Limerick Inspirations

Karin

Apr 15

A limerick is a form of verse, usually humorous and frequently rude or crude, in five-line, predominantly anapestic tri-meter with a strict rhyme scheme of AABBA. The largest and most scholarly anthology says the true limerick, as a folk form, is always obscene, functioning as a violation of taboo. The following classic example is a limerick of unknown origin:

The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical.
But the good ones I've seen
So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.

The origin of the name limerick is generally a reference to the City or County of Limerick in Ireland and derived from an earlier form of "nonsense verse parlour game" that traditionally included the refrain Will you come (up) to Limerick?

The New English Dictionary records the first usage of the word limerick for this type of poem in England in 1898 and in the United States in 1902. The earliest documented example, an 1880 reference, in a Saint John, New Brunswick newspaper reads:

There was a young rustic named Mallory,
who drew but a very small salary.
When he went to the show,
his purse made him go
to a seat in the uppermost gallery.

Limericks are fun. And, also challenging. The most fun for me has been the ones inspired by friends and family. In a recent conversation with my sister, she challenged me to write something funny about the ugly shoes she's forced to wear due to foot problems:

My sister wears shoes that are clunky
When what she desires is spunky
Foot damage refutes
stilettos or boots\No more fun strutting funky

Then at a recent lunch with friends a situation arose that inspired me:

Dining out, Betty wants butter
That sends waitresses into a flutter
When it arrives cold
Complaining's too bold
Instead, she demurs with a shutter

That one is of the "you had to be there" variety but the second Monday lunch group laughed a lot. It's fun to write limericks. It's also challenging in new ways. Fitting unusual words into tight spaces. An economy of words that still tell the story. My limericks don't fit the traditional requirement of crude or rude. I'd rather just be funny. Hey, there's a limerick in that!