This was my entry to our recent Poetry Competition. The theme was ‘Remote’ and I thought I’d do something on just how vast the universe is but in the form of a daft limerick. I expected to take about half an hour on it but the complexity of the subject plus the demands of the limerick form meant I spent AGES on it. I didn’t win, but it was more about the taking part and seeing if I could actually get it to work. If you want to read the winning & commended poems click here. Otherwise, read on…
There was a blue planet called Earth And billions of years from its birth Arrived some humans Who wanted solutions About why there was such a dearth, Such an absence of alien species Across the galaxy's far-flung reaches But let's look at the facts: Space is damn vast So listen to what astronomy teaches: The fastest thing possible is Light And even then the distance is quite Too far to go touring To Alpha Centauri; It's four years on just that one flight. Four years to our neighbouring star. You might think that that's very far But on a galactic score It's the gaff next door That's how distant stars really are. Now imagine an alien race Light years away in deepest space; The timescales and distance - They need persistance To travel to our backwater place. And the timing needs lots of precision As they finish their bold expedition The universe is so old We may not have evolved Or we've gone extinct during their mission. That's a hell of an effort to make When the outcome is very opaque Space-time's the crux - Relativity sucks... If they're here they've made a mistake.
Wow, not easy, Nick, not when you’re trying to string a bunch of limericks together to tell a story. I enjoyed it. And it is good practice!
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Thanks Diana! Not something I’m likely to try again any time soon! 😂
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Lol. You have a lot of other writing projects in the works!
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A valiant and amusing effort. Well done. I know it’s difficult enough getting one limerick to scan and rhyme properly. With seven verses I can’t imagine the time it took!
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Thanks Peter, I had to keep tweaking it over several days to get it to a point where it worked well enough to submit. Not doing a limerick again for a while! 😅
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I love them but they really demand being read aloud to show them off to their best advantage.
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Wow–that’s awesome! You should record yourself reading it!
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Thanks Suzanne! I think you & Peter are right, limericks deserve to be read aloud, I just need to find time to do it!
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