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First the Lost Dutchman's Goldmine attacked us, *
Then excessively watered the cactus. **
...Now I find with dismay
...That an Apple a day
Keeps the Doctor away from his practice ! ***

* One of the early text-only adventure games. Like Zork.
** If you did anything but the right thing all you saw was a saguaro cactus
*** Remember when there were no Macintosh computers, just an Apple II ?


(I won $10 once for submitting that to an early computer magazine, in 1983 or so. That's the same as Second Prize in a Beauty Contest !)

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The medieval peoples for Heaven did search
In transept cathedrals the heathens did worsh
Building their churches crossed shaped
As vehicles where souls could translate
Now every airplane flying is a cross shaped church

GNOSIS - GOAT

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> comic verse consisting of five anapestic lines


Hm, yes, it can be – but the form is not exactly set in concrete.

Personally, the structure I think most satisfying is:
Rhyme scheme: AABBA
Lines 1,2,5: 9 syllables in 3 amphibrachic feet
Lines 3,4: 6 syllables in 2 anapestic feet

The unity of triploid feet helps weld the thing together, but the variation in stress patterns makes for more interest. This gives the characteristic declamatory inversion of normal speech rhythm in the first line ~ “There WAS an/old MAN of/deVIZes….” The alteration to anapaest in the middle couplet has something of the same kind of effect that a couplet does in a 14 line sonnet, but sprung into the humorous conclusion of the final line with both rhythmic stress and final rhyme striking conclusively as a closing bell (apart from variation for more humorous effect!)

ymmv

and now we return you to your regular program...

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There once was a preacher from Dickey
Whose long-growing gnosis was tricky:
He had discarded god
As a vindictive sod
But a goat’s love soon gained him a quickie!



now an easy lob:

GIRDLE - - - GIRL

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There once was a girl name of Myrtle
Who ran track and was facing a hurdle;
She ran and she jumped
but down she did thump,
being stopped at mid-leap by her girdle.


Somebody else please post new words for me--I can't get to my brick-and-mortar dictionary right now. Thanks.

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how about these, from W3:

GHOSTLIKE GIBBET

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old hand
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With his feet through the floor of the gibbet,
A bit late to be urbane and glib, it
Was then his thirst spike
Caused the thought, so ghostlike:
"I could sure use a shot of Glenlibet."

CONFIDENTIAL – CONGO

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In a document marked 'Confidential',
The President wrote "It's essential
That the Congo's unrest
Should be quickly suppressed,
Or its spread could become exponential".

ENORMOUS – ENTANGLE

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Bravo! Some real goodies smile

and isn't it interesting how the very constraints of form (and content) can light a spark of creativity?

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truly! grin


----please, draw me a sheep----
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