Well, this morning I got some intriguing spam from a poetry website. I could win $1000 for my poem of twenty lines of less! So I rushed to write and submit a memorable, dramatic, heroic, atmospheric ballad in the style of Kipling or Service.

But then--much to my lack of surprise--I went to the website and found that, in a random sampling of ten past winners, not ONE rhymed! So, as I figure it, my entry doesn't have a chance. So here you go.



The Pannies' Last Stand

In darkest Bularunga
When the Pannies held the town,
A canny Panny Captain
Scrawled this little ditty down.

Twenty lines or less,
Twenty lines or less,
He had to write a poem spanning
Twenty lines or less.

He could've written free verse
In a half--a third--the time;
But Discipline demanded
That he make the blighter rhyme.

Twenty lines or less,
Twenty lines or less,
He had to write a poem spanning
Twenty lines or less.

The city fell that evening;
With it came the Pannies' fall.
They left only this poem.
God have mercy on them all!