Poetry Friday

The 2012 Madness Poetry Tournament has come to an end,but you can still read the poems written by the 64 poets who participated.  Many thanks to Ed DeCaria for organizing and sponsoring the Madness! He was an amazing host who tirelessly answered participants' questions and provided constant encouragement. He did a fabulous job of planning this event, and he even designed a trophy for the champion.  It's obvious he put in a lot of time and effort to get something like this going.

What a delight it was to read the poems. The quality is amazing. Remember, poets had only 36 hours from the time they got their assigned word to write their poems.  Deciding on which poem to vote for in each match-up was a challenge! 

Although I only lasted one round, I had a great time being part of the fun. My word was synthetic.  When I first saw my word, I freaked a little. I had no idea where this word would lead me, but after about a dozen false starts, time was running out.  I finally decided to try writing a limerick anyone with a sibling might relate to. I'm always nervous about posting my poems, but I'm trying to push myself to take more risks,  so here goes.
Broken XBox

His words are apologetic
But I know they’re simply synthetic—
With tears in his eyes
My brother spews out his lies
Hoping I’ll be sympathetic!

I don't usually write humor and meter is always a stretch for me.  I was just grateful to come up with something using the word synthetic, and I enjoyed being part of a poetry-writing community! Ed has decided to make the tournament an annual event!  So,  I'm looking forward to many years of Madness! 

Now on to the next event-  the Progressive Poem!  Head on over to  A Year of Reading to read the poem so far. It's going to be fun to watch how it unfolds during the rest of the month!
A big thank you to Robyn at Read, Write, Howl for hosting Poetry Friday today!