[Roger Slater]

I received an honorable mention in the Washington Post Style Invitational contest seeking limericks defining words beginning with certain letters. The new contest also calls for verse, so I thought people here might have fun with it. Here it is.

In a nutshell, the assignment is to "Write a humorous poem — choose your form — about the Virginia earthquake, Hurricane Irene or another well-known natural event."

The deadline is September 12, so get cracking.

PS-- My HM limerick is online and in the paper, I think. I also had an "unprintable" that is only online, here. (Among the winners, you will also recognize Mae Scanlan and Ed Conti, among others. Also, two titans of magazine competitions, the American Bii & Bazza, are Chris Doyle and Brendan Beary, whose limericks are in a class of their own. Chris dominated the New York Magazine weekly comp for many years, and currently has over 5,000 limericks in the OEDILF).

[Chris O'Carroll]

"Fabulous!" he ejaculated. "Congratulations!"

[FOsen]

Neat - congratulations, Raj. I got on their email list, but haven't been able to get into the rhythm of this one yet.

Frank

[John Whitworth]

Thanks for that Frank. Does Global Warming (assuming that, like God, it exists) count as a disaster, do you think?

[Roger Slater]

It's hard to believe the Washington Post would print poems making humor out of Katrina or the Japanese Tusamie, so a delicate hand is probably called for. Global Warming sounds like a safe topic, John, since, though the entire planet may be wiped out because of it, no one has yet to say, "Hey, don't make fun! My parents died in Global Warming!"

[John Whitworth]

Isn't the entire planet going a bit strong? I thought that was what happened when the asteroid hit us. Except that we had Morgan Freeman for President, so it was all right.

Bloody cold here, mate. You just wouldn't believe. I saw a mammoth on the horizon, I swear. Though it could have been my mother-in-law in a fur coat.