We are now just eight days away from the start of the March Madness Poetry 2014 tournament! I continue the rundown of my top ten favorite poems from #MMPoetry 2013 with this fun, fast-paced story by J.J. Close, who turned one of the most controversial words of the infamous first round into something palatable — so to speak — for kids:
15-meretricious
The Meretricious Red Delicious
By J. J. Close
The suspicious, meretricious, inauspicious, Red Delicious,
Looked absolutely edible and even quite nutritious.
You’d think that you could pick it up and have yourself a bite,
But don’t let it deceive you, ‘cause there’s something just not right.
You see, my friend, its inner parts have something rather wrong,
Yes, deep inside, there live some things that really don’t belong.
Two worker ants, three apple flies, will truly make you squirm,
But not as much as Meretrick, the apple eating worm!
J.J.’s poem captured 81% of the vote, moving him into the second round. Click here to see this poem as it originally appeared in #MMPoetry 2013.
