Last year I entered a competition asking for Limericks about the places where people live. The stated aim of the organisers was to 'save the reputation of the Limerick'. Each Limerick had to have part of the entrant's home address as the 'from' part of the poem, as in,
'there was a young man from.......'
the prize was inclusion in an anthology of Limericks from people all over Britain.. I sent in half a dozen, two of which were picked for publication in 'Limerick Nation' published by Iron Press in Cullercoats Northumberland.
The competition was run and the anthology was edited by Peter Mortimer and Eileen Jones of Iron Press. The readings were part of the ECLECTIC IRON Festival held in June and people came from all over Britain to read their Limericks. The readings were interspersed by catchy renditions of 1950s tunes from the Seaton Sluice Ukulele Band which had most of the audience, if not singing, at least tapping their feet along with the music. During his summing up at the end of a great afternoon's poetry Peter coined the phrase 'Limerati' which summed up the atmosphere.
This was my first attempt at reading my own writing in public and I have to say it was nerve racking to say the least. But I must have done something right because I was told by another of the 'Limeratti' that my poem about Montrose got the biggest laugh.
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