A poet and didn't even know it

Nikki Giovanni, my favorite poet of all time, once proposed the theory that the first poem was probably written on a cave wall by a caveman trying to impress a suitably endowed cavewoman.
Her version, needless to say, was much more eloquent than mine, but you get the point. Poetry is part of us.
I’ve always loved poetry. I hesitate to use the word fan, but only because the connotation of the word fan would require me to traffic in poetry much more than I do.
Take the OA’s resident Cardinal “fan.” Every day we have to hear from him that his team is in first place. I don’t want my love of poetry to smack people upside the head so indelicately.
Still, my affinity for lyrical word use stretches far beyond my love for fine art. I can stare at a Monet and appreciate it, but I can’t begin to produce something akin to it. (Though I honestly be-lieve I could do a pretty fair Jackson Pollock impersonation. How hard could that be?)
Poetry, however, I can try my hand at when the inspiration strikes. I’ll never top Nikki Gio-vanni’s “kidnap poem” or match her description of cotton candy on a rainy day, but I can — if I work hard enough — rhyme purple with hirple (look it up).
Hopefully, my poetry is a little deeper than the following limerick — which happens to be the first poem I ever memorized in elementary school:
There was a young lady from Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger
They returned from the ride
With the lady inside
And the smile on the face of the tiger
If you like to write poetry, the Permian Basin Poetry Society has just the ticket for you. The soci-ety is running a poetry contest in two categories, cowboy and any form/any subject. Two-page limit entries may be submitted through Oct. 1.
Hurry. You have a week.
Contestants must be at least 18 and may submit one poem in each category. The poems have to be original, must not have been published before (even on the Internet) and can’t have been sub-mitted elsewhere.
Entry fee is $2 for students and PBPS members or $3 for everyone else per category or $15 for en-try into either category plus 2010 membership to the Permian Basin Poetry Society. Poems must be typed in 12 point, Times New Roman on an 8 1/2 X 11 standard white paper.
Submit two copies, one copy with no identifying information, second copy include on upper right-hand corner, name, address, phone number and e-mail. On upper left-hand corner state “Cowboy” or “Any Form/Any Subject.”
Entries need to be e-mailed to kopykat@grandecom.net, or mailed to Contest Chair, The Per-mian Basin Poetry Society, 4513 Anetta Drive, Midland, Texas, 79703-6906.
Winners will be announced at 1 p.m. Nov. 14 at UTPB’s Library Lecture Room.
For information, call 697-4205 or e-mail kopykat@grandecom.net. We also publish the full rules in the calendar on 2D in Sunday’s Life & Times section.
I have to go now. I have a poem to write.
There once was a girl from Nantucket …