Rhyme Two Random Words Poetry Challenge The Society March 23, 2022 Humor, Poetry, Poetry Challenge, Poetry Contests 46 Comments . Your poem can be serious, silly, or something in-between. List the “random words” you chose as your poem’s title and feel free to use whatever poetic form you’d like. Then post the poem in the comments section below. . “Rhyming, Rhythmic, Rapturous . . . and Random” A Poetry Challenge by James A. Tweedie “Occultic” and “bulimic” almost rhyme, But also make a most intriguing pair; Perhaps suggesting vomiting the slime Of witches’ brew or other spell-cursed fare. Indeed, if one should chance to juxtapose Two random words that rhyme or nearly-so Like “tragedian prose” and “pantyhose” Imaginative thoughts would start to flow Of Shakespeare’s Juliet in modern dress Soliloquizing in Act Two, Scene One, How Romeo’s embrace had made a mess By causing her silk hosiery to run. The challenge? Write a poem based on un- Related words and post it just for fun. . Sample “Crane” “Brain” The pachyderm had a large brain. Extraction produced so much strain That when the beast died The coroner sighed And lifted it out with a crane. . . NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. 46 Responses John E. Norvell March 23, 2022 Dawlish Jig I. erudite aphrodite elegant eloquent opulent company summer ball Albert Hall anecdote petticoat diamond crown formal gown pleated vest coat with tails collared shirt Prince of Wales fluted stem pink champagne roasted duck quiche lorraine talented orchestra tenderloin in the raw innocent consummate passionate candidate debutante night at a vanity fair– II. summertime clementine bachelorette suffragette seventeen Aberdeen exercise new-moon rise wooden stool billiards pool muddy boots vain pursuits knowing glance new romance hand-in-hand Irish band lantern light winking sprite dervish twirl rakish girl fiddle bow toe-to-toe battered trout Guinness stout magical interlude curious collude, while dreaming one night at the hie Dawlish Fair– Reply James A. Tweedie March 23, 2022 Great word pairs. Now the challenge is to turn one pair into a formal poem of some sort. Reply John E. Norvell March 23, 2022 It’s a formal poem written in dactylic dimeter: 1-2-3, 4-5-6 Nice idea for a contest! jd April 19, 2022 A treasure trove for the mind! Reply John E. Norvell April 19, 2022 Thank you jd! Anna J. Arredondo March 23, 2022 Delicatessen Poetry Lesson Young Francois owns a delicatessen He’s inherited from his late father. But life changed when a poetry lesson Shook him up and he realized he’d rather Spend his moments on more than cold meat, Quite delighting in all rhymes and meter, Fascinated by rhythm and feet – But he does have a wife, and must feed her. Now, while Frank’s busy bundling beef, In his mind there’s a virtual party – He’ll wax lyrical just for relief As he slices through Swiss and Havarti. While he’s certainly no Keats or Milton, He’s the best bard to serve up your Stilton! Reply Cynthia Erlandson March 23, 2022 This is delightful, Anna! Meter/feed her; party/Havarti are a lot of fun; and it’s a short story well told, also! Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant March 24, 2022 Anna, I’m with Cynthia. This is an inspirational delight of a poem. I love the random words. Huge fun! Reply James A. Tweedie March 24, 2022 Anna, Awesome. I can’t wait to have some Miltonian Stiltonian for lunch! Reply jd April 19, 2022 Enjoyed the cleverness and humor. Reply Mia March 23, 2022 I have been trying for a while, to write a poem from random words of Greek etymology. hope it isn’t all Greek to you! Genesis Alpha and Omega spoke and lexis translated Into praxis, a harmonic synergy of symphony And melody. Through a magical syntheses Of dynamic energy, He breathed a musical And poetic chorus across the cosmos. In time Man spoke, Alpha, Delta and Omicron And through man’s cacophony, catastrophe And pandemonium ensued, through a strategy Called, hypocrisy and melodrama, bringing a Pandemic of agoraphobia and misanthrope. A psychosis of ironic proportions mushroomed, Into a phlegmatic bathos even a stagnant miasma Of chaos. Now melancholic, facing an uncertain Future, awaiting both the Omega and a metamorphoses In the ellipsis, turns out to be a Herculean task. Reply James A. Tweedie March 24, 2022 Mia, Your metamorphoses of random words from a Greek lexicon went viral, indeed! Fun and well done. Reply Mia March 31, 2022 Thank you, perhaps I should try bilingual poems next. Still trying to be proficient in both languages as far as poetry is concerned. My excuse for not being a good poet in English was that it is not my first language- until I read other poets on here that is. Mia March 31, 2022 I don’t know why my comment is set out as it is as I did not write it that way. Matt W March 25, 2022 This is delightful Reply Mia March 31, 2022 Thank you, you have really made my day. I really appreciate that you liked it and you commented. jd April 19, 2022 I think your poem really well done too, Mia. Reply Roy E. Peterson March 23, 2022 Blast and last: If nuclear war should befall earth at last, I want to tell my friends, I had a blast. Reply Mike Bryant March 23, 2022 Roy… one of your best. You’ve got me smiling. Reply Roy E. Peterson March 24, 2022 I really appreciate that, Mike! James A. Tweedie March 24, 2022 Heh! Reply Patricia Redfern October 28, 2022 A joy to read! Thank you. Short….yet with great humor! Patricia ))) Reply Mia March 23, 2022 Perhaps this fulfils the challenge a bit more. Either way this is a lot of fun, thank you. Subterranean Machiavellian Alice in wonderland’s a fairytale, The rabbit hole is subterranean, Supposedly inhabited by a warren Of Machiavellian, misanthropes. What a yarn, surely it remains A classic for I feel trapped Turning the pages one by one. Reply James A. Tweedie March 24, 2022 Mia, You rose to the challenge that a rose. I really like the image conjured by the clever combination of, “Machiavellan misanthropes!” Reply K. Price March 23, 2022 Feminist Larcenist: She drank society’s cacophonous beat and danced upon computer keys. Oblivious to grand-theft feminine the appeal of power drew her in. With austere proximity, she felt like a vocational refugee, plunking and sinking while not truly thinking for herself. “Go! Seize!” they cried in her ear. “Get yourself a respectable career, despite the inclination that contradicts. Break the walls of your house and disappear.” Reply James A. Tweedie March 24, 2022 K, Thanks for the terrific tangle of rhythm and rhyme. Perhaps not rapturous but most certainly random! Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant March 24, 2022 Orange Blossom / Unhinged Possum If you’re appalled by galling rhyme, embrace the message – it’s sublime. 😉 Neath the bud-fringed orange blossom I espied an unhinged possum Snuggled on a pansy pillow With an addled armadillo, Cuddled up, a scene so awesome – Cock-a-hoop I came across ‘em. If they’d cozied neath the willow I’d have missed this dozy duo… All I saw there was a dodo Tuning up a hobo’s oboe. Reply James A. Tweedie March 24, 2022 Susan, you caught the spirit of the challenge and created a very jammed jam session. No doubt the addled armadillo was playing the orange blossom special on his fiddle! Good fun Reply jd April 19, 2022 Love the imagery! Reply Paul Freeman March 24, 2022 myopic / microscopic … biopic As Hollywood grows more myopic, it’s just hired a star microscopic. His stage name is ‘Sherm’, an intestinal germ, in a true life colonic biopic. Reply James A. Tweedie March 24, 2022 Paul, An epic pict- ure you depict. You’d have been tricked To rhyme “indict.” Reply David Watt March 25, 2022 Uppsala Koala Benjamina the reckless koala Stowed away on a ship to Uppsala For a diet of lush Nordic pine Tasting sweet as a Eucalypt wine. But alas, after just a short while, She determined the needles were vile, And the temperature more to the liking Of a mammoth or cold-loving Viking. She made haste to the Uppsala Zoo Where pine needles are thankfully few, And each day leaves of gum are supplied, And her pen nicely heated inside. Reply Paul Freeman March 25, 2022 More like a modern nursery rhyme, and educative, to boot, I’m mightily impressed, David. Reply James A. Tweedie March 25, 2022 David, Clever as always. rhyming Upsalla and Koala! Not too many choices there. I probably would have settled on tikka masala! Reply Camilla Marx March 25, 2022 I love this! The rhymes are clever and funny, and the imagery is lovely. Reply Camilla Marx March 25, 2022 I meant to comment on one poem, but posted in the general thread instead and can’t edit! But all of the poems have been good! Reply jd April 19, 2022 AGREE! Reply Aaron Ezekiel March 25, 2022 I am delighted to post my Poem ” Winds of Destiny” sharing the website with other wonderful poems, thank you. While wondering about life and events, I was inspired to write the following Poem. The Winds of Destiny Winds a blow gentle and light Caress and touch journey’s flight Coaxing and guiding unseen a path A journey by man, unknown along Winds a blow tranquil along Follow a path, certain and sure To keep sight of journey’s path all along down the road as I plod Strong winds by and now Pushing and shoving side to side Like a dog herding a flock To change a way to stubborn path. Wonder often, how the wind Now a rage, then a storm Taking a view renewed along Beseech a change to course of path Wonder, often the wind Whispers thoughts own so free Forcing a view in many a ways Of struggle and strife many a kind Down the road as I plod. Wonder often the ways of wind Now from side, then behind Pushing and goading all along, To change a path of struggle and strife Down the road as I plod. Uncanny its ways make my path Aside the pits and rocks along Down the road as I plod, And wonder often when the wind Stops and summons a journey’s end An end of path and all. Aaron Ezekiel Reply James A. Tweedie March 25, 2022 Aaron, I thank you for sharing your poem. I am also one who wonders when the wind will stop and summon a journey;s end and all! Reply C.B Anderson March 25, 2022 If nothing else, Aaron, I admire the extreme to which you have taken incoherence. Reply ray March 28, 2022 arc and oligarch On Noah’s Ark the Patriarch, had laboured hard from dawn til dark to so embark a cask of sharks who, acting like a pair of narks, refused to leave their water park. And thereupon the lark said ‘Hark!. (Quite a shy lark for a skylark), ‘Perhaps were we to sink the Ark?’ Beau Crow said, ‘Arq, oh what a lark’ (He had a quark as his hashmark). ‘Oh what could spark such stark remarks?’ ‘Were you then ever with Bismarck?’ ‘I hope you’re handy with landmarks.’ Then flew a parabolic arc to peck the aardvark oligarch, now eating ants from the Ozarks, before he carked their Matriarch. Reply Kathy Bahr November 24, 2022 Double Cream Milk room shack; an inadequate sum of milk shake snake. Hilariously rolling about like a cow. In the meadow, an inadequate dose. Long days beneath one’s feet and sweet smell of double ice cream. Reply Christo December 10, 2022 Sysiphus contracted syphilus Where did he find the time To sire the raucous Glaucus Then tossed from the equine Reply Mo Ferree December 12, 2022 The Card/Lard Connection A card can always make one smile Along with birthday cakes and candles And to a party, we’d likely trek a mile Even if we’re wearing mighty lace-up sandals But when we speak of lard, we have to stop and think That in the end, it might not make us happy It clogs the arteries and fills up every chink And just might make the heart stop, within a second’s blink So when we think of mismatched words As card and lard for sure, there is no pair Yet never underestimate, if milk can turn to curds Then from card to lard, I think is very fair The choice is not that hard I’d much prefer a card to lard Reply Morrison Handley-Schachler March 13, 2023 Printer/Winter I incautiously placed my new printer On my desk, which proceeded to splinter And collapse in a flash, With an audible crash, And will now provide firewood for Winter. Reply Keith Evetts September 12, 2023 Thinking to rhyme something with moon that isn’t jejune; but I haven’t the time. Reply Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
John E. Norvell March 23, 2022 Dawlish Jig I. erudite aphrodite elegant eloquent opulent company summer ball Albert Hall anecdote petticoat diamond crown formal gown pleated vest coat with tails collared shirt Prince of Wales fluted stem pink champagne roasted duck quiche lorraine talented orchestra tenderloin in the raw innocent consummate passionate candidate debutante night at a vanity fair– II. summertime clementine bachelorette suffragette seventeen Aberdeen exercise new-moon rise wooden stool billiards pool muddy boots vain pursuits knowing glance new romance hand-in-hand Irish band lantern light winking sprite dervish twirl rakish girl fiddle bow toe-to-toe battered trout Guinness stout magical interlude curious collude, while dreaming one night at the hie Dawlish Fair– Reply
James A. Tweedie March 23, 2022 Great word pairs. Now the challenge is to turn one pair into a formal poem of some sort. Reply
John E. Norvell March 23, 2022 It’s a formal poem written in dactylic dimeter: 1-2-3, 4-5-6 Nice idea for a contest!
Anna J. Arredondo March 23, 2022 Delicatessen Poetry Lesson Young Francois owns a delicatessen He’s inherited from his late father. But life changed when a poetry lesson Shook him up and he realized he’d rather Spend his moments on more than cold meat, Quite delighting in all rhymes and meter, Fascinated by rhythm and feet – But he does have a wife, and must feed her. Now, while Frank’s busy bundling beef, In his mind there’s a virtual party – He’ll wax lyrical just for relief As he slices through Swiss and Havarti. While he’s certainly no Keats or Milton, He’s the best bard to serve up your Stilton! Reply
Cynthia Erlandson March 23, 2022 This is delightful, Anna! Meter/feed her; party/Havarti are a lot of fun; and it’s a short story well told, also! Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant March 24, 2022 Anna, I’m with Cynthia. This is an inspirational delight of a poem. I love the random words. Huge fun! Reply
James A. Tweedie March 24, 2022 Anna, Awesome. I can’t wait to have some Miltonian Stiltonian for lunch! Reply
Mia March 23, 2022 I have been trying for a while, to write a poem from random words of Greek etymology. hope it isn’t all Greek to you! Genesis Alpha and Omega spoke and lexis translated Into praxis, a harmonic synergy of symphony And melody. Through a magical syntheses Of dynamic energy, He breathed a musical And poetic chorus across the cosmos. In time Man spoke, Alpha, Delta and Omicron And through man’s cacophony, catastrophe And pandemonium ensued, through a strategy Called, hypocrisy and melodrama, bringing a Pandemic of agoraphobia and misanthrope. A psychosis of ironic proportions mushroomed, Into a phlegmatic bathos even a stagnant miasma Of chaos. Now melancholic, facing an uncertain Future, awaiting both the Omega and a metamorphoses In the ellipsis, turns out to be a Herculean task. Reply
James A. Tweedie March 24, 2022 Mia, Your metamorphoses of random words from a Greek lexicon went viral, indeed! Fun and well done. Reply
Mia March 31, 2022 Thank you, perhaps I should try bilingual poems next. Still trying to be proficient in both languages as far as poetry is concerned. My excuse for not being a good poet in English was that it is not my first language- until I read other poets on here that is.
Mia March 31, 2022 Thank you, you have really made my day. I really appreciate that you liked it and you commented.
Roy E. Peterson March 23, 2022 Blast and last: If nuclear war should befall earth at last, I want to tell my friends, I had a blast. Reply
Patricia Redfern October 28, 2022 A joy to read! Thank you. Short….yet with great humor! Patricia ))) Reply
Mia March 23, 2022 Perhaps this fulfils the challenge a bit more. Either way this is a lot of fun, thank you. Subterranean Machiavellian Alice in wonderland’s a fairytale, The rabbit hole is subterranean, Supposedly inhabited by a warren Of Machiavellian, misanthropes. What a yarn, surely it remains A classic for I feel trapped Turning the pages one by one. Reply
James A. Tweedie March 24, 2022 Mia, You rose to the challenge that a rose. I really like the image conjured by the clever combination of, “Machiavellan misanthropes!” Reply
K. Price March 23, 2022 Feminist Larcenist: She drank society’s cacophonous beat and danced upon computer keys. Oblivious to grand-theft feminine the appeal of power drew her in. With austere proximity, she felt like a vocational refugee, plunking and sinking while not truly thinking for herself. “Go! Seize!” they cried in her ear. “Get yourself a respectable career, despite the inclination that contradicts. Break the walls of your house and disappear.” Reply
James A. Tweedie March 24, 2022 K, Thanks for the terrific tangle of rhythm and rhyme. Perhaps not rapturous but most certainly random! Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant March 24, 2022 Orange Blossom / Unhinged Possum If you’re appalled by galling rhyme, embrace the message – it’s sublime. 😉 Neath the bud-fringed orange blossom I espied an unhinged possum Snuggled on a pansy pillow With an addled armadillo, Cuddled up, a scene so awesome – Cock-a-hoop I came across ‘em. If they’d cozied neath the willow I’d have missed this dozy duo… All I saw there was a dodo Tuning up a hobo’s oboe. Reply
James A. Tweedie March 24, 2022 Susan, you caught the spirit of the challenge and created a very jammed jam session. No doubt the addled armadillo was playing the orange blossom special on his fiddle! Good fun Reply
Paul Freeman March 24, 2022 myopic / microscopic … biopic As Hollywood grows more myopic, it’s just hired a star microscopic. His stage name is ‘Sherm’, an intestinal germ, in a true life colonic biopic. Reply
James A. Tweedie March 24, 2022 Paul, An epic pict- ure you depict. You’d have been tricked To rhyme “indict.” Reply
David Watt March 25, 2022 Uppsala Koala Benjamina the reckless koala Stowed away on a ship to Uppsala For a diet of lush Nordic pine Tasting sweet as a Eucalypt wine. But alas, after just a short while, She determined the needles were vile, And the temperature more to the liking Of a mammoth or cold-loving Viking. She made haste to the Uppsala Zoo Where pine needles are thankfully few, And each day leaves of gum are supplied, And her pen nicely heated inside. Reply
Paul Freeman March 25, 2022 More like a modern nursery rhyme, and educative, to boot, I’m mightily impressed, David. Reply
James A. Tweedie March 25, 2022 David, Clever as always. rhyming Upsalla and Koala! Not too many choices there. I probably would have settled on tikka masala! Reply
Camilla Marx March 25, 2022 I love this! The rhymes are clever and funny, and the imagery is lovely. Reply
Camilla Marx March 25, 2022 I meant to comment on one poem, but posted in the general thread instead and can’t edit! But all of the poems have been good! Reply
Aaron Ezekiel March 25, 2022 I am delighted to post my Poem ” Winds of Destiny” sharing the website with other wonderful poems, thank you. While wondering about life and events, I was inspired to write the following Poem. The Winds of Destiny Winds a blow gentle and light Caress and touch journey’s flight Coaxing and guiding unseen a path A journey by man, unknown along Winds a blow tranquil along Follow a path, certain and sure To keep sight of journey’s path all along down the road as I plod Strong winds by and now Pushing and shoving side to side Like a dog herding a flock To change a way to stubborn path. Wonder often, how the wind Now a rage, then a storm Taking a view renewed along Beseech a change to course of path Wonder, often the wind Whispers thoughts own so free Forcing a view in many a ways Of struggle and strife many a kind Down the road as I plod. Wonder often the ways of wind Now from side, then behind Pushing and goading all along, To change a path of struggle and strife Down the road as I plod. Uncanny its ways make my path Aside the pits and rocks along Down the road as I plod, And wonder often when the wind Stops and summons a journey’s end An end of path and all. Aaron Ezekiel Reply
James A. Tweedie March 25, 2022 Aaron, I thank you for sharing your poem. I am also one who wonders when the wind will stop and summon a journey;s end and all! Reply
C.B Anderson March 25, 2022 If nothing else, Aaron, I admire the extreme to which you have taken incoherence. Reply
ray March 28, 2022 arc and oligarch On Noah’s Ark the Patriarch, had laboured hard from dawn til dark to so embark a cask of sharks who, acting like a pair of narks, refused to leave their water park. And thereupon the lark said ‘Hark!. (Quite a shy lark for a skylark), ‘Perhaps were we to sink the Ark?’ Beau Crow said, ‘Arq, oh what a lark’ (He had a quark as his hashmark). ‘Oh what could spark such stark remarks?’ ‘Were you then ever with Bismarck?’ ‘I hope you’re handy with landmarks.’ Then flew a parabolic arc to peck the aardvark oligarch, now eating ants from the Ozarks, before he carked their Matriarch. Reply
Kathy Bahr November 24, 2022 Double Cream Milk room shack; an inadequate sum of milk shake snake. Hilariously rolling about like a cow. In the meadow, an inadequate dose. Long days beneath one’s feet and sweet smell of double ice cream. Reply
Christo December 10, 2022 Sysiphus contracted syphilus Where did he find the time To sire the raucous Glaucus Then tossed from the equine Reply
Mo Ferree December 12, 2022 The Card/Lard Connection A card can always make one smile Along with birthday cakes and candles And to a party, we’d likely trek a mile Even if we’re wearing mighty lace-up sandals But when we speak of lard, we have to stop and think That in the end, it might not make us happy It clogs the arteries and fills up every chink And just might make the heart stop, within a second’s blink So when we think of mismatched words As card and lard for sure, there is no pair Yet never underestimate, if milk can turn to curds Then from card to lard, I think is very fair The choice is not that hard I’d much prefer a card to lard Reply
Morrison Handley-Schachler March 13, 2023 Printer/Winter I incautiously placed my new printer On my desk, which proceeded to splinter And collapse in a flash, With an audible crash, And will now provide firewood for Winter. Reply
Keith Evetts September 12, 2023 Thinking to rhyme something with moon that isn’t jejune; but I haven’t the time. Reply
