Inspiration for The Latest Competition

For those who are taking up the pen for our next contest, here is a poem I hope will provide at least a modicum of inspiration:


A Girl in Milwaukee and a Girl in Brooklyn

My wife is talking on the phone in Milwaukee
To her girlfriend in Brooklyn.
But, in the middle of all that, my wife has to go pee.
And it turns out that the girl in Brooklyn,
At the very same time, also has to go pee.
So they discuss this for a moment,
And they're both very intelligent people.
They decide to set their phones down and go to the bathroom
(This was back when people set their phones down).
So they do this, and now we have a live telephone line open
Between Milwaukee and Brooklyn
With no one speaking through it for about two minutes as
A girl in Milwaukee and a girl in Brooklyn go to the bathroom.

by Matt Cook
from Eavesdrop Soup (and reviewed favorably by Jeffrey McDaniel). © Manic D Press
(Courtesy of The Writer's Almanac)

Now, I know you're itching to write a poem involving a bathroom. (So to speak.) So, write already! Everyone who submits a poem by Sunday, April 27, will receive a book of poetry.

Ask the lucky winners of the last contest how rewarding it is: Rob Paine, Maryclare Maslyn, Bill Kitzerow and Bill Stewart. (Wait, don't ask yet -- their books are in the mail!)

And to further inspire you, here is another daffodil poem:

Roses are red, violets are blue,
Chrissy’s voice is now shrill
“Darn it, Bill
You stepped on my daffodil!”

by Bill Stewart

So, in light of all of this inspiration, I leave you to your muse. Be amused. And I am looking forward to your poems!