Limerick

To get tickets for the play I stood in line,

At the theater on Sunset and Vine.

I took a blind date.

Can’t say she was great.

The seat they gave her was K-9. 

   I am not good at writing limericks although I did once win an Honorable Mention in a limerick contest.  Limericks are supposed to be funny.  The rhyme scheme is a,a,b,b,a.  Can you try writing your own limerick today?

Children's Poetry can make a child laugh.

    

HAIKU

More clouds gathering

in the Sonora desert

no rain, one more day

   I thought our heat was going to break today, but it didn't.  And the weather forcast in the paper for this week lists the chance of rain at 0% for every day listed.  I'm waiting to see if the one day of 99 degrees (our first break in triple digit weather in three weeks,) really happens.

    Can you write a haiku about the weather around your place, or perhaps you'd like to try a limerick?  Have fun writing.

APRIL

All flowers blooming,
purple pansies looming
right next to daffodils zooming
in the bending wind, then after
leave us with laughter.


     I've been playing with an acrostic poem based on APRIL today.  Can you try creating your own poem on an April theme?  What are some things that APRIL makes you think of?  Since there are five lines, you might want to shape your poem in one of the five line verses, like limerick or cinquain.  Have fun playing with poetry today.

My Dog, the Comedian

There once was a dog, a Welsh Springer.
With rude comments he landed his zingers.
He wasn't a hit.
That's how he got bit.
His jokes were Welsh Springer humdingers.


    OK, so there you have a limerick.  The rhyming pattern for this five line poem is A,A, B, B, A.  The limerick is meant to be a humorous verse form.  Your challenge for today is to re-write the last line.  What can you come up with?  Or, write your own limerick about a pet animal.  Have fun playing with poetry.  

      Keri is hosting the Friday Poetry Roundup on her blog here.  Thanks for hosting us, Keri.

 http://kerirecommends.com/2014/01/16/poetry-friday-round-up-.aspx

Couplet

Two very shy poetry lines

came together and felt fine.

"We can be strong, you can bet!

We'll call ourselves a couplet."

And when the two appeared together

their verses got better and better.

     Oh this is silly, I'm going to have to work on this a lot.  I'm thinking about
 the couple getting pregnant and when the  twins came, the family then would be a quatrain.  The twins catch a cold and  they get sick, so Grandma comes and makes a limerick. 

     Your challenge for to day is to write a poem in couplets.  Try to keep your poem short.  Can you write a complete poem with just one couplet?  Have fun.

Too Much Watermelon

Once there was a mean old felon

Who stole our ripe watermelon.

He said it had zing.

He ate the whole thing.

Now he is achy-bellowin'.

     This form poem is a limerick.  I made up that last word.  Can you guess the meaning? It is a play/reversal on bellyaching.  I like making up words and discovering new ones.  Do you?  When I was in school I used to get into a lot of trouble for this behavior.  My papers often would be returned with red ink marking them and a note from my teacher, "This isn't a word."  Perhaps this is why I am a poet, so I can make up words.  It is also probably why I love dictionaries.  Here is today's challenge.  Make up your own word and leave it and its definition in the comments section below.  Today is the birthday of my birthday poet Theodore Roethke.  He's probably most famous for his poem MY PAPA'S WALTZ.  But he wrote a lot of other great poems too.  I love the line a congress of stinks, from THE ROOT CELLAR.  and try reading NIGHT CROW, to see if you get the same eerie feeling I do every time I read that poem.  I look at Roethke's line breaks, his word choice and I'm still wondering how he gets me to the point I'm at when I reach the end of the poem. (Sorry, You'll have to page down to find NIGHT CROW but there is an audio version too.)   So I'm off to have fun playing with words, hope you have a fun day too.

Limerick

I have a special treat for you today.  The poem isn't mine.  Today's poem is written by my friend Willa Brigham.  Willa is the two time Emmy Award winner as hostess of the children's television program Smart Start Kids.  She is a motivational speaker, performance artist and does workshops in the schools.  She also is an awesome story teller.
Willa was working this week at an elementary school in Durham, NC and had a short break between presentations so she used her time to write this poem.  She has CD's of her stories and songs.  You can find out more about Willa at her web site www.willabrigham.com  |  www.cdbaby.com/willabrigham

There was a well fed man from Raleigh,
Who feasted on oatmeal and barley.
Though long and lean 

with the skin of a bean
His rump was as big as a trolley.





     Limericks are usually humorous poems that start with two rhyming couplets, and then a fifth line that rhymes with the first couplet.  A fun exercise is to find some limericks and remove the last line.  Then try writing your own last line that matches the meter of your first line.

   On this poem,could we try, He traveled every where with his dolly.
                                               Eating made him bigger,to his folly.
                                               His hair was green, by golly.
                                               He had a bird named Polly.

 Today's challenge is to find a limerick and write 2 or 3 alternate last lines.  Have fun.
 I'm over at www.thinkkidthink.com   playing March Poetry Madness with my poetry friends.  My challenge was to write a poem using the word "dismemberment."  It wasn't easy.

The Turkey

There was a young  turkey from Raleigh,

who was warned to walk woodlands was folly.

So he didn't go out,

or gobble about.

Thanksgiving just made him melancholy.

     I thought about using, "so he booked a plane ticket to Bali," for the last line.  Can you think of a better last line?  It is a tough, busy day getting ready for the feast tomorrow.  I have painters in my house painting the interior, so you can imagine the upheaval.  Can you try writing your own short poem today about the turkey?

A turkey was caught

in a shot gun volley.

He was plucked and trussed

to his folly.

He was buttered and basted,

then everyone tasted

and remarked,

this is good,

by golly!