Limericks are fun to hear and fun to create. This is a simple recipe for writing limericks easily:
The rhyme scheme for a limerick looks like this:
A,A,B,B,A
and the rhythm patters is usually:
- da-dum-dum-da-dum-dum-da-dum (da) - da-dum-dum-da-dum-dum-da-dum (da) -da-dum-dum-da-da -da-dum-dum-da-da - da-dum-dum-da-dum-dum-da-dum (da)
Start with three rhyming words, one of which might seem unusual. I often make a list of many more than three so I can pick from among them as needed. Example:
Cola, Lola, bola, areola, goalie, hola, moola, Nola, Polo, roller, bowler, solar.
Often a limerick contains a place name, usually a city. What city rhymes with cola? How about Apalachicola; has a nice rhythm to it also. It would make a good ending.
Typically a limerick contains a person or animal as the main actor. So:
Once there was a man, who drank a lot of cola, He liked to drink it sitting next to Lola, -da-dum-dum-da-da -da-dum-dum-da-da On his way to Apalachicola.
Now you need to fill in lines 3 and 4, which are to rhyme with each other:
He drank it at a truck stop, Which made his bad luck pop,
Altogether then, the first draft looks like this:
Once there was a man, who drank a lot of cola, He liked to drink it sitting next to Lola, He drank it at a truck stop, Which made his bad luck pop, On his way to Apalachicola.
Awkward and somewhat pointless, but technically a limerick. Now to fix it up:
A hippy-dippy man who drank a lot of cola, Had a Cola with a Missy Lola, He drank it at a truck stop, Which made his bad luck pop, On his way to Apalachicola.
Some good changes, overall somewhat better. More tweaking is due.
Once a hippy dippy Holy Roller, Had a Cola with a Missy Lola, He drank it at a truck stop, Which made his bad luck pop, On his way to Apalachicola.
Need to clean up lines 3 and 4 and snap up the ending line:
Once a hippy dippy Holy Roller, Had a Cola with a Missy Lola, When he'd drunk his dippy fill, She took a hippy dippy pill, Then off they flew to Apalachicola.
Result - a limerick with a punch. Here are some more I wrote:
There was a young lady from York, Who never took meat, except pork, She always would clatter, Utensils and platter, And ate with a left-handed fork.
A banker suffering from depression, Was hypnotized into regression, He went on a toot, Drank out of his boot, And gave away every possession.
I enjoy writing limericks so much I post them regularly on my blog: Limericks and eggs. You can read them at my blog called Limericks and Eggs. If you write limericks you think I would enjoy reading, I'll be happy to receive them. If I get a collection of good ones from readers, I'll post them on a new blog site.
Jack Wilson is a writer and artist in Tempe, Arizona:
http://jackwilson-links.blogspot.com/