Each year, the romance review website All About Romance runs a Purple Prose Parody where readers are invited to submit entries mocking, I mean, paying tribute to their favorite romance authors. I entered this past year, a time travel Regency where Tony Soprano traveled back and ended up in the body of a Regency debutante, all told in the style of Carla Kelly (My favorite part was the title, Mr. Soprano Takes A Trip). High-concept, not always as funny execution.

But it got me to thinking about our books, and how they could be distilled into, say, 17 words or so.

Haikus.

Therefore, without further ado, I present some of my modest Regency haikus, and invite you to add more.

Can We Talk?*
Debutante meets Lord
A big misunderstanding
It will all work out
*contributed by my husband

A Truth Universally Acknowledged
A poor young beauty
Meets a wealthy, handsome duke
Inevitable.

Mea Culpa
I am a writer!
Historically accurate?
Um, no, not so much.

Regency Oxymoron*
A virgin widow
How the hell does that happen?
Incongruity.
*Also my husband’s.

It’s Party Time!
Pelisse, reticule
Invitation to the ball
Say he will be there.

This one is R-rated–put your cursor over the white space to reveal the words.
Accessibility
My regency cock
Yearns to enter her–soft, wet
Yay! No underwear.

Time Of The Season
Spring is here at last!
It’s time to make my debut
Married in the fall.

Regency Buck
Pluck to the backbone
A devil with the ladies
Must be married soon.

This exercise, I must say, is loads of fun to do on the subway. Time for you to post your haikus–And thanks for playing!

Megan