New Poetry Competition

The problem, of course, is that I do not know enough about poetry. 

I do have a 45 year old ‘A’ Higher pass in English but we State school Jocks never got the chance or time to do both Literature and Language seperatim so I’m a bit challenged when it comes to metre and form. I can anapaest onwards from time to time and I have never been averse to the odd spondee but I do know my limitations.

So, this month, we’re talking doggerel. A family tradition. I grew up with my mother, father and sister composing doggerel on all possible occasions and I learned to join in. 

Some people claim that doggerel is ‘a low, or trivial, form of verse, loosely constructed and often irregular, but effective because of its simple mnemonic rhyme and loping metre. 
It appears in most literatures and societies as a useful form for comedy and satire. It is characteristic 
of children’s rhymes from ancient times to the present and of most nursery rhymes.’

They could, of course, be right, 

But, doggerel has brought me joy over the years. William Topaz Mcgonagall:-

‘Of all the cities in the world, Edinburgh for me;
For no matter where I look, some lovely spot I see;
And for picturesque scenery unrivalled you do stand.
Therefore I pronounce you to be the Pride of Fair Scotland.’

More seriously, my favourite poet from boyhood, Ogden Nash:-

‘TABLEAU AT TWILIGHT

I sit in the dusk, I am all alone.
Enter a child and an ice cream cone.

A parent is easily beguiled
By sight of this coniferous child.

The friendly embers warmer gleam,
The cone begins to drip ice cream.

Cones are composed of many a vitamin.
My lap is not the place to bitamin.

Although my raiment is not chinchilla,
I flinch to see it become vanilla.

Coniferous child, when vanilla melts
I’d rather it melted somewhere else.

Exit child with remains of cone.
I sit in the dusk. I am all alone,

Muttering spells like an angry Druid,
Alone, in the dusk, with the cleaning fluid.’