First Ever Choka Cage Match 24-March-2006 ChokaOnIt.com

This coming Friday, March 24, 2006 www.ChokaOnIt.com is proud to host a first in the history of poetry: a choka cage match. Choka are a Japanese form of poetry, similar to, but pre-dating haiku. The poets known as Frank Zappai and awgeez will be trading couplets from 17:00 until 21:00 Pacific Time. The results will be kept on Choka On It(tm) for posterity, the winner will be instilled, yet again on the Wall of Fame.

Both poets are Wall of Fame multi-timers. Frank Zappai mostly for his dogged research, awgeez for occasional biting social commentary. They both, however are enmeshed in controversy on the site, and have positions in Shame Alley. Mr. Zappai was referred to by the governing authorities just last week, as “a poetic skinhead punk,” and has had some of his work barred. Awgeez too has crossed into the realm of the socially uncertain with religious commentary. The cage match is certain to be entertaining, frenetic and strange.

The judging will be done by the site’s founders, birdhead and the current reigning English Haiku Slugfest Champion of the World b1-66er, possibly with the help of others. Says the birdhead, “We considered running the competition for 24 hours but realized these two would probably kill each other. Four hours is dangerous enough the way it is,” adding, “we’re requiring the contestants to sign indemnity waivers.” B1-66er brusque as always says, “Both this guys are both capable of being spudnuts. It won’t be pretty.”

The public is encouraged to join in the festivities on www.ChokaOnIt.com.

— Choka On It - History at a Glance —
6-February-2006: Choka On It created on a “Blogger” Web page.
6-March-2006: Overwhelming popularity forces single couplet choices in the judging of Wall of Fame and Shame Alley recipients.
9-March-2006: 1,000 couplets reached. Mad rush at choka contributions forces move to www.chokaonit.com and a switch to Six Apart’s authoring tool “Movable Type.”
17-March-2006: First splog (spam-blog) post. Choka poets get peeved and double normal output — mostly about spam.
19-March-2006: Concordance added. Choka contributions immediately double.
22-March-2006: Cage match — awgeez vs. Frank Zappai

— About Choka On It —
Choka are a form of Japanese poetry related to, but pre-dating, haiku. “Choka On It” is a collaborative choka residing at the Web address www.chokaonit.com and created by two shadowy figures known only as the birdhead and b1-66er. The public are encouraged to add a couplet of their choosing (consisting of 7 and 5 syllables). Reading and adding to the choka is completely free of charge. No username, password, email address nor Web site are necessary for contribution. Every week the best couplets are granted a place on the Wall of Fame, lameness is given a kick-in-the-teeth with a mention on Shame Alley. Choka On It is now the largest choka ever written with over 1,700 couplets produced in a mere seven weeks. The birdhead and b1-66er have a stated goal of buying pizza with the money they make from clicking-through on adsense ads. They’re hungry. The choka will feed.