Did you know that National Limerick Day is coming up soon? It is observed each year on May 12th and celebrates the birthday of English artist, illustrator, author, and poet Edward Lear (May 12, 1812 – January 29, 1888). Lear popularized the limerick poem in his “Book of Nonsense” in 1846. A limerick is a structured short, humorous, nonsense poem. There are always five lines. The first two lines rhyme with the fifth line, and the third and fourth lines rhyme with each other. Sometimes (often) they tend to be on the raunchy side:
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
(Wisely) unknown author
In honor of National Limerick Day, each year The Saturday Evening Post sponsors a limerick contest. This year, entries are due by April 25. The magazine will award $25 to the author of the winning limerick about a Norman Rockwell cover illustration from its April 25, 1936, issue, featuring a scarecrow. Below is the link, if you want to give it a try:
https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/limerick-contest
The Siskiyou Writers Club members had fun with limericks at their March meeting. Here are some examples:
Bob Mason incorporated the scarecrow theme in three limericks:
Spring for Matilda
Matilda was tired of the snow,
And tired of not finding a beau,
But March brought spring flowers
And filled up her hours
Happily with her scarecrow.
Jozie & the Scarecrow
A scarecrow who dearly loved posies,
And also the neighbor girl Jozie,
Was jolted alive
When Jozie arrived
With flower and cheeks oh so rosy!
The Melancholy Scarecrow
A scarecrow that felt melancholy
His head filled with dust, straw, and folly,
Could not see the flowers
With their cheering powers
Obscured by his belly so jolly!
Bob Mason
Alan Eddy also made use of the scarecrow theme:
There once was a scarecrow named Sam
That had a great fondness for Spam.
A woman he met
A scarecrow vet
Said you’ll have to eat from the can.
Alan Eddy
Our Siskiyou Writers Club story theme for our last meeting was all about spring and the month of March. Mike Grifantini’s limerick adhered to that and the scarecrow theme:
Anne and Joe—A Limerick
Each year Spring shuffles in, feet dragging,
Days longer, but warmth still lagging.
Anne dresses old Joe,
Buttons his coat and provides a hoe,
Knowing their vegetables will be worth bragging.
Mike Grifantini
Bob Kaster contributed a couple of limericks that didn’t follow any rules:
A guy once rode on a log
Down river in very dense fog
His trip was cut short
And he had to abort
When his log got sucked up in a bog.
The knight climbed out of the wagon
Told the king how he’d slain the dragon
But the king lopped his head
And left him for dead
When he found out the knight was just braggin’
Bob Kaster
Go ahead. Give it a try. It’s good for the soul! And The Saturday Evening Post needs you!
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