There's a neat site called Geckoplex which is host to a number of weekly contests. My favorite one is Tombstone, in which the weekly assignment is to write an epitaph for someone whose manner of death is given. The assignment for this one was: Write an epitaph for Frank, who died after being bitten by a snake.


Whose woods these were, he thought he knew
But he had business to do
And anyway, the coast was clear
And soon his bowels would be clear too.

His little horse did think it queer
To squat without an outhouse near
And take a satisfying dump
Just like a bear or fox or deer.

But Frank was an unlucky chump:
He shat into a hollow stump
And heard the sound that rattlers make
As pain suffused his naked rump.

If you're in woods and you must take
A dump, don't echo Frank's mistake
Don't squat upon a rattlesnake,
Don't squat upon a rattlesnake.


The original Robert Frost poem is here.


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