[Roger Slater]

The Record (Floyd Patterson)

No one else was knocked down more,
... yet Patterson could boast:
"In all of fighting history
... I've gotten up the most."

[Leslie Perkins]

E. E. Cummings

A man of letters (mostly small),
his syntax choicely blunder-full,
his punctuation often marked,
his poems muddle-wonderful.

[Michael Cantor]

....A Redeeming Aspect
of George Armstrong Custer

George loved to wear a uniform
and strut and prance with pride;
he rashly led men to their doom
(but fought there by their side.)




[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited May 31, 2006).]

[R E Bolick]

Jan Hodge scores another with Margaret Sanger. Oops, poor choice of words.

And a KO for Roger with Floyd Patterson.

welcome Leslie and e.e. cummings. My recollection is his punctuation was mostly parentheses, dashes, quotation marks, and the occasional period (full stop) at the end of stanza. So I'm unclear about L3. A bit of tweaking there?

Michael, Welcome, to Quatrain Island! Do I hear the strains of the ballad Garryowen? Should L4 be "but fought there by their side"?


Latest summary of rules:

Must be a deceased American of note.
No more blazers of the Cumberland Gap (Boone)
No more exterminators cum naturalists (Audubon)
No more Vice Presidents who never became President (Agnew)
No more Presidents who were generals with wooden teeth (Washington)
No more father-son President combos (Adamses)
No more South Carolinians (F. Marion)
No more early talkies stars (W.C. Fields)
No more Sixties pop stars (Tiny Tim)
No more cannibals (Alferd Packer)
No more clothing merchants. (Levis, sorry, Wanamaker, Macy, and Roebuck)
No more Vermont poets who couldn't decide between fire and ice (R. Frost)
No more beer brewers (J. Griesedieck)
No more White Mountain painters whose name begins with a "B" (A. Bierstadt, that leaves Thomas Cole et al.)
No more Afro-American female civil rights figures
No more suffragettes who made it onto coins (S.B. Anthony)
No more Texans who ran and lost as VP candidate (L. Bentsen)
No more leading female proponents of birth control (Sanger)
No more boxers who knocked out Archie Moore (Patterson)
No more lowercase poets (cummings)
No more generals from Michigan (Custer)


Relatives by blood or marriage of previously accepted figures are allowed.
No changes to the subject of previous submissions.
Edits to meter, rhyme, diction, and punctuation allowed.
Multiple submissions allowed.

ToC so far:

Adams, J.J. & Adams, J.Q.
Agnew, S.
Anthony, Susan B.
Audubon, J.J.
Bentsen, Lloyd
Bierstadt, A
Boone, D.
cummings, e.e.
Custer, G.A.
Fields, W.C.
Frost, R.
Griesedieck, J.
Khaury, Herbert Buckingham (aka Tiny Tim; tentative)
Marion, Francis
Packer, Alferd (ranked funniest so far)
Parks, Rosa
Patterson, Floyd
Sanger, Margaret
Strauss brothers (Levis, not waltzes)
Washington, George

[Jan D. Hodge]

But She Wasn't from Texas*

When Mondale chose as running mate
Geraldine Ferraro,**
the voters didn't take the bait.
Oh well, there's still tomorrow.


*Excluded are "<u>Texans</u> who ran and lost as VP candidates"
**I know, she's still alive (at 71), but who's heard of her during the last 15 years?

[This message has been edited by Jan D. Hodge (edited May 31, 2006).]

[Michael Cantor]

America Honors Joe Louis

Punch-drunk and broke, a "greeter" now,
and told just where to stand;
so Vegas tourists could brag how
they shook a champion's hand.


BobB - took your advice on Custer L4 - thanks.



[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited May 31, 2006).]

[grasshopper]

Oh well, thanks for restricting it to Americans...

Hollywood History

Big John Wayne smashed the Nazi hordes
and John Wayne beat the Japs--
'cos all the other Allied troops
were bloody useless chaps.

Regards, Maz

[Henry Quince]

“Well, how duh ya do, little lady?”

He railed at the “cowards” who dodged Vietnam,
and he bitched at Hanoi Jane,
whose father had served in World War Two,
unlike himself — John Wayne.


Edited later to say whoops — strange coincidence! I crossposted with Maz and have only just noticed.

[This message has been edited by Henry Quince (edited June 01, 2006).]

[Mary Meriam]

.

[This message has been edited by Mary Meriam (edited November 23, 2006).]

[R E Bolick]

But, Jan, I voted for Geraldine Ferraro; I can't stick her in a list of dead people! It's a good one, though.

Michael, heartwrenching. Another ironic title for you to consider, but yours is good: "The Brown Bomber's Hands"

Maz! Henry! You've proven that "John Wayne" is THE most common name when the rest of the world plays word association games and someone says, "USA." The judges are so taken with both, they have handed down a new rule: Two quatrains on the same subject will be allowed if submitted by outislanders within 20 minutes of each other.

And Maz, as soon as we hit 50 Yanks, the Brits are next.

All, note acknowledgement to William Baer in first posting.

Latest summary of rules:

Must be a deceased American of note.
No more blazers of the Cumberland Gap (Boone)
No more exterminators cum naturalists (Audubon)
No more Vice Presidents who never became President (Agnew)
No more Presidents who were generals with wooden teeth (Washington)
No more father-son President combos (Adamses)
No more South Carolinians (F. Marion)
No more early talkies stars (W.C. Fields)
No more Sixties pop stars (Tiny Tim)
No more cannibals (Alferd Packer)
No more clothing merchants. (Levis, sorry, Wanamaker, Macy, and Roebuck)
No more Vermont poets who couldn't decide between fire and ice (R. Frost)
No more beer brewers (J. Griesedieck)
No more White Mountain painters whose name begins with a "B" (A. Bierstadt, that leaves Thomas Cole et al.)
No more Afro-American female civil rights figures
No more suffragettes who made it onto coins (S.B. Anthony)
No more Texans who ran and lost as VP candidate (L. Bentsen)
No more leading female proponents of birth control (Sanger)
No more boxers who knocked out Archie Moore (Patterson)
No more boxers from Alabama (Louis)
No more lowercase poets (cummings)
No more generals from Michigan (Custer)
No more actors whose real name was Marion (Wayne)

Relatives by blood or marriage of previously accepted figures are allowed.
No changes to the subject of previous submissions.
Edits to meter, rhyme, diction, and punctuation allowed.
Multiple submissions allowed.
Two quatrains on the same subject will be allowed if submitted by outislanders within 20 minutes of each other.

ToC so far:

Adams, J.J. & Adams, J.Q.
Agnew, S.
Anthony, Susan B.
Audubon, J.J.
Bentsen, Lloyd
Bierstadt, A
Boone, D.
cummings, e.e.
Custer, G.A.
Fields, W.C.
Frost, R.
Griesedieck, J.
Khaury, Herbert Buckingham (aka Tiny Tim; tentative)
Louis, Joe (ranked most heartwrenching so far)
Marion, Francis
Packer, Alferd (ranked funniest so far)
Parks, Rosa
Patterson, Floyd
Sanger, Margaret
Strauss brothers (Levis, not waltzes)
Washington, George
Wayne, John