Okay, I admit it: I'm not going to be writing any dirty limericks, though I'm sure you've all heard a few in your time. And I can't really stop anyone from sharing one or two below in the comments (that's what they're there for, I guess--that is, for dirty limericks).

The origin of the limerick is shrouded in some mystery, but most sources seem to point to the early 18th century--one theory being that soldiers returning from France to the Irish town of Limerick started the form, the other theory pointing to the 1719 publication of Mother Goose Melodies for Children. Either way, Edward Lear popularized the form in the mid-19th century.

Basically, the limerick is a five-line poem consisting of a triplet split by a couplet. That is, lines 1, 2, and 5 are a bit longer and rhyme, while the shorter lines of 3 and 4 rhyme. After studying many effective limericks, there is not a precise syllable count per line, but the norm is about 8-10 syllables in the longer lines and around 6 syllables in the shorter lines.

Here's one of my basic examples:

My eldest son's scared of small flames,
and I know just what is to blame:
those Frankenstein movies,
though they can be goofy,
burn monster and my son the same.

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Here are some other resources related to the limerick:

• Wikipedia limerick definition
• Limerick examples (including many of Lear's)

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SPAM prompt line(s): With my sarcophagus.

                                      It's as hot as Halloween out there.

With Halloween coming up in a hurry, I'm in a trick-or-treat mood. So I've chosen three SPAM lines that I tucked away because they seemed perfect for late October. Whether they're tricks or treats depends on you and what kind of success you have with them.

One approach is to pick a single line and use it in your poem. The "sarcophagus" example has a real Sylvia Plath echo. The second example could be something out of Poe.

I have to admit, I don't know what that third line is supposed to mean. It turned up in the SPAM filter back in August during one of our 100 degree heat waves. I don't think of Halloween being "hot," literally or figuratively, but that's just me. Maybe I went to the wrong kinds of Halloween parties.

So, pick one line for your prompt; or go all out and use all three lines in one poem. Form and style are up to you; but one of the forms with repeating lines could be fun to try. Or tap your inner Shel Silverstein and go for something humorous.

Hope you're "haunted" by some eerie inspiration!

--Nancy

More prompts to be found here.   

"Poetry ignored by Llewellyn Rhys shortlist," by Richard Lea from Guardian Unlimited, points out something that's not a huge shock to poets: Poetry is often shoved to the sidelines for fiction and nonfiction.

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"Interview: Pakistani Poet, Sahar Rizvi," by Amitabh Mitra from Desicritics.org, is an interesting interview that also features a poem by Rizvi.

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"Could Stalin have been a poet instead of a tyrant?," from Russia Today, is a very interesting piece on how Joseph Stalin went from being a rising poetic star to a Bolshevik leader. Of special interest is how Stalin's poetry may have helped him rise to be the leader of a nation.

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With that story in mind, it is not recommended that you use poetry as a platform for political gain (or to stage robberies, for that matter). Poetry should always be kept separate of any such evil doing.

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"Missouri to Appoint Poet Laureate," from Kansas City infoZine, reports that Gov. Matt Blunt announced the creation of an official Missouri Poet Laureate post. Nominations for the post will be accepted through December 1, 2007.

Of special interest, Jay Barnes of the governor's staff wrote a 10-line poem to mark the announcement.

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For a little more on the new Missouri Poet Laureate announcement, check out "Blunt is seeking Missouri's first Poet Laureate," from the Joplin Independent.

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So another issue of Faulty Mindbomb is up and running. This time around, Howie Good, a journalism professor, has supplied "Home From the War." Check it out at http://faultymindbomb.blogspot.com/2007/10/fmb0032.html.

If you're interested, submission details are also available on the site, and I accept submissions year-round 24/7 (though I check at my own leisure).

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In the past week, I also made poetry submissions to:

• The Georgia Review
• The Missouri Review
• Five Points

Fingers crossed.

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Fingers crossed did not save me from a rejection letter for Michigan Quarterly Review. Did get a "Sorry!" with exclammation point on the form rejection note. Oh well, next time.

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Hope everyone's having a good start to this week, because I'm out!

The kyrielle is a French four-line stanza form that has a refrain in the fourth line. Often, there is a rhyme scheme in the poem consisting of the following possibilities:

• aabb
• abab
• aaab
• abcb

The poem can be as long as you wish and as short as two stanzas (otherwise, the refrain is not really a refrain, is it?), and, as with many French forms, it is very nice for stretching your poetic muscles.

Also, tres importante! Your lines must contain 8 syllables. I've written an example below to show how this poem works (on a technical level).

"She's not a Pretty Singer"

Evening cell phone conversation--
he rakes his hair with long fingers
that were once filled with devotion,
though she's not a pretty singer.

He never was a man to say,
"baby," or let his eyes linger,
and she only likes boys who stay,
but she's not a pretty singer.

So he offered his warm coat to
another to start a fling her
aging looks could never undo,
and she's not a pretty singer.

Some say she moved to another
state and made her name selling or
buying something, though why bother
when she's not a pretty singer?

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Here are some other resources on the kyrielle form:

• http://members.optushome.com.au/kazoom/poetry/kyrielle.html
• http://www.noggs.dsl.pipex.com/vf/kyrielle.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrielle

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NPR reports that Doris Lessing has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Many speculators were zeroed in on Margaret Atwood or Joyce Carol Oates as the favorites among women, so this is a bit of a surprise. However, Lessing is a worthwhile selection. Congratulations to her!

While Lessing wrote a little poetry, she made her name and won the prize for her novels. It would've been nice to have a poet win, but I guess there's always next year. Sigh.

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For more on Lessing, go to www.dorislessing.org.

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There are a couple pieces on Sean O'Brien winning the U.K.'s Forward Poetry Prizes award for the Best Collection...for his third time.

• "Sean O'Brien Becomes Third Time Recipient of U.K.'s Top Poetry Prize," by Sheveta Bansal for AHN.
• "Poet Sean O'Brien wins unique hat-trick of Forward prizes," by John Ezard for The Guardian.

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"'Leaves of Grass' Still Growing, Inspiring," by Diane Ackerman for NPR, is a great piece on Walt Whitman and why his words are still vital to poets today. Personally, he's one of the best. Seriously.

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...I had this great idea (at least, I thought so) for a poetry prompt this morning. One of the perks of working at F+W Publications is that I'm constantly surrounded by a wide range of enthusiast magazines and books (from writing to scuba diving and from coin collecting to decorative painting).

This morning I'm breezing through the production department and see two brand new titles: one for some kind of knitting and the other with the image of a handgun on the cover with the title of Glock.

Of course, my mind started spinning on some yarn about an old woman who knits a pretty carrying case for her glock. And maybe it's not her glock; maybe it's for her grandson Bruno who works for the mob. The possibilities are endless really with a knitting-glock juxtaposition.

And that's what my (long-winded) poetry prompt is: Juxtapose two or more seemingly unrelated things (images, ideas, people, etc.) to create an interesting poem.

The nice thing about juxtaposition is that it can increase tension and make an interesting idea unforgettable. Have fun going at it. If you wish to share, post your poem in the comments below.

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...I've posted the most recent Faulty Mindbomb. This issue features Patricia Kennelly's "Believe Me" at http://faultymindbomb.blogspot.com.

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Remember: If you'd like to submit to the journal (basically, a one-man nonprofit operation run by yours truly), then send a few poems my way at theaphexshrug@hotmail.com. I don't accept everything, but I'm pretty nice and try to get back relatively fast.

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Happy weekend!

...oh, we weren't speaking of poet laureates? Well, that's okay, because here are two good pieces on them speaking.

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From Guardian Unlimited, here's a speech by UK Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, on the relationship between poetry and power. His whole speech transcript is available. Highly recommended.

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"Americans still love poetry, says poet laureate Pinsky," by Lila Hanft for ClevelandJewishNews.com, profiles the former U.S. poet laureate. In the article, Robert Pinsky says, "As dancing is to movement, as cuisine is to nutrition, as lovemaking is to procreation, poetry is an art: an expressive form of speech. If art is important, poetry is important."

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So in the past week, I've made several poetry submissions to:

• Virginia Quarterly Review (they've got to have the coolest online submission form on the planet)
• Michigan Quarterly Review
• Chattahoochee Review
• The Cincinnati Review (this submission makes me a bit nervous, because the poetry editor is a former undergrad professor of mine--I can already see the rejection note saying, "Your skills have actually diminished since college, and they weren't good then."--yes, maybe that was a foolish decision)

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I've also submitted a chapbook manuscript to the Wick Open Poetry Competition for Ohio poets.

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While part of me wants complete acceptance from all of the above, I'd really be happy with an acceptance from at least one.

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Actually, a nice rejection note from any of the above would go a long way toward making me feel good.

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Or even a coffee stain on one of the form rejection letters. (It doesn't take much.)

Received this question via e-mail from poet Liesl Garner:

"Last year I performed a poetry show at our local Fringe Festival. I got wonderful reviews, and I am performing a Repeat Performance in October of this year. The Fringe Festival is every Spring, and I plan to participate each year. After my first show, I was asked if I had my poetry printed in a chapbook for sale. I didn't, but for the Repeat Performance I want to have that available for audience members. I'm actually thinking of doing a chapbook for each year's performance. Is it bad for my hopes and dreams of someday becoming a published poet to be doing my own publishing of chapbooks?

"Currently, I just don't have the time to be submitting with the numbers I would have to in order to get noticed by a publisher. However, on my local scene, I have a large fan base that wants to see my work in print.

"Thanks, Liesl Garner"

Before I get into my ramble, you should probably read Nancy's Published Is Published post about what self-publishing will do to those poems that are self-published in the eyes of editors. Then, come back here to read what I have to say.

(Tapping on desk as Liesl reads Nancy's post. Ba-ba-ba. Humming to self.)

Back?

Okay then.

So you now know that self-publishing any of your poems will have editors considering those specific poems already published, right? That doesn't mean your career is over, it just means these specific poems are now only available as reprints. This fact can hurt when submitting to poetry journals and magazines or even chapbook contests. But the publication of some of your poems does not affect what you do with other poems that are not self-published.

If you decide that for the current crop of poems you wish to self-publish that it is okay if they risk being only available in your self-published chapbook format, then you should go for it. More and more poets are doing this. However, if you wish to see any of these specific poems in some journal or future chapbook competition winning collection, you may not want to include in your self-publishing effort.

As far as actually self-publishing, I advise you to either go with a local printer that you can work with directly--or there are some online POD companies that allow you to print and publish only one book at a time, which dramatically lowers the investment you have to make in your self-publishing venture. I'm sure some very nice poets (hint, hint) could even give suggestions in the blog comments below. Even if not, that's why God created Google; just type "POD Publishers" into Google, and you will receive plenty of online resources of how and who to proceed with.

On another note, there's no shame in self-publishing. Through the ages, poets have been especially prone to self-publication. And that trend only seems to be expanding even more with online and POD technologies now available to poets.

Just remember: Self-publishing does equal publishing. So those specific poems that are self-published could pay the price with publishers in the short term. Of course, most poets would agree that you're not risking much financially by self-publishing over traditional publication. For many, the main goal is to just reach an engaged audience.

Best,

Robert

"Poet relishes new challenge," by Mike Pride for Concord Monitor, is a very interesting and insightful article on new U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic, including more personal information about Simic and how he goes about writing his poetry.

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