Limerick Lunacy

The Enterprise was sure in a fix
Violent aliens disguised as sticks
Spock knew what to do
A large match he drew
And barbecued right there on the bricks

A prolific composer was Lizst
His music today may be missed
By a young eager crowd
Playing music too loud
Ignorant that eardrums he’d once distressed.

She swayed to the music on high
As she walked down the street with some guy
Who was oblivious to
The fact that she knew
Every man on the street’s private sigh.

The limerick is dead one might say
Fallen from use in this day
Of poor rattled grammar
That pounds like a hammer
From tongues we would much rather spay

The kingpin sat forward his troops
The lynchpin was loosed for the loops
Of rope ‘round the neck
Of a bird who bespecked
The clothespin’s cache with loose poops

Maid Marian proceeded to suck
On a lemon provided by Tuck
The bitter taste riled
Her beauty defiled
By a face appeared struck by a truck

There once was a man from Nantucket
Whose wife would refuse to suck it
Until the orange came clean
In water from the stream
That he carried to the house in a bucket

Of sense and sensibility she would ponder
While he dallied hither and yonder
Until one day it seemed
She became really steamed
And he died so her heart could grow fonder.

Vile and wicked grew her rage and her pain
She searched for a kingdom to reign
Impervious to charms
They tied up her arms
Her condition they listed - insane.

Prolific at limericks was he
With children alongside his knee
He knew when to run
From a terrible pun
But he still had to try it, you see?

I had a limerick day this summer. They all sort of plopped out on the paper unbidden. I'd forgotten how much fun limerick writing could be. A couple of the limericks are pretty decent if I say so myself. The Star Trek limerick at the top was a lot of fun. In fact, I still get a chuckle.

The humor element embodies the most fun in the limerick.For instance, the Nantucket reference causes most limerick readers to pursue to the end to see if the writer would really 'go there'. The same is true of the one above Nantucket with 'suck' and 'Tuck' as the punchline setup rhyme. The fun there is the tease with regard to the ending rhyme word.

Limericks also tell a bit of a story. Like the woman who pondered her unhappy relationship above. You want to get the reader to read into the limerick all the backstory you can. If you can pull up a quick mind-picture with a humorous snap at the end, you have a successful limerick.

The rhythm of the limerick is of course, distinctive. By placing a bite of humor in a succinct story with a rolling rhythm, readers are almost assured entertainment which is why most of us will read a limerick when it's placed in front of us.They're fast, fun and often frank.

Enjoy!