A Limerick Competition

Have you ever had one of those days/weeks/month when nothing seems to go right. Yea, well that's been me for the past couple of years. OK, some things have worked out but every now and then I find that something has simply not worked out. Maybe I am becoming paranoid, I don't know but that's the way I feel.

Here's one very tiny and insignificant example.

Last week I bought a writing magazine, yes I do spend money on real printed magazines. Somewhere in that mag was notice of a limerick competition. It was from somewhere in Ireland (the five line poem called a Limerick is named after the town of the same name) and offered a small monetary prize for a Limerick using part of your address as the last word in the first line. As you are most likely aware, a limerick is a five line poem with a rhyming scheme of AABBA. This means that the address (part) sets the scene, as it were, for the poem. Now, my address offered a number of poor choices; I could have used a nnumber of things such as the road name, area, town, county even the country but I was not impressed by the scope offered by any of them.

Eventually, I thought that I had an idea which allowed me to overcome my doubts. I used the technique of enjambment, running the first line across to the second. This allowed me to use the two word name of the county I lived in, the West Midlands. I was rather doubtful that it would be allowed by the judges but at least it was a possibility and got me started.

A house with a mouse - by John Dyhouse

There was a young man of the West
Midlands, in fact; lived in a palatial nest
He had a fine house
with its very own mouse
but oh, what a terrible pest.

The only problem is that I was unable to find the reference to the competition in the magazine, which was in fact Writing Magazine ,  I could not even find it on their web site, so despite now having several limericks to choose from, I no longer have the details to send in my entry.

No I know it isn't the end of the world (I did say it was small and insignificant) and I will be searching very carefully to find it again but that  sums up what has been happening so many frustrations and issues have been dogging the family. But I am a half-full person so will continue to be optimistic. I have no doubt that it is in that magazine and so am sure that another page by page review will unearth it soon.

I will post a couple more of the limericks in my next post.