
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, September 30, 1994                   TAG: 9410040054
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

CALLING ALL (BAD) POETS

Time is running out! Well, not literally, but, poetically speaking, today is the last day to enter the Very Sixth Annual International World's Worst Poetry Contest.

In addition to the fame (or notoriety) and pride in being the very worst, the winner will receive a free, roundtrip vacation to the sandy shores of Pismo Beach, Calif., no doubt an appropriately inspiring place to create more bad poetry.

Just send (better fax) as many entries as you want with your name and address to "Pismo Bob" Pringle and Rudy Natoli, the eminently qualified judges who also happen to run the town's hardware store. Entries written on $100 bills will be read first.

All forms of poetry (and that term is used very loosely) are acceptable, but, and this is the only hard part, entries must contain the word "Pismo."

Though time is tight (whatever that means, literally), don't despair. Last year's winner wrote her entry while driving to the grocery store.

Aside from gizmo, how many words do you know that rhyme with "Pismo"?

The fax number is (805) 773-6772.

by CNB