Hi Jayne, I just want to say thanks for both the contest and the welcome. I like this kind of challenge, where you have to work with certain words or constraints. In fact, I would love to see what people here could do with David Bowie's 42 words. That might be really fun!

Sue

Hi Sue,

I can't take the credit for the contest, only for posting it here, along with the results each month; The Oldie is a great publication that's been around for over 20 years and I subscribe to it.

If you haven't seen it and would like a copy, PM me with your postal address and I'll send you a recent issue as I keep them to pass on. (That goes for others, btw, ...as long as I'm not inundated! ;))

I had to Google David Bowie's 42 words as I missed that story, but it could become another D & A thread sometime.

Jayne

I always struggle with this comp although I reckon this is my best crack at it so far. The rhymes do kind of insist on a booze theme. Should 'Beaujolais' be capitalised?

If you ask me, I reckon it’s a shame
That temperance is championed today:
A glass of Vimto’s simply not the same
As sipping on a vintage Beaujolais,
And tonic water minus any gin
Is not a drink a drinker suffers twice:
A virgin mary’s miserable as sin
(No vodka, which exacts a heavy price.)
It’s rum to have a rumless rum and Coke,
So see the barman slips a tot in first.
A bloke who’s on the wagon’s not a bloke;
A proper man displays a proper thirst.
Don’t doubt me, pal, I’m totally sincere:
I’ll punch you if you order ginger beer.

That's why I was a bit dubious in post no.1, Rob, about finding enough different 'takes' on it - though Brian's managed some original ways in which to do just that!

Yes, I copied it faithfully from the magazine.

Jayne

Hi Jayne, I'm sorry you had to google up those words, but they do make a great list for the purposes of poetry. I wasn't really thinking of them in terms of end rhymes necessarily, though; more in the line of how many you could use and still have a great poem.

Bowie provided the list to novelist Ricky Moody in 2011 as his response to a request for a way to understand the lexicon of his latest album at the time, called "The Next Day."

The reason I didn't post the link is that I'm not sure if that is one of my posting privileges yet, posting links and images, that sort of thing.

And yes, I hope it does become another challenge in some form here.

Thanks,
Sue

To patronize a hooker's not a shame;
I met a dark eyed hottie just today.
Our views upon this subject were the same;
She claimed she was the toast of Beaujolais.

We both got likkered up on bootleg gin,
And then we reached agreement on her price.
Ignoring consequenses of my sin,
Each orifice of her I serviced twice.

Alas, she slipped a Mickey in my Coke
And robbed me; I was clearly not her first.
Now I'm a poorer but a wiser bloke
Who can't afford a drop to quench my thirst.

My testimony, brother, is sincere;
Steer clear of whores and gin, and stick to beer.

It is one of Wendy's Jason Strugnell Sonnets. Of course the problem in one of Register. You're going to find it hard to write a Miltonic Sonnet with some of these words.

My solution (as bloody usual), like Douglas's, is to opt for filth. Wendy is never filthy. I have two versions, an octosyllabic and a pentameter. The Octosyllabic gives a rather telegram like effect (if you are old enough to remember telegrams?). So how about this? Quotations in the first and last lines from popular song.

Sweet Jesus, ain’t it just a blooming shame –
What price Morality or Faith today?
Papist or Protestant, it’s all the same.
Our local vicar’s pissed on Beaujolais.
Our prettiest choirboy’s pissed on strawberry gin.
I’ve had that little angel once or twice.
His body is as silky smooth as sin,
And really quite competitively priced,
At just enough to stuff his nose with Coke.
It’s bad I know, but, hell, I’m not the first.
Then there’s his sister – why there’s scarce a bloke
Who wouldn’t wish to quench his sexual thirst.
She’s sensual and consensual and sincere,
And does it for a sandwich and a beer.

John,

Filth, you say? But my narrator sees the error of his ways, and offers a moral concluding couplet. And "service" is a perfectly proper agricultural word.

Oh, may we see your Octosyllabic version?

Since you ask, Douglas. Since you ask. And what is wrong with filth in poems, pray. Rochester was a horrible man but he wrote a neat line in filthy poetry.

Lord, ain’t it all a blooming shame?
Religion’s gone to pot today.
Papist or Prot, It’s just the same.
The Vicar’s pissed on Beaujolais
The prettiest choirboy’s pissed on gin.
I’ve had the angel once or twice.
His body, though as sweet as sin,
Is quite competitively priced,
Enough to stuff his nose with Coke.
It’s bad but I was not the first.
He’s got a sister any bloke
Wishes would quench his sexual thirst.
Sensual, consensual and sincere,
She beats a sandwich and a beer.

I regret the loss of my last line.

Oh - have your last line back, John.

"Yours for a sandwich and a beer."

- and a word in Rochester's favour, his best were not always his grubbiest.