Poetry Contest 2012!

Get your poet hats on—the contest starts tomorrow!

You may wonder about this whole poetry contest thing.  "Is Loralee just totally gaga for poetry?"

Well, not gaga—although I do like it.  No.  It started when I posted that Monday's Child is fair of face poem and asked my loyal readers to guess which child I was (for my birthday).  As I thought about it, I thought that some of the daily children got a bad deal, so I had a contest to create happier children in that rhyme. (You can see the results of that contest HERE.) 

One April day, while my "Monday's Child" contest was running, I was listening to classical radio and I learned that April was National Poetry Month. I realized that I had unwittingly—oh, um, no . . . I had cleverly started a poetry contest during National Poetry Month.  Well, I couldn't resist making it an annual thing after that.

So now you know.  And this year's contest starts

¯¯to-morrrrooowww! ¯  So play along with me! :-)

p.s.  If you've been watching the poem of the day in the sidebar, I've been giving you a hint about this year's contest.
;-)

And the Winner is . . .

Well, today is the big day! The day I announce the winner of Loralee's Fancy Poetry Contest! In the words of an entry from Stephanie:

Today is the day, I can hardly wait!
So please do not procrastinate!
You're going to choose!
No time to loose!
I've been waiting so long for this happy date!

All you poets were quite unexpectedly prolific, and have given me several limericks to add to my collection! I was a little worried at first, because Christine was the only one to enter any poems for several days. I thought that she would win by default—which would be no fun! But then the limericks came rollling in. Yay, you!!

Before I announce the big winner, here is my limerick:

There was an old king named King Fred
Who wore a gold crown on his head.
He lost it one day,
Much to his dismay,
So he wears a felt derby instead.

And now here are this year's many, many entries:

From Christine:

In Utah there lives an old fool
Who never quite made it to school.
She grabbed a balloon
And formed a baboon.
Then children and friends said "How cool!"

An autobiographical limerick (although I wouldn't call her "an old fool" by any means!).

Also from Christine:

Three sisters who can't sing a note
Had practiced a song that they wrote.
 The brothers all cried.
The parents just sighed.
Their voices were worse than the goat.

Delightful! This one ranks with the many, many limericks I already have memorized. Perfect.

Christine #3:

There was a young guy with a pig.
It grew up to be rather big.
He ran out of bacon.
The pig started shakin'.
"Come here, little piggy pig pig."

And, Christine #4:

 I once knew a guy so silly
In summer he thought it was chilly
When it snowed he was warm
He would dance in a storm
He even thought meadows were hilly

Christine did a wonderful job!

Kaylie was the second to enter her poems. They are:

Licks, sticks, licks, sticks, lick, sticks, LICKS, STICKS!
All I get from my dog, licks, sticks!
Not one of his toys
from that naughty boy!
All I get is some licks and sticks!

Kaylie #2:

As I promised, a limerick.
It will probably make you sick.
But no matter what,
please do not say but,
please! I beg of you! Don't say ick !

I liked this one a lot. :-) Kaylie #3, inspired by the movie, Tangled:

Rapunzel dear, now listen here!
Why is your hair so tangled dear?
Tangles everywhere!
Don't you brush your hair?
Brush your hair for goodness' sake dear!

Very good!

Kaylie #4:

That silly little Willy Boy
got too near a goat named Billy Boy.
Billy Boy was blue
feeling so down, too. :(
Such a silly boy is Willy Boy!

Very good, Kaylie!

Rachel also sent me four poems which I really liked a lot, but they weren't quite limericks:
A cat and a dog,
running in the fog.
What a silly sight to see!
An owl in a tree,
watching as they flee
chasing after one another!

Rachel #2:

If you have found
a bone in the ground
and you have a big red hound,
give the bone to the hound
and you'll be safe and sound.

Rachel #3:

With a big full moon
you will see soon
a big gray wolf that will howl
till the gulf starts shaking
from that sound the wolf is making
the bone-chilling
yet thrilling sound.

Very descriptive—I like "the bone-chilling yet thrilling sound!"

Rachel #4:

There was a dog in a bog
who was afraid of the fog
when the fog set in
he found a floating bin
and he climbed in
and went where a
good hound should go.

Yay for Rachel!

And this little gem came from Brandon:

I say you really shouldn't be thinking
That you think this poem is stinking
It's really not that bad
So please don't be mad
Or my heart will probably start sinking.

Brandon's heart can stay in place; this one doesn't stink at all. :-)

Jason's entry:
Some seventy sailors at noon
Each had in their hand, a spoon.
"Give us food!" they cried,
But the cook denied,
And soon found himself a maroon.

I actually did laugh out loud when I read this one. :-)

From Becky:

There once was a girl from Peru,
Who learned how to play the kazoo.
All day she did hum.
Her lips became numb.
Was it really worth to pursue?

Becky #2:
There once was an arrogant jockey,
Who boasted he could play hockey.
 Though his five-foot frame
Made him lose the game,
It did not make him less cocky.

Both excellent—very limericky. S

tephanie's entries:

There once was a little boy.
 He thought he was very coy
He fell on his britches
and had to get stitches.
He then got a brand new toy!

Stephanie #2:

Hey there little miss.
Where's your little sis'?
She went to find money
So she could buy honey
To put upon her dish.

Stephanie #3 (same poem, different ending):

 Hey there little miss.
Where's your little sis'?
She went to find money
So she could buy honey
To give to her poor fish.

Stephanie #4:

There once was bee
Who could not see.
He found a small flower
But thought it was sour
And flew back to his tree.

After a short break, Stephanie entered four more! Aren't limericks fun?

Stephanie #5:

 I really don't mean to impose,
But I have to go blow my nose!
It could be an issue
So please get a tissue.
For it's dripping down on my toes!

Another for my collection. :-)

Stephanie #6:

My poor little Missy-moo.
She didn't know what to do!
She sat there an cried
 Because she had tried
But we didn't want to eat her stew.

 Stephanie #7:

I really am no poet
and now you really know it!
Because I have tried
You sat there and cried,
And tried hard not to show it.

Tee-hee! tephanie #8:

This really is such fun.
But nothing will get done.
My house is a mess
And I could care less
As I think of another one.

Yes, I'd rather write limericks than clean house or run errands, too!

Another from Becky:

Seven little mice in a hole,
Found themselves bunked with a mole.
“Kind sir,” they did cry,
“Must you dwell so nearby?
There is not much food in our bowl.”

And an entry from my sweetheart, Bruce:

 A fine little Lady of mine
 Has asked me to make up a rhyme.
It takes a short while
with a wink and a smile
to make a good rhyme really shime.

That is one shimy rhyme, Bruce!

Lindsey also sent four entries. Isn't it funny how they seem to come in groups of four?

Lindsey #1:
In time of writers block...
 there's something wrong with that clock.
see how it dangles,
from every wrong angles
boy, go fetch me a rock.

Lindsey #2:
There was was a gal in need.
in need of some colorful bead.
 but when she found none
she cried quite a ton
for she was in need of bead.

Lindsey #3:
I once happened to cross
 my very old boss.
and when he saw me
he cried "hee hee hee!"
as he walked across the moss

I like this one. I might say "my very, very old boss" just for the meter, though.

Lindsey #4:
There once was a young man,
who had a splendid tan
yellin' as he walked "look at me!
I'm a better then all ya'll!"
That prideful man, with the splendid tan.

This could be another limerick-collection limerick, except that the fourth line doesn't rhyme. But the idea is perfect. Whoa! Two more from Stephanie:

Stephanie #9:

My life is not a mess;
Although, it's quite a stress.
I cannot say,
So go your way.
I'm going to make a dress.

Stephanie #10:
Happy birthday Jana!
I like your pink bandanna!
You are so sweet,
Please eat a treat.
Enjoy your birthday Jana!

And one final entry from Christine:

A chocolate chip cookie is great
and ice cream with cake add some weight
A pie makes me smile
But once in a while
Mint Brownie's preferred on my plate!

Oh, I got that message loud and clear! And it was funny, too! Can you believe all these limericks? We could write a book! And it was a tough choice. Honorable mention must go to Christine, for the sisters who sang like the goat. Honorable mention to Becky for the arrogant jockey. Honorable mention to Stephanie for the tissue issue. Honorable mention to Brandon for the non-stinking limerick. And Honorable Mention to Lindsey for the very old boss, and the prideful man with the tan [just fix up that rhyme ;-)!] It was a tough decision, but I finally had to go with the one that honestly did make me laugh out loud. So the prize for first place in the 2011 Loralee's Fancy Poetry Contest, in the "everyone else" division goes to Jason for the hungry sailors!

Some seventy sailors at noon

Each had in their hand, a spoon.

"Give us food!" they cried,

 But the cook denied,

And soon found himself a maroon.

(Wild applause here)

I only had two contestants in the children's division; and that was a really tough decision for a mom to make. Rachel definitely gets Honorable Mention for her poems; but since she didn't quite follow the rules of a limerick, I chose Kaylie's Rapunzel limerick:

Rapunzel dear, now listen here!

Why is your hair so tangled dear?

Tangles everywhere!

 Don't you brush your hair?

Brush your hair for goodness' sake dear!

(More wild applause here)

Jason and Kaylie will be receiving their treats and their certificates within the next couple of days. And their limericks will be posted in my sidebar.

Thank you all for playing with me!

Crazy-Busy!

School is keeping me extremely busy right now. Every week I make a new pattern of some kind—right now we are working on sleeves, so I make two different sleeves and a bodice to put them on—and then I have to cut them out of muslin and sew them all together. Yes, I do something like this every week for this class. I'm working on a jacket for Adv. Sew, my coat for Tailoring, and three more patterns for Pattern by Measurement. The P by M patterns are finally drawn; now I have to cut them from lovely fabrics and make them to fit me (and hope that they really look nice enough to wear).

Plus all my school and all the kids' school entails a lot of running around, and our van has been out of commission for three weeks. Ben and Tami have been far, far more than extremely generous and kind to us, and have let us use their van all this time. (I think a catered dinner with a lovely dessert is in order for them.) Hopefully our van will be out of the shop tonight—or tomorrow morning.

On top of all that, we have BIG family things in the works that are . . . a little stressful. But I'm not ready to divulge more than that right now. It's just that things here are crazy, crazy-busy!

p.s. Send me a poem for my contest! I could use the break. ;-)

2011 Poetry Contest!

Well, it's just around the corner: April—National Poetry Month—which means that it's time for Loralee's Fancy Poetry Contest! Aren't you so excited?

This year's contest is to write a limerick. I love limericks—they are so silly!

For those who may not remember this from high school English class, a limerick is a poem with five lines: lines one, two and five rhyme with each other; and lines three and four rhyme with each other, but not with lines one, two and five. Here is a classic example:

There was an old man of Blackheath
Who sat on his set of false teeth.
Said he, with a start,
"Oh, Lord, bless my heart!
I've bitten myself underneath!"

The meter (the way it sounds) is usually something like this:

Ta-TUM ta-ta-TUM ta-ta-TUM
Ta-TUM ta-ta-TUM ta-ta-TUM
De-DAH dee-dee-DAH
De-DAH dee-dee-DAH
Ta-TUM ta-ta-TUM ta-ta-TUM

(If you read a limerick out loud, you'll hear how it should sound.) Here's another example:

There was an old man of Ibreem
Who suddenly threatened to scream.
But they said, "If you do
We will thump you quite blue,
You disgusting old man of Ibreem."

As you can see, limericks are also rather ridiculous.

So here's the contest: Write a clever limerick.

The contest will run for two weeks, from today, March 30 to Saturday, April 16.

• You can post your poetic entries as comments to any of my posts between now and April 16.
• Participants may enter as many poems as they want to write—BUT children do read and participate on my blog—please keep this in mind, as you create!
• Poems will be judged on rhyme, meter, and overall silliness.
• There will be one winner in each of two categories: Children (up to 12 years old), and Everyone Else (older than 12)
• The winners will be posted on Sunday, April 17.
• The winner of the Children's Division will receive a Loralee's Fancy Poetry Contest certificate, their poem will be posted in the sidebar as the poem of the week, and they will receive their choice of a large package of M&M's or a large package of Skittles! *
• The winner of the Everyone Else Division will receive a Loralee's Fancy Poetry Contest certificate, their poem will be posted in the sidebar as the poem of the week, and they will receive their choice of either Decadent Mint Brownies or a Strawberry Bouquet! *

*Winners who live more than 25 miles from Salt Lake City will receive a Loralee's Fancy Poetry Contest certificate and a package of M&M's or Skittles, plus the recipe for the mint brownies (and I don't just pass that around to anyone!). ;-)

So wax poetic; be clever; get silly! And good luck! ;-)

(To see past winners, click here (2009) and here (2010).