Olympic Dreams: A Poetry Challenge

John is a poet and short fiction writer who enjoys collaborating on stories with other writers, and partaking in challenges.

Ten Words That Do Not Perfectly Rhyme With Any Other Word

In his hub 'The Boar and the Wolf' Chris Mills issued a challenge for fellow hubbers to attempt to write a poem with the following ten words that do not perfectly rhyme with any other word.

• silver
• purple
• month
• ninth
• pint
• wolf
• opus
• dangerous
• marathon
• discombobulate

This poem is my attempt to respond to the challenge.

Olympic Dreams

Olivier trained hard to make the Games’ team.

To compete in the Olympics was his childhood dream.

Four years of devotion was about to pay off

With selection trials at the end of the month.

His favourite movie was Mr Holland’s Opus.

It always inspired him that nothing was hopeless.

The selection of Rio, please let’s elaborate,

Was never meant to discombobulate.

A nickname had stuck; he was called the Black Wolf,

Ever since he once plated his first game of golf.

Of 18 holes played they’d stop after the ninth

To compare best shots and have a quick pint.

Olivier’s form struck a good patch of purple,

His toughest event the 200m hurdles.

Although Rio De Janeiro is known to be dangerous,

As an Olympic venue it really was fabulous.

His specialty event would be the decathlon

But his desire was to win an Olympic marathon.

He hoped to win gold or even silver,

To stand on the podium was the dream of Olivier.

Now it’s all been and gone, the Olympics is done,

And history records how the Black Wolf had won,

Not just the decathlon, and the marathon too,

But the hearts of the spectators like me and you.

Comments

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on July 08, 2018:

Thanks, Lawrence. Good for you..the pentathlon..wow! I was good at a variety of sports at school but never tried a multiple event. Blessings.

Lawrence Hebb from Hamilton, New Zealand on July 08, 2018:

John

Really enjoyed this. Especially liked the idea of running in the Decathlon.

I used to do the Pentathlon when I was a teenager.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 17, 2018:

Hi Rinita. Thank you for reading and your generous comment. Glad you enjoyed the story.

Rinita Sen on June 17, 2018:

Such a beautiful story so vividly expressed. My favorite rhyme pick was 'wolf' and 'golf'. Thank you, John for sharing.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 15, 2018:

Thank you Verlie. I appreciate your comment. Yes, when I heard the word "marathon" I immediately thought Olympics.

Verlie Burroughs from Canada on June 15, 2018:

John you rhyme sublime. I really like your response to Chris' challenge. Bringing it full circle with the Olympics theme, well played...

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 15, 2018:

Li-Jen, thank you for reading and your insightful comment. It was an interesting challenge.

manatita44 from london on June 15, 2018:

Ralph is an interesting person with tremendous will. He can easily move from the political to the sublime. I like him a lot! But you also can. So stay alert! Lol.

Li-Jen Hew on June 14, 2018:

Hey Jodah, I admire how you planned Olivier's name to rhyme with sliver! Haha. Although the selected words aren't meant to rhyme perfectly, you did a good job of rhyming. Discombobulate sounds hard but you managed to use a sort of opposite meaning, elaborate, with it. Nice pair. Thanks for sharing.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 14, 2018:

Thank you bro manatita. Donald and Kim's negotiations certainly sound like Ralph's cup of tea, but it would be very good material for a poem. Let me think on that.

manatita44 from london on June 14, 2018:

Noble effort and current theme of the Olympics. Best I have seen so far. Maybe someone would do one on Donald and Kim's negotiations for Peace.. If you or Ralph do one like that with beauty, hope ... vision in mind, you'll have my eternal Gratitude. Excellent piece!

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 13, 2018:

Shauna, it's always a pleasure to receive a comment from you, and a very generous one at that. These challenges are such fun.

Shauna L Bowling from Central Florida on June 13, 2018:

What fun, John! You answered Chris' challenge with the poetic mastery for which you are known.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 12, 2018:

Welcome back, Eric. My light is always on and door open. Feel free to drop in any time and thanks for the like offer.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 12, 2018:

Thank you, RedElf. I am a fan of Ogden Nash too. Yes, I hated the word discombobulate but did the best I could.

Eric Dierker from Spring Valley, CA. U.S.A. on June 12, 2018:

May be rude I figure. But I really like your stuff so I came back uninvited. Thanks for leaving the light on and door open. My door will always be open fer' you.

RedElf from Canada on June 12, 2018:

Well woven, John. Discombobulate is the least poetical word I can think of, though it does bring Ogden Nash to mind. But you pulled it off.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 12, 2018:

Thank you, MsDora, gotta have a knack at something I guess.

Dora Weithers from The Caribbean on June 12, 2018:

Amazed at what you poets can do with random words. Good story. Excellent poetry.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 12, 2018:

Thank you Venkat, for the generous comment. It is always good when our work can make the reader smile.

Venkatachari M from Hyderabad, India on June 12, 2018:

Very beautifully done. John, you are amazing at poetry. I enjoyed the reading with smiles.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 11, 2018:

Thanks Chris. I sat down and made a list of words that went close to rhyming with each one. These were the ones I could fit best into the story I wanted to portray. Glad you approved.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 11, 2018:

Thank you, Linda. Glad you enjoyed the poem.

Chris Mills from Traverse City, MI on June 11, 2018:

I read this earlier today but didn't comment. So I'm back to take a closer look at your rhymes. Thumbs up for opus/hopeless and elaborate/discombobulate. The overall theme was excellent. Thanks for taking part, John.

Linda Crampton from British Columbia, Canada on June 11, 2018:

This is a great response to the challenge, John. I enjoyed reading it.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 11, 2018:

Thank you Flourish. It was a little tricky with a couple I admit.

FlourishAnyway from USA on June 11, 2018:

That’s quite a challenge. Those I rhyming words would drive me batty. You did an admirable job trying to connect them and make them tell a story.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 11, 2018:

Thank you, brother Sean. What at first looks too difficult doesn't always prove to be that way. You just need to try.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 11, 2018:

Haha, Linda. Thanks for that.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 11, 2018:

Thank you, Dana. I did my best.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 11, 2018:

Hey Ann. Thank you. Yes, I always look forward to challenges. It takes the quandary of what to write next out of my hands. I eagerly look forward to your response.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 11, 2018:

Thank you, Mary. The words looked daunting, but it was kind of fun. Yes, I just needed an excuse to revisit Chariots of Fire.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 11, 2018:

Hey Chitrangada. The word 'marathon' actually was the spark for this poem. It was challenging, but not as hard as I first imagined it would be. Thank you for reading.

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 11, 2018:

Haha, Eric....damn Half a century. You make me feel old. I think we are actually about the same age My Friend :) Thank you for the generous comment as always.

Ioannis Arvanitis from Greece, Almyros on June 11, 2018:

Oooh!!! You've made it seem a lot easier than really is! That is TALENT brother! Awesome and funny and meaningful too. Respect!

Sean

Linda Lum from Washington State, USA on June 11, 2018:

John, I think you get the Gold medal for this one.

Dana Tate from LOS ANGELES on June 11, 2018:

It seemed as if the challenge would be difficult but you rose to the occasion.

Ann Carr from SW England on June 11, 2018:

Great poem, John, and a good response to Chris' challenge. I'm in the process of cooking something up for this one.

I too was thinking it was time for a challenge and have got an idea for one of my own. It's a 'get round to it' for the moment though!

Ann

Mary Norton from Ontario, Canada on June 11, 2018:

You did a great job in putting these words together. I would not even attempt to do it. It worked so well. By the way, Chariots of Fire is also one of my favourite novels.

Chitrangada Sharan from New Delhi, India on June 11, 2018:

The words in the challenge, seem so difficult to bring together meaningfully, in a poem. But as usual, you did it in style and perfection.

Excellent effort and thanks for sharing!

Eric Dierker from Spring Valley, CA. U.S.A. on June 11, 2018:

John a true master you are. I was reading your bio and it hit me that you have been doing this for like a half a century. Well it shows in your excellence.

Thank you

John Hansen (author) from Queensland Australia on June 11, 2018:

Thank you for being the first to read this Bill. It was quite challenging but fun. I was just thinking how few writing challenges had been issued recently.

Bill Holland from Olympia, WA on June 11, 2018:

A fun read, John, and a tough challenge. I'm sure glad nobody expects poetry from me. lol