This year marked
the first LAFFCON Bagarthach Verse Contest.
We received 30
entries in three months, many of which we found witty, glib, or downright nasty. We’d expect no less from poetry inspired by the Dulanty family from R. A.
Lafferty's novel The Reefs of Earth.
Eventually, our
judges selected three winners to be published in the LAFFCON4 program booklet,
to be handed out free to attendees on the day of the event and later made
available for purchase via print-on-demand for those who could not be present
this year.
The elements of
the Bagarthach verse are: 1) funny or clever but mean spirited, 2) short, one
quatrain, 3) syllabic 8-9-8-9 per line (sometimes all lines are 8 syllables),
and 4) rhymed a-b-a-b. Note: It’s been
argued that a fifth element exists, that of predicting/wishing bodily harm or
death, but for the contest rules we just couldn’t bring ourselves to include
it as a requirement.
Congratulations
to our talented winners!
- Bob Newman
- John Slaby
- R. K. Wolford
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