Lively Challenge - WiT
Henry Curry • 14 April 2020
Lively Challenge
(poem without an 'O', by Carol Hurley)

Here's a lively challenge
With a different slant.
Pen a verse but never
Let it be a rant.
Twenty six great letters
In the alphabet are there.
Twenty five are plenty
Just use them with great care.
The missing letter's vital;
It's there, let us recall,
In frequent regularity,
Helps keep us in its thrall.
My brain is really struggling,
Might end up in free fall.
Admire this perfect letter,
It's there at every turn.
I'm really up against it,
My mind is all a churn.
I'll check what I have written
I'll check it with great care.
I think I have succeeded,
It really isn't there.
Hurray
With a different slant.
Pen a verse but never
Let it be a rant.
Twenty six great letters
In the alphabet are there.
Twenty five are plenty
Just use them with great care.
The missing letter's vital;
It's there, let us recall,
In frequent regularity,
Helps keep us in its thrall.
My brain is really struggling,
Might end up in free fall.
Admire this perfect letter,
It's there at every turn.
I'm really up against it,
My mind is all a churn.
I'll check what I have written
I'll check it with great care.
I think I have succeeded,
It really isn't there.
Hurray

The Write Path 2025 anthology is now available in paperback from Amazon, and ebook format from many digital book platforms (including Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Everand, Thalia, Smashwords, and many more!). It comprises the winning entries and judges’ reports from our members’-only competitions, along with the first, second, and third place winners of our open poetry and short story competitions, and the winners of our 250-word Spooky flash fiction competition. The ebook version (ISBN: 978-1-7384361-8-7) is priced £2.99, and the paperback version (ISBN: 978-1-7384361-7-0) is £7.99. For more information, click the Books2Read link and then select your preferred retailer: https://books2read.com/twp2025 And if you missed any of the previous anthologies, check out the links below: 2024: https://books2read.com/twp2024 2023: https://books2read.com/twp2023 2022: https://books2read.com/twp2022 2021: https://books2read.com/twp2021 2020: https://books2read.com/twp2020 2019: https://books2read.com/twp2019 My thanks go to everyone on the committee and the judges for their help with gathering everything together to enable me to produce the anthology, and to Liz for her proofreading assistance! Simon Whaley






