Update: Winners announced: https://classicalpoets.org/shortest-poem-contest-winners-announced/\
Scroll down and read the comments section to enjoy all of the submissions.
Write the shortest possible rhyming poem that still has meaning. Post it in the comments section below under your full name and general area of residence (“Bob Smith, Denver, Colorado”). You may choose any topic, but please be respectful and no dirty humor. Two entries allowed per poet.
When: Now June 9, 2018 midnight EST. Winner Announced June 18, 2018.
Who: Anyone in the world, any age or background, may participate. From within the Society, anyone not involved in judging the contest may participate.
Prize: $100
Judge: Advisory Board Members who choose to participate
Entry Fee: None
Examples: Our first example comes from Joe Tessitore of New York City, New York, who came up with this contest. Thank you, Joe!
Cooperation
One ant can’t.
A classic example comes from Strickland Gillilan (1869-1954). It has also been published under the name “Fleas”:
Lines on the Antiquity of Microbes
Adam
Had’em
Zachary Dilks, Austin TX
She left, bereft
Zachary Dilks, Austin TX
“Love Through The Ages”
She left, bereft
Bruce Deckert — Greater Hartford, Connecticut
#1
Wise Career Advice to LeBron James When He Was a High School Senior
Go pro!
#2
Jeopardy Redux: Alex, “How Am I Able to See?” for $1,000
My eye.
“Political Season”
Lavish Lies Loom
The Proper Response to Offers of Government Assistance
Oh
no!
Michael R. Burch, Nashville, TN
Highly Condensed Version of the Declaration of Independence
Be
Free
Michael R. Burch, Nashville, TN
Hello sir Michael!
How beautiful your penning I can’t quantify quintessential quality of a quite quiet quick pen. I doff my hat here at all times.
I can’t appreciate you enough of which I got the improvement I sought for in my writing, the training, you took me through on Facebook, awesome you! My account was later finally blocked by Mark Zukerberg and the Facebook team on those two pieces, poems, I posted with the writing learning codes, “L002AD” and “L003AE”, titled, “Questions to Facebook” and “Sometimes Facebook”.
Thanks a bunch,
sir Michael Burch.
Lawal Jimoh,
Lagos, Nigeria.
One Thing People Hate to Admit.
Yvette Beshier, East Orange, New Jersey
I
lie.
To rhyme thy writ!
Search where my wit?
It’s all in whits…
oh how to knit?
Seafood Festival Fun
Yvette Beshier, East Orange, New Jersey
Grab, crab.
Old Age
What seasons doth a life gone past?
As ventures! do they show,
A body aged, and wisest cast,
Into an embers glow.
Past Tomorrows
Past tomorrows, come and stay,
Timed pressed presents, gifts today,
Passing backwards, thoughts that say,
Gentle times, now gone a way.
David Hollywood, presently: Villars – sur – Ollon, Switzerland
Carole Mertz lives in Parma, Ohio.
Title: To the Progeny of a Bi-racial Marriage
Transcend the blend
Carole Mertz of Parma, Ohio
Fatigued by a Loquacious Friend
Gab, grab cab
Knowledge
I was born, that’s it.
I learned how to spit.
David Paul Behrens
La Verne, CA
A Rhyme For Orange
I tore my pants upon the door hinge
As I walked outside to pick an orange.
~ Oregon State, US ~
—
[Broken Trust]
You lied… I cried,
then died inside.
—
[Clarity]
For disambiguation,
just eschew obfuscation.
—
Abate hate.
Fame came.
(Survival)
Seeds feed needs.
(Freedom)
Uncaged bird;
Music heard.
Fremont, CA
Transcendental
Thoreau
Wrote slow.
Self-reliant
That Ralph
Was top-shelf.
Amy Foreman of Cascabel, Arizona
Short Poem Rules
This sort
Of sport
Is short.
Don’t snort.
My song,
So strong,
Not wrong,
Or long,
Is brief
Relief,
A chief
Motif
That’s small,
Withal,
To all
Enthrall.
Amy Foreman of Cascabel, Arizona
A Parent’s Advice on Winning:
To my children, on winning:
Don’t shun
The one
Outdone,
My son.
Unintentional poems I have actually seen.
A sign in Logan, Utah:
City Center
Parking Enter
A postage cancellation mark from South Australia
Postage Paid
Adelaide
Romantic Summary
When you approach my frequency ascends,
When you depart it falls and slowly ends.
Give.
Live.
Title : Life’s Secret
Hibah Shabkhez, Paris, France
Title : Torsade
Crust kist
Chocolate twist
Come enthrall
Us all
Overheard at Ballet Class
“Pirouette?”
“No, yet!”
Oops, Joe Tessitore, New York, New York
fabric hate
fabricated
yam
yum
fabric hate
fabricated
yam yum
sending again…left out place South Africa