[Melissa Balmain]

Hi Tony,
I hope you'll consider submitting those sonnets for consideration elsewhere in the issue. Here's the link to our submissions system & guidelines: https://lightpoetrymagazine.submitta...it/18417/poems
Cheers,
Melissa

[John (J.D.) Smith]

If that's a challenge, I'm on it.

[John Whitworth]

Chop 'em up, Tony. Chop 'em up.

Have I really never written any of these? I must have done.

The Woes of Ganymede

i.
I am a catamite of Jove's.
He likes me best wivout me cloves.
He likes me lithe. He likes me lissom.
He likes ter grab me balls ter kiss 'em.
He likes ter grab me balls ter bite 'em.
That's why we first became an item.

ii.
At dinnertime, before we dish up,
He doesn't want ter bash the bishop.
He wants me prone wivout a stitch on,
up on the table in the the kitchen
And sets up such a frantic rhythm.
I can't say no or reason with 'im.

Is that the sort of thing, Melissa?

[Melissa Balmain]

Great to see you getting into the spirit, John! Yes, that's the sort of thing, though for this section, we're looking for poems no longer than six lines. (You could always submit longer ones for other parts of the magazine, though...)

[Michael Juster]

If you're stuck, I've just posted on Twitter (@amjuster) a short piece on the verb "hirple." Hirple on!

[Susan McLean]

I don't know whether you are familiar with the George Starbuck poem below, which demonstrates how it can be done, but keep in mind whether you are inspired or intimidated by seeing something done well. You can't unsee it once you have seen it.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poe...s/detail/47050

Susan

[John Whitworth]

The Woes of Ganymede

I am a catamite of Jove's.
He likes me best wivout me cloves.
He likes me lithe. He likes me lissom.
He likes ter grab me balls ter kiss 'em.
He likes ter grab me balls ter bite 'em.
That's why we first became an item.

[John Whitworth]

The Further Woes of Ganymede

At dinnertime, before we dish up,
He doesn't want ter bash the bishop.
He wants me prone wivout a stitch on,
up on the table in the the kitchen
And sets up such a frantic rhythm.
I can't say no or reason with 'im.

[Martin Parker]

I suspect that the application of five minutes average ingenuity will produce rhymes for any so-called impossible words; and that this challenge should only prove difficult if more than three lines are asked to carry the same rhyme from start to end of the piece. (Thus, a two-line "purple" piece easy, a six-liner worthy of the Sphere -- and of Light.)

What, for technophobes like me, seems really challenging is fathoming how to cope with Light's submissions procedure!

So count me out on this edition as well!

[Roger Slater]

Martin, I agree that fashioning a rhyme for any of these words is not terribly difficult. I dashed off a dozen in very short order. But then it occurred to me that Melissa is probably also looking for those rhymes to be contained in a verse that is also funny apart from the magic of the unlikely rhyme, which led to my ditching at least ten of my first dozen and starting over.

But I don't see what's hard about the submission process. Put your poems into a single file and attach it. Don't identify yourself in the file, though, but only do so in the comment section. It's as easy as sending an email with a file attachment, something you do all the time.