[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).