a clear, although simple, story to tell (like a little girl wasn't able to find her sheep).
* It must be between four and eight lines long.
* It should have an A A B B  rhyming scheme (like Humpty Dumpty),
or an A A C B B C rhyme scheme (like Little Bo Peep). 
* POST YOUR WONDERFUL RHYME AS A COMMENT ON THIS VERY BLOG POST. (Just click on "Comments" and type your way to poetic perfection. Make sure your name shows up with it.)
* All entries are due on Sunday, April 9, by 7:30 p.m.

The contest will have two divisions: the Children's Division, for anyone up to twelve years old, and the Everyone Else Division, for everyone older than twelve years old. You may enter as many poems as you like.
The winner of the Children's Division will receive a lovely certificate and a large-size candy of their choice.
The winner of the Everyone Else Division will receive a lovely certificate and a delicious home-made dessert, prepared by my own lily hands;

* Winners will be posted on April 10 (my birthday!). *

So enter! Enter lots of poems! Enter many times! Tell your friends, and your children, and your friends' children to enter! Call it a birthday present to me. ;-) Or just think of the fabulous prizes. Or, hey! Just do it for fun!

I can't wait to see your amazing nursery rhymes!