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Poetry Prompt: The Laughable Limerick

By Heather Eure 18 Comments

laughable limerick poetry promptArguably, there isn’t a poetry form more fun than the Limerick. It makes us laugh and blush, and its jaunty rhythm with rigid structure makes it oh-so-easy to memorize. Fortunately, it’s also easy to write.

The Limerick’s simplicity is one of the reasons it just keeps on hanging on. It is made up of five anapestic lines, and the uncomplicated rhyme scheme is aabba. The first, second, and fifth lines are trimeter, while the third and fourth are dimeter. Many times, the third and fourth lines are written as a solitary line with an internal rhyme. In short, the first and second line rhyme together, the third and fourth line rhyme together, and the fifth line can either rhyme with the first line or repeat the first line.

Here is a well-known limerick by the affable Ogden Nash:

There was a young belle of old Natchez
Whose garments were always in patchez.
When comments arose
On the state of her clothes,
She replied, “When Ah itchez, Ah scratchez.”

Try It: Write a Limerick

Following the classic rhyme scheme, write your own laughable limerick. Draw from the funny moments in the past, embarrassing gaffs, or glean from the stories you’ve heard. Share your limerick in the comment section below, we’ll be reading (and laughing).

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Featured Poem

Thanks to everyone who participated in last week’s poetry prompt. Here is a poem from Rick we enjoyed:

Ghost

We sit and talk.
You, the father’s ghost,
somewhere in the dust
that falls constantly to earth.

I have a face for you now,
a mosaic in glass. In my dreams
your hands created it,
like the pieces of the angels
formed for the Sunday sunshine.

But there are the houses of memory,
the chairs moved in the night. You
can see the scars on the floors.
I can hear the tolling bells of my crying
from the blue mouths on my skin,
ringing in my aging ears.

In the snowfall of a winter mind,
your prints are lighter, after all,
you are a ghost now, your weight
is really only mine
until I am weightless too.

—Rick Maxson

Photo by Ace Armstrong. Creative Commons via Flickr.

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How to Write a Poem 283 high How to Write a Poem uses images like the buzz, the switch, the wave—from the Billy Collins poem “Introduction to Poetry”—to guide writers into new ways of writing poems. Excellent teaching tool. Anthology and prompts included.

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—Callie Feyen, English Teacher, Maryland

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Heather Eure
Heather Eure
Heather Eure has served as the Poetry Editor for the late Burnside Collective and Special Projects Editor for us at Tweetspeak Poetry. Her poems have appeared at Every Day Poems. Her wit has appeared just about everywhere she's ever showed up, and if you're lucky you were there to hear it.
Heather Eure
Latest posts by Heather Eure (see all)
  • Poetry Prompt: Misunderstood Lion - March 19, 2018
  • Animate: Lions & Lambs Poetry Prompt - March 12, 2018
  • Poetry Prompt: Behind the Velvet Rope - February 26, 2018

Filed Under: Blog, Limerick, poetry prompt, poetry teaching resources, writer's group resources, writing prompt

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Comments

  1. Rick Maxson says

    April 4, 2017 at 3:13 am

    There once was a poet named Frost,
    who chose a less travelled road at great cost.
    It wasn’t made known that his mother
    said, I would, were it me, take the other,
    for there’s a wall ‘round the bend to be crossed.

    Reply
    • L.L. Barkat says

      April 4, 2017 at 9:56 am

      There once was a funny man, Richard
      who painted a humorous picture.
      He did it with words
      While I listened to birds
      And my tea almost lost its dear fixture.

      Reply
      • Rick Maxson says

        April 4, 2017 at 4:41 pm

        Ha ha. Good one!

        Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      April 6, 2017 at 9:36 pm

      Love this! Haha!!

      Reply
  2. Rick Maxson says

    April 4, 2017 at 5:02 pm

    A composer wrote music quite well,
    the sonata his particular skill.
    In his boat he would sing,
    but when the boom made a swing
    the singer wound up in the swell.

    Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      April 6, 2017 at 9:37 pm

      Is it a compliment to say you’re a natural limerick writer? So funny!

      Reply
  3. Rick Maxson says

    April 4, 2017 at 5:25 pm

    Richard Parker, a tiger well known,
    on a lifeboat with one of his own,
    metaphorically human,
    meant to subtly illumen-
    ate—truth varies until you pick one.

    Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      April 6, 2017 at 9:39 pm

      Richard Parker! Yay!

      Reply
  4. Monica Sharman says

    April 5, 2017 at 6:44 pm

    Relentless, insatiable deadlines!
    This manuscript’s still full of red lines.
    First I’ll sweat through the edits
    and check all the credits
    then chill with my favorite red wine.

    Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      April 6, 2017 at 9:41 pm

      Aren’t you clever?
      The last line spoke to me. 😉

      Reply
  5. Monica Sharman says

    April 6, 2017 at 9:30 am

    Dear Santa, when you get this letter
    I will not have behaved any better.
    Since I’ve been quite a jerk,
    save your reindeer some work:
    Might as well skip my house altogether.

    Reply
    • Monica Sharman says

      April 6, 2017 at 2:33 pm

      Santa Writes Back

      Dear Monica, thank you for writing.
      Your letter was actually inviting.
      Since you wanted what’s best
      for Rudolph and the rest,
      on your rooftop we will be alighting.

      Reply
      • Heather Eure says

        April 6, 2017 at 10:09 pm

        Santa clearly likes you more. Here was his last response to me:

        Heather, you’ve been quite a pain
        Writing letters again and again.
        You think it is cool
        To break every rule.
        No. You can’t have that castle in Spain.

        Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      April 6, 2017 at 9:45 pm

      Monica, I’ve written a similar letter for the past 40 years. 🙁

      Reply
  6. Mikels Skele says

    April 8, 2017 at 8:54 am

    You’ve asked us to write a small poem,
    a limerick, (at least as I know ’em,)
    in spite of the fact
    that poets lack tact;
    and you’ll reap them as fast as we sow ’em.

    Reply
  7. Katie says

    April 10, 2017 at 8:45 pm

    There once was a reader of books,
    she looked and she looked and she looked,
    But couldn’t find any good reads,
    None whatever to meet her needs,
    So a bookless journey she took.

    (these have been fun – thanks to everyone for sharing!)

    Reply
  8. Katie says

    April 11, 2017 at 9:17 am

    Okay – a few changes on my limerick:

    There once was a lady of books,
    She looked and she looked and she looked,
    But couldn’t find any good reads,
    None at all to meet her needs,
    So a bookless vacation she took!

    (a bit of background: My family teases me that wherever I go – trip or not – I look like a “bag lady” due to my ever-present tote bag(s) of books;) *Actually, it would be highly unusual for me not to find any good reads!

    Reply
  9. aidyn says

    April 9, 2019 at 8:46 am

    those were awesome

    Reply

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