Perl and linguistics sometimes go hand in hand, and many Perl programmers are also master wordsmiths. Perl programmers also get their day jobs done more quickly, since it takes less time to create a program in Perl than other langauges. This extra leisure time and proclivity toward wordplay has given rise to Perl Poetry.
The Perl Poetry Contest is a kinder and less migraine-inducing sibling of the Obfuscated Perl Contest. The Obfuscated Perl Contest encourages the creation of vile-looking programs that dredge up obscure nooks and crannies of our favorite language. In contrast, the Perl Poetry Contest provides a comforting computational flowerbed for programmers to find their muse and distill it into bytecode.
Last year's contest was a great success. We were able to glimpse into the creative minds of Perl poets from around the globe. Some entries were silly, some deep, and some pushed the boundaries of taste. We expect this year to be the same. To get your creative juices flowing, here is Angie Winterbottom's entry from last year's contest, which took the coveted Best of Show award:
if ((light eq dark) && (dark eq light)
&& ($blaze_of_night{moon} == black_hole)
&& ($ravens_wing{bright} == $tin{bright})) {
my $love = $you = $sin{darkness} + 1;
};
It was derived from these lyrics, by Jim Steinman's song The Invocation.
If light were dark and dark were light
The moon a black hole in the blaze of night
A raven's wing as bright as tin
Then you, my love, would be darker than sin.
The Categories
Just as last year, we don't want to unduly constrain budding Perl poets. (Note that we don't consider programs that perpetrate mischief very poetic.) Other than that, you can mail us any type of poem you like. Here are a few meta-categories to keep in mind:
- "Port" your favorite poem or lyric to Perl.
- Craft a Perl poem which performs a useful task.
- Write a program which creates poetry. Bonus points if the program is also a poem.
- A haiku, tanka, or limerick relating to Perl. Haikus (syllable pattern 5-7-5) and tankas (5-7-5-7-7) don't rhyme; limericks (9-9-6-6-9) do, in an AABBA pattern. Judging
All entries must run under Perl 5.005 or 5.6, and again will receive extra credit for running under -w and use strict. Credit will be given for the use of rhyme, verse, and clever wordplay. Whitespace will be overlooked, but an abuse of comments won't be. We'll also look at your use of alphanumeric characters instead of words (for example, @work as "at work"). You may use standard Perl modules to enhance the usability of your entries.
The winners will receive a Magnetic Poetry Kit, provided by Perl Toys.
Submitting
You should enter on or before February 15, emailing your poems to contest@tpj.com. You can enter has many poems as often as you like before then. Please submit a tar or zip file containing your poem(s), and a README with these items:
1. Your name, email address, and physical address.
2. An explanation of what your poem does (if anything).
3. If you are 'porting' a poem or lyric, the original text.
4. Any other special instructions you may like for us to know. For example, whether $bill be pronounced as "dollar bill", or just "bill".
Good luck!
Kevin Meltzer recently moved to Florida and is trying to keep from having his brain hard-boiled by the heat. Look for Writing CGI Applications with Perl, which he co-authored, in early 2001.