Here goes...

How about a warm-up poem? This is a little something I composed recently...it's..er...a bit long. What can I say, I had a lot of time on my hands! Here it is (the first few stanzas):

WHEN I MET A MONSTER
-A poem by Anushya S.B. (Yup, that's my actual name)

“Anyone who ventures in
Will be had for his dinner.
He doesn’t discriminate
Between the virtuous and the sinner.

Armed with fearsome claws
And dangerous teeth is he.
Clever, cunning and as
Wily as he can be.”

So my people proclaimed
With fear on their features.
“Tell me…” said I, curiously.
“Who is this creature?”

“Oh, he lurks in the bog
Under the moon at night.
Nothing is spared, no one
Ever escapes his sight.”

Said one. Said another:
“I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
People being hunted in daylight
Is no longer a surprise.”

Curiosity whetted, I listened
To their tales of trepidation
For wasn’t I a hunter
Of great fame and reputation?

“I doubt, though, that your
Tales are perfectly true.
That such a man-eating monster
Existed, I never knew!”

I said disbelievingly.
Their voices dropped suddenly.
“The news has not travelled
Far, O Hunter Ali!

Who knows what powers the
Monster has to its name
And on being disturbed,
How many lives it may claim?”

To be continued...