"To Combat An Otherwise...'Somber Saturday', Some Fun!"

“To Combat An Otherwise…’Somber Saturday’, Perhaps A Little Levity Is Most Called For As A Necessary Diversion!”

08/04/12

To my very dearest, and kind friends, and ever loyal, and wonderful readers,

Today, dear friends, I thought to somehow, escape the ordinary tawdriness of pain, to focus on—instead—some little bit of levity, as a diversion, and a much-needed anodyne; and so, for some, strange reason, my thoughts turned to the “Limerick”.

Everyone is familiar with Limericks, usually bound-up in a collection of utterly dirty—though sometimes hilarious—rhymes.

Perhaps most widely recalled are the infamous, and seemingly numberless Limericks that begin thusly: “There one was a man from Nantucket…”

The Limerick, according to Wikipedia ( which manages to say so much, but describe so little!), is usually attributed to the County of, and the city of the same name, Limerick, Ireland, where it was first recorded in the mid-eighteenth century as an often sung, bit of salty, tavern-style verse.

In the mid-nineteenth century, the Limerick saw greater recognition, and refinement in the many of the nonsensical, poetic works of the English poet, and satirist, Edward Leary, of “Jabberwocky” fame.

The Limerick enjoys an often irregular metered, rhyming scheme of five lines; wherein, lines one, two, and five share the same rhyming word, while lines three, and four rhyme separately in the form of a couplet.

Thus, the rhyming scheme would look something like this: ‘ A, A, B, B, A ‘.

In addition to the aforementioned lines of doggerel that begin with, “ There once was a man from Nantucket “, I am, for some unknown reason, drawn to the works of the humorist, and artist, and illustrator, the late Edward Gorey, who wrote of the despairs, loneliness, and assorted horrors of childhood ( his must have been a doozy ! ), reprised in his famous little, black doll with no arms, which can sometimes be seen sitting on chair back, or in a neglected corner, which—nevertheless—adds its own, dire presence to the scene.

Further, Gorey wrote Limericks in French, a most daunting task which I admire, but—no longer being in possession of any of his printed works, I can only now recall one, most faultily, and incompletely.  And will spell most horrorifically…all of which I lay the blame to temperament, folly, and the infallibility of memory.  It, of course, goes quite without saying that I can no longer remember the first TWO lines:

A limerick re: the little, black doll, with no arms,

by Edward Gorey, …………….a’hem:

Da-dah, de, da-dah, de dah-dah,

Da-dah, de, da-dah, de dah-dah,

Tout noir, et sans bras,

C’est un affraiz voir(e).

En effete, absolutement le fin.

Or….

…..All black with no arms,

it is an awful sight ( or view ).

In effect, absolutely the end.

Also, as in some strange footnote to the above, when I telephoned my friendly public library to gather what little information I could, and, to attempt, without success, to find that particular Gorey limerick, or further, to try—hopelessly—to remember, and translate my dreadful French, ( whew…), I was told that currently, an actual Gorey-inspired little black doll with no arms, can be found in the form of a plush toy, on Amazon.com….for $39.95!

But, as is usual, my dearest friends, I digress.

The limerick that the reference person at the library provided was,

‘There once was a young man named Mallory,

Who lived on an insufficient salary. ( please, my dearest friends, I am ‘winging it’ here!)

When he went to the stage,

His awfully small wage,

Put him up in the second-class gallery!

For fun, I offer my own, pyrrhic submission into the melee:

There once was a poster named ‘Zahc’,

of aches and pains, he did not lack.

With his long hair, and long beard,

and O-2, he looked weird,

he loves you, and won’t take it back!

Gosh…that was…awful.  Limericks are deceptively difficult to write, but can be pointed, or pithy, or silly, or just lots of fun.

They’re kind of like little, musical passages; bits of remembered song, or verse.

And since they are only five lines long, and irresponsibly silly, the personal creation of a limerick is my request for the day, from you, my dearest friends, and loyal readers.

Just use the typical opening: ‘There once was a…’, and then let your wild imaginings roam, and blossom.

Your limerick can be—really—anything you so desire it to be, and say; it can be nonsensical, with far-stretching rhymes.  It can be personal.

And for today’s needed diversion for us all, I ask that you would please summon-up your own limerick(s), and place them in the ‘comments section’, below.

Remember, my most dear, and wonderful friends, this doesn’t have to be a ‘migraine-maker’ at all; just let yourself go, and have a little fun.

I bet we have limerick-makers out there aplenty!  So….please enjoy!  I most look forward to your submissions!

And…please always know I love you dearly,

‘Zahc'/Charles