A Light on the Limerick

Posted by Brad Osborne on December 29, 2019 · 10 Comments 

 

 

I would like to thank Yasmine, from the blog ‘yaskhan’, for reminding me that the poetic form of the Limerick is not just the ‘blue’ humor remembered from my youth. Their simplicity and brevity are both fun and challenging, while allowing the whole spectrum of content from the profane to the prophetic. When unsaddled from its strict-form anapestic meter, it can vary from driving verse to lilting lyric. Yasmine has a gift with just about any form and free verse, please stop by and enjoy her words!

She inspired me to dabble in the form and I offer the following as a respite from all the heavy stuff that has dominated my recent entries. Enjoy this crudité of the form!

 

Battle of Wit

There once was a man who constant talked shit

So, I decided to challenge him to a battle of wit

I worried he might come to great harm

For he showed up to fight, clearly unarmed

And that just wouldn’t be fair, now would it?

 

Old Sage

There once was a mystic old sage

Whose words became all the rage

But it seems a bit queer

And he seems less a seer

When he is reading them off a page

 

Sparky

There once was a man named Sparky

Who others thought full of malarkey

Until the skilled electrician

Became savior and magician

Turning the lights back on for free

 

Yasmine

There once was a poet named Yasmine

With a gift for words yet unseen

She plied her trade

Beautiful poetry made

Her voice making world more serene

 

Silence

We live in a world full of noise

Where everyone has a voice

But when silence is found

What a delightful sound

And one of life’s greatest joys

 

 

 

Filed under Poetry · Tagged with blue humor, challenge, creative, fun, limerick, one verse wonders, playful, poem, Poetry, short poems, strict form poetry, verse, writing to form