Just noticed this thread, and thought I should mention that the guy who runs A Word A Day is not a poet -- he's actually a computer programmer who also happens to be a logophile, and the words he sends out (you can see the archives here) usually have nothing to do with poetry. So if you're puzzled by his picks (doggerel, for instance, or the examples of centos he provides), just keep in mind that he's just a word-lover writing to other word-lovers, and not a poet making poetically astute selections. Ditto for any contest entries you send in -- it's probably not a good idea to send things that are highly literary or allusive or formally intricate or whatever. My suggestion would be to send material that would appeal to a highly intelligent lay reader who might not be well versed in poetry.

With that caveat out of the way, I do hope some Sphereans manage to snag a T-shirt or a book. Good luck!

Nausheen

That's the sort of stuff I write anyway. I didn't send a very filthy limerick involving a wolf-cub and Akela. Probably just as well. I think literary people are much more dirty-minded than computer programmers.

John, I am both a "literary person" and a computer programmer, and I can assure you that the eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, a filthier mind than mine.

But, Brian, it is your literary side which wallows in filth. Here are the rhymes of the disgusting limerick. It is easily reconstructed.

sixer,
prick, sir,
bum.
come.
thick, sir

Meanwhile I am off to pray.

John and Gail, I'm chuffed by your more than kind words about Shot Silk. Many thanks!

And these threads are always a cool respite from serious poems--John and Brian funny as owls with swivel heads who do *not* puncture people with their claws (recent news of owl attacks)! I can't find a word for stinging or shadowy light verse either (satire only works for satire, obvs), but "light" doesn't always apply.