Doggerel Sled Racing -- the Contestants

Take a gander at these, and then vote for your favorite in our sidebar poll. Polling will remain open until just before Closing Ceremonies.

Entry #1: Not Quite Haiku

A squall line of panic ushered in the winter storm.


Entry #2: Not Quite a Limerick

There once was a writer named Chance,
Who worked hard on her ‘I’m gonna be published’ dance.
She donned her best pearls,
And perfected her twirls,
But her prose, she gave not a glance.

Until, one fateful day,
A friend stopped by to say,
How goes the romance you have penned?
Did you to a publisher send?
To her horror and dismay,
She realized she’d gone astray!

Back to the drawing board she fled,
Her egocentric manner, did she shed.
It might have taken months to do,
But now she truly could pursue,
Her steamy romance to be read.
By some disapproving egghead!


Entry #3: Not Quite an Ode on a Grecian Game

The Olympics awaited!
Susanna rejoiced in her chair,
her breath was bated,
her nervous fingers sought her hair.

Would this be the year
her beloved sport of Snowball Fight
would on TV appear?
It might, it just very well might.

There it was - on TV!
A tie score, to the death, in overtime.
The Finals! Oh squee!
Any more excitement would be a crime.

But then, just as the players took their positions,
they interrupted the game
to show a tale of surviving an inquisition,
the survivor - a player they named.

Susanna threw the remote!
Who cares about this story of woe?
Fury from her eyes did smote.
For god's sake, get on with the show!

She stood up and swore:
Never again!
Passages of backstory are no more!
Never again!

I will stop my plot for exposition,
never again!
I have learned my lesson for fiction!
Never again!


Entry #4: Not-Quite-Heroic Quatrains

I'm really supposed to be writing
but you know, I have all day.
Reading blogs is so inviting
I'll pass just an hour this way.

I'm really supposed to be writing
but it's almost time for lunch!
and February cold is so biting
I *need* something to munch!

I'm really supposed to be writing
but it's so very hard to think.
Maybe if I try handwriting...
once I find just the right shade of ink.

I definitely need to start writing,
I shouldn't procrastinate
but Twitter just got exciting
Neil Gaiman's posting what he ate.

I meant to do lots of writing:
navigate storylines uncharted.
But blank pages are so uninviting,
I'm not sure how to get started.

Tomorrow I'll do lots of writing
I promise I mean it this time
My words will all be delighting
despite the evidence of this rhyme.