I know what you’re thinking. I’ve got a whole extra hour to kill this weekend, with nothing to do.

Never fear. We’re giving you another chance to exercise your poetic license and distill a recent news story into haiku. You know the rules — three lines, with 5 syllables, then 7, then 5 more. Read them aloud to make sure you aren’t disqualified.

And please, no wagering.

Here are some examples to prime your poetic pump:

It’s been awhile since we’ve tested your poetry chops. In fact, we haven’t done it since December. Do you miss it?

We’ve had plenty of things to wax poetic about.

Aren’t you just dying to write something about the orange paint on the highway? Or the St. Louis School Board? How about the flooding Missouri River a few weeks ago? Or the merger of Wachovia and A.G. Edwards? How about the work that’s ramping up on Highway 40?

Yes, there’s been plenty of news in Our Town in the past few months.

You know how this works: Match your current events comments to the meter of…

OK, I’ll grant you that we’ve had our fun with poetry in the Talk of the Day — as recently as yesterday’s posting for the current events limerick.

But now I’m asking you to take another turn. Our story for Sunday by Doug Moore profiles Eugene Redmond, an English professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and the EBR Writers Club. That’s the group that created a relatively new form of poetry called “kwansaba.”

According to Doug’s story, “It’s half the size of a sonnet, a cousin of the haiku, but clearly its own style of poetry. And now, at age 12, the…

When reading the news stories, I’m
Struck by abundance of rhyme.
So here’s your big chance -
Let’s make those words dance!
It’s Friday NEWS LIMERICK time.

Sure, anyone can sum up a news story in a haiku format. But how well can you compress the happenings of the week into a snappy, five-line poem? Ballpark Village rhymes with downtown pillage. Forest Park? How about after dark?

You get the idea. Go ahead and start your opus with the time-honored “There was a young lady from…” beginning, if you must. But please — keep it rated PG. There are women and children…

Ameren outage.
Mercifully, I am spared.
We’re cold and weary.

Yes, it’s that time again. After a long, hard week of grim Iraq news, bitter cold, power outages and Senate confirmation hearings — it’s time to lighten things up with another round of Current Events Haiku.

How’s it work? Match your current events comments to the meter of haiku — three lines, five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables. This will be our fourth dive into metered commentary since the debut of Haiku Day on May 5. Our second round was June 15. And our last was nearly two months ago, on Oct. 12.

Much…