Have you ever heard...

First Place Winner of the Taboo Contest

Have you ever heard
Poems without the word…

Shh, I cannot even say it!
My doom is surely fated.

Should I even utter,
imply, or even stutter,
the word that’s forbidden;
my entry will be hidden.

The judge must be sadistic
to think it’s realistic
excluding major words,
Of this, it is unheard!

Insanity is my plea,
I’ve entered this with glee,
thinking I could compete
with words now obsolete.

To finish is my quest
competing with the rest,
of entrants who must respect
this word we must reject.

Now, exhausted beyond belief
in the end I find relief.
I’ve finished without defeat.
My poem is now complete.

So, have you ever heard
poems without the word…

Shh, I still can’t say it!

Author's Note: The judge is not sadistic, but quite creative! It took many revisions to get rid of the word(s). There was laughter in seeing that I still had some left, then revising once more!