Roger, "Great" idea. Thanks.
Mine is a recycled and unaltered Oldie reject from several years ago. So It may well meet the same fate this time.
But maybe not, since my recent Lit. Rev. success was only a slight adjustment to a recently unsuccessful Spectator entry. So there is sometimes life after death.
The recycling gurus would be annoyingly pleased with me at any rate.

Martin, you didn't need to double up lines since you had only 15 lines anyway. Not that it looks bad that way, mind you. But you do have a choice.

Roger, I am shamelessly following your lead for this Comp. not only by adding "great" but also by reducing two limerick lines to one. I always hope that some people will write in hexameters, or more, and thus use up more than 16 lines on the page -- so leaving room for "perfectly formed" small ones !
I am frequently right about the longer-winded entries but less often correct with the second part of my theory. Alas!

OK. I'll do that too.


The Picture of Dorian Gray

Lord Henry Wotton says pleasure
Is a thing to enjoy without measure.
And there isn’t much doubt what he’s talking about
Is the joy of a boy for your leisure.

Basil Hallward, the painter, is gay,
(Most of Lord Henry’s friends are that way),
And he’s pissing his pants for a chance at romance
With a honey called Dorian Gray.

This Dorian’s helluva hot
For a spell in the sack, and why not?
Added to which, the sonovabitch
Doesn’t age – not a tittle or jot.

Yes, the sheen on his skin is as soft
As a baby’s behind . Has he quaffed
Any magical fixers? His secret elixir’s
The portrait he keeps in his loft.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

When Raskolnikov rashly enacts
A murderous plan with his axe
And kills an old lady who's worthless and shady,
He finds that he cannot relax.

His conscience begins to assail him.
His poise and sang-froid start to fail him.
Detective Porfiry develops a theory.
The right one. But how can he nail him?

It's clear to him how big a mess is
The mind of the boy that he guesses
Committed the crime, and so, over time,
He questions him -- till he confesses.

Raskolnikov's off to Siberia
Where weirdly enough he grows cheerier
And changes his ways, finding punishment pays
More than crime, which he learns is inferior.