Limerick Challenge

What is a Limerick poem? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Limerick is a noun from Ireland, and its first known use in poem form was in 1895. Its definition is below.

a light or humorous verse form of five chiefly anapestic verses of which lines 1, 2, and 5 are of three feet and lines 3 and 4 are of two feet with a rhyme scheme of aabba

Kids definition:

a humorous poem five lines long in which the first, second, and fifth lines have one rhyme and the third and fourth another

Anapestic noun

a metrical foot consisting of two short syllables followed by one long syllable or of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable (such as unaware)

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I love a good Limerick. I do not know many people who don't like a good Limerick. A limerick can be bawdy and randy or just plain innocent fun. Either way, they always bring a good laugh.

So what I want you to do is to write me a Limerick. I challenge every Vocal Creator who reads this to Limerick me to death. I want to read so many Limericks that I won't want to read another for a year or more.

Everyone who enters can submit as many Limericks as they would like. I'll pick five of my favorite Limericks to feature from all the entries in an October 9, 2023 article. All Limericks must be submitted by October 8, 2023.

Each Limerick submission should mention the challenge in the subtitle. Each one should be posted under Poets section. Then post the link to the Limerick in the comments. I will pick from only the Limericks posted in the comments. The five Limericks I pick, their creators will each get a $1 tip from me.

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Old man Haggerty happened upon a cat

He asked the cat where it was about

Because the cat was wearing a bowtie and a hat

The cat was slow to reply

But when he did, he said he was going to dine on a rat

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If you need more inspiration, below are three Limericks I found on Vocal that I thought were funny and well-written. Give them a read, and if you like them, leave them a comment or heart.

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Wikipedia has several examples of Limericks that you may find inspiring.

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Or these from Parade may inspire you more.

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Then there are the examples on Britannica site.

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As always, thank you for reading my nonsense. I hope to see some great entries for this challenge.

This unofficial challenge is in no way associated with Vocal. This is a challenge I have unofficially set for my fellow Creators.