The finals of the National Poetry Contest last year came down to two
finalists. One was a Duke University Law School graduate from an upper crust
family, well-bred, well-connected, and all that goes with it. The other finalist
was a redneck from Southeast Tennessee A & M.
The rules of the contest required each finalist to compose a four-line poem in
one minute or less, and the poem had to contain the word "Timbuktu."
The Duke graduate went first. About thirty seconds after the clock started he
jumped up and recited the following poem:
Slowly across
the desert sand
Trekked the
dusty caravan.
Men on
camels, two by two,
Destination-Timbuktu.
The audience went wild!!! How, they wondered, could the redneck top that?!
The clock started again and the redneck sat in silent thought. Finally, in the
last few seconds, he jumped up and recited:
Tim and me,
a-huntin' went.
Met three
whores in a pop-up tent.
They was
three, we was two,
So I bucked
one and Timbuktu.