Limerick-Off Monday

(Click on the headline to access Mad Kane's Limerick-Off Monday.)

My attempts, using the line "A gal who seemed guileless and sweet" as the start:

A gal who seemed guileless and sweet
Opted for a kooky sort of treat
Instead of coffee -
Or chocolate, or toffee
She preferred to eat – ugh – boiled sugar beet.

Or a slight variation thereof:

A gal who seemed guileless and sweet
Would find the weirdest things to eat
When it was time for dessert
She’d eschew cookies and sherbert.
Oddly, boiled sugar beet was her favourite treat.

I can't say I'm particularly pleased with either of these. I might add one or two more if I can manage to shift my brain away from boiled sugar beets.

Update: The first version, improved 100% with Madeleine's tweaks (and comments) reads thus:

"Shammy your first version is much better meter-wise, but could use some meter tinkering. Here’s one possibility:

A gal who seemed guileless and sweet
Did opt for a kooky type treat.
Not ice cream or coffee
Or chocolate, or toffee –
Her preference - ugh – boiled sugar beet."

Thanks for your help, Madeleine!

My first limerick

I love limericks - my first introduction to them was through Edward Lear's nonsense rhymes, but soon I tracked down lots of others, some innocuous, others tongue-in-cheek naughty and still others quite X-rated. I liked them all... that is to say, I liked all the genuinely good ones that made me smile or laugh and/or admire the word-play - Ogden Nash being favourite for this!

I came across Mad Kane's Humor Blog quite by chance, and since it's pretty brilliant and she writes some damn good limericks besides, I added the site to my links. On a whim I also tried my hand at writing a limerick for one of her prompts where she gives the first line as a starting point - and here it is:

A fellow was fit to be tied
When he found that his lovely bride
Declared she was off
Because he was not a toff –
What? You think this tale isn’t bona fide?

And ere ye judge me harshly, gentle reader, please to bear in mind that it's my first (public) effort at limerickery. The way to encourage is to not laugh - that is, to not laugh unkindly. Do feel free to laugh at the humour.

Addendum: Just had a thought - what if you think it best to NOT encourage any more limerickery-buffoonery on my part? Oh the horror...

Sunday Scribblings - "Messenger"

I’ve been a Stephen King fan for as long as I remember, although that said, I can’t actually remember which of his books I read first, or at what age, or even how I latched on to him first. All I know is that apart from a few blips here and there (“Rose Madder”, “Gerald’s Game”), I’ve read and enjoyed every one of his books, fiction and non-fiction. Some books, of course, are way ahead of the others, but on the whole I think he’s an amazing writer. I might have said this before, but I’ve frequently found his imagery and descriptions almost poetic in their lyricism... and how I’ve wished that I had just a wee fraction of his ability to paint word-pictures! (I haven’t really stopped wishing it, actually.) Considering he’s a “horror” writer, it speaks volumes for his genius that poetry is what comes to my mind even in the midst of gore – and let’s make no bones about it, there is usually plenty of gore.

But futile wishing and hours of breathless reading aside, I’ve also gained unexpected knowledge from his books. For instance, I learnt that sparrows - those tiny, drab, nondescript, cheerfully chirpy little birds once so common in Madras - are considered to be messengers of death, sent to escort newly deceased souls to the afterlife. The novel from which I gleaned this information was “The Dark Half”, which is replete with hundreds of sparrows swooping and swirling innocuously – and yet menacingly - throughout the novel, finally taking away the evil alter ego, George Stark, to his well-deserved ending.

I love Stephen King. Long may he write.