[John Whitworth]

Jayne, you are a lady and a scholar. My old boss got a degree by reading the reviews and not the books.

[Jayne Osborn]

Why, thank you kind Sir. I hope someone takes me up on my offer.

I was never in the Brownies; never knew what it was to get a badge for making a cup of tea or posting a letter for someone, or even for doing something dramatic like administering First Aid, but now's my chance to get some grown-up "Brownie points."

[Roger Slater]

Originally Posted by Brian Allgar

Errr ... Roger, did you read my post no. 21 above?

No, I hadn't. Oops.

[Jerome Betts]

So after the good news back to the nonsense, inspired by the gleam of cashos rather than kudos . . .

Gigantic sloths employ prehensile knees
In random walks on Galton-Watson trees,
Their biased motion not entirely Brownian,
Inverted,, topsy-turvy, upside-downian . . .

Er . . . sense is a lot easier.

[Brian Allgar]

Jayne, I should be delighted to take you up on your kind offer to pass on a copy of the LitRev, if only to make the closer acquaintance, albeit on paper, of those people who so unaccountably persist in ignoring my entries.

Jerome, they're asking for Nonsense Verse, but I don't think that means that it has to be nonsensical. After all, 'The Walrus and the Carpenter' tells a perfectly coherent story - on its own terms.

[Roger Slater]

A bear, a dog, a cub, a pup,
an eagle and a bat,
were playing tennis in a cup
inside a floppy hat

an elephant whose name was Dale
had balanced on his head
while spinning on a pointy tail
of which his mother said

there was no cuter tail, bar none,
at least upon the earth,
and yet, when all is said and done,
what's mom's opinion worth?

But I digress. One night a song
that had no words or tune
decided Dale and friends were wrong
about the crescent moon

and so it shed its silent note
and filled the eager air.
Now Dale is standing on a boat
and mooning for a chair.

[William A. Baurle]

The best writer of nonsense verse is the one who's tricked nearly everyone (John Cleese voice: well alright, not really nearly everyone...) into thinking he's writing non-nonsense verse:

John Ashbery.

[Jayne Osborn]

Just a little friendly reminder, Williamb, that this contest is for 24 lines or fewer of nonsense verse. They also have to rhyme and scan, so the above wouldn't qualify, sorry.

Jayne

[William A. Baurle]

Originally Posted by Jayne Osborn

Just a little friendly reminder, Williamb, that this contest is for 24 lines or fewer of nonsense verse. They also have to rhyme and scan, so the above wouldn't qualify, sorry.

Jayne

Thanks, Jayne, I was just giving my example of the kind of thing John Ashbery does, a kind of nonsense verse.

I've never submitted a poem to a contest. Not my cup o' tea.

[Jayne Osborn]

Maybe you should give it a go; you've got nothing to lose and a possible 300 quid to gain!

(If you wander into these parts you've gotta at least expect to be encouraged to enter the comps, by a D & A mod, Williamb )

Jayne