[Martin Parker]

Roger, "Great" idea. Thanks.
Mine is a recycled and unaltered Oldie reject from several years ago. So It may well meet the same fate this time.
But maybe not, since my recent Lit. Rev. success was only a slight adjustment to a recently unsuccessful Spectator entry. So there is sometimes life after death.
The recycling gurus would be annoyingly pleased with me at any rate.

[Roger Slater]

Martin, you didn't need to double up lines since you had only 15 lines anyway. Not that it looks bad that way, mind you. But you do have a choice.

[Martin Parker]

Roger, I am shamelessly following your lead for this Comp. not only by adding "great" but also by reducing two limerick lines to one. I always hope that some people will write in hexameters, or more, and thus use up more than 16 lines on the page -- so leaving room for "perfectly formed" small ones !
I am frequently right about the longer-winded entries but less often correct with the second part of my theory. Alas!

[John Whitworth]

OK. I'll do that too.


The Picture of Dorian Gray

Lord Henry Wotton says pleasure
Is a thing to enjoy without measure.
And there isn’t much doubt what he’s talking about
Is the joy of a boy for your leisure.

Basil Hallward, the painter, is gay,
(Most of Lord Henry’s friends are that way),
And he’s pissing his pants for a chance at romance
With a honey called Dorian Gray.

This Dorian’s helluva hot
For a spell in the sack, and why not?
Added to which, the sonovabitch
Doesn’t age – not a tittle or jot.

Yes, the sheen on his skin is as soft
As a baby’s behind . Has he quaffed
Any magical fixers? His secret elixir’s
The portrait he keeps in his loft.

[Roger Slater]

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

When Raskolnikov rashly enacts
A murderous plan with his axe
And kills an old lady who's worthless and shady,
He finds that he cannot relax.

His conscience begins to assail him.
His poise and sang-froid start to fail him.
Detective Porfiry develops a theory.
The right one. But how can he nail him?

It's clear to him how big a mess is
The mind of the boy that he guesses
Committed the crime, and so, over time,
He questions him -- till he confesses.

Raskolnikov's off to Siberia
Where weirdly enough he grows cheerier
And changes his ways, finding punishment pays
More than crime, which he learns is inferior.