We Have a Winner

Dearest Blog Reader

I hope that this finds you doing well and excited. I am very excited. This is the winning limerick announcement blog. Two weeks ago, the lovely Miss Beverly using her lovely creative mind, (the creative part caused problems. I will explain later.) created a limerick contest in honor of her father, Doyle's birthday. He had loved to create limericks and share them with the family.

That's right 72 limericks to judge, to sift through, saying this one is a little better than that one, wondering if "her" and "better" are a true enough rhyme, not to mention does the meter match perfectly. I must admit that I was so overwhelmed with the overwhelming quality of entries, that I brought in help. The lovely Miss Beverly agreed then set her body of work to the side and help with the judging. It was a disaster. Remember the creative mind? Yes, Miss Beverly is of the free verse wing of the limerick party. She loves the story, the creativity, the whimsy. Me not so much. For me; does it rhyme, is it iambic, does it have five lines, then we can talk about story. How to pick a winner when coming at a problem from two opposite directions? We got so frustrated with one another that we had to get away from the other wrong headed person for the rest of the evening.

The next day a strong westerly wind blew through the house scattering you hard work all around. Still frustrated, we just left them lay on the floor for 24 hours. We considered letting Henry and Hugo sniff out the winner. Finally, twenty-four hours before the announcement, we set our petty differences aside and started working towards a solution--with a rubric that included both form and story.

Bev and I decided to divide the 72 into categories: the nearly interesting cousins, the interesting cousins, the outlaws, the siblings, and foreigners (those a bit removed from the Hoover nation as described in one limerick.) We picked two finalists in each category. Saturday morning we brought in two independent judges (thanks Julie and Becky) to verify the category winners. Then by the powers vested in me as the general commissioner of a great many things, I have selected the grand pie eating champion.

First the category winners,
The winner of the "oh I'm sorry you're late category" Bonita Hoover, It is lovely--an excellent sweet, true line at the end-- but it was late and 72 other people could meet the deadline. Life is hard and it is best to learn these lessons early in life. Here is her limerick:

Ate maggot meat balls and elephant turds
Liked to go to the barn and shoot some birds
Grew pretty hollyhocks
Picked up lots of rocks
Tall in stature and short on words


The winner of the nearly interesting cousin category (under 15):
  Max Young
Thanksgiving at the Sharritt's is best
I put a dozen rolls to rest
Though I gained two pounds
And my belly was quite round
I'll never look at this memory with detest

Winner of the interesting cousins (16 and above.)
Danielle Pyle
There once were six talented sisters,
Who easily found themselves misters.
They baked pies and desserts,
Milked cows and sewed shirts.
Their hands must be covered in blisters.

Winner of the outlaws:
Mike Stilger
Now Doyle a man of great vision,
Milking cows was his mission.
Sons will have I
Pie in the sky.
XY chromosomes have no collision.

Foreigners:
Tom Mathews
So I flopped while making my try,
At a poem to catch Roger's eye.
And my limerick did foil,
(Sorry, Grandpa Doyle)
Now Tom won't get any pie.

Siblings (bring on the rivalry):
Cindy Pyle
Thank goodness I'm not the judge.
Through verses and lines he will trudge.
The prize will be pie
But this is no lie
I prefer vanilla ice cream with hot fudge!

Someone had the thought that we could give each of the category winners a pie. Who am I kidding? It was the kindly Miss Beverly. Do I look like I am made of pie dough? Well okay, but the lovely Miss Beverly doesn't look like she is made of pie. You're out of luck.

Well the time has come; no more procrastination.

The champion is . . .
Danielle Pyle
There once were six talented sisters,
Who easily found themselves misters.
They baked pies and desserts,
Milked cows and sewed shirts.
Their hands must be covered in blisters.

We loved hearing the memories and stories that this contest evoked. It's funny that, with as much of an impact that Doyle's limericks had on people, it appears that no written examples exist; which is a bit sad. If you have one that he wrote, or remember one, let us know! But in a way, they do exist in the 72 submitted entries.

Take care.

Roger