Tag Archives: humor

BOOK: “New Comic Limericks” ed. by Ivanette Dennis

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New Comic LimericksNew Comic Limericks by Ivanette Dennis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This anthology consists of 63 pages of whimsical limericks with amusing cartoon illustrations by Louis Marak. There aren’t laugh-out-loud yucks to be had here, but the wordplay of these poems is clever and the limericks are more well-crafted than most. It should be pointed out that there is nothing risqué in the collection either. The most best-known limerick writers included are Ogden Nash, Edward Lear, Gelett Burgess, and Charles Barsotti. [Incidentally, the most famous writers included are Rudyard Kipling, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., and Robert Louis Stevenson.]

The pieces take a wide variety playful approaches to the limerick from eye rhymes, slant rhymes and the shape poetry of Charles Barsotti.

If you’re interested in limericks and wordplay, there is a lot to learn from the examples presented in this anthology.

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Dandelion [Limerick]

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“Spring has lined all roads with dandelions.”
 At this a young girl started cryin’
     You see, to her ear,
     ‘Twas rational fear,
 For she was afraid of Dandy Lions.

PROMPT: Underrated

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Daily writing prompt
Who are some underrated people in history?
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Alfred Krupa, Bernard Sadow, and Robert Plath, men whose inventions over thirty-three years during the late twentieth-century ushered in a new epoch in human history — the era of the wheeled suitcase.

Now, the fact that we didn’t figure out putting wheels on a suitcase until the late 20th century (and that when we did it took several long-fought permutations before wheeled suitcases were worth a damn) is a chilling testimony to how quickly General Artificial Intelligence will leave our species in the dust.

PROMPT: Productive

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Daily writing prompt
When do you feel most productive?
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Generally, I feel most productive when I’m in the act of producing something, but I have had some measure of success in tricking myself into feeling productive when I’m actually goofing off at high intensity.

PROMPT: Positive Thing

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Daily writing prompt
Describe a positive thing a family member has done for you.
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Not slapped me in my stupid face when I said or did something idiotic. (Or is that a “negative thing,” since it involved inaction, rather than action.) Anyhow, it always feels like a rather positive thing to me.

PROMPT: High School

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Daily writing prompt
Describe something you learned in high school.
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The one thing I learned in High School was that I really should have learned more than one thing in High School.

PROMPT: Pandemic

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Daily writing prompt
How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?
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That’s so far in the rearview that I can’t remember. I’m thinking about the next one. It’ll be here before you know it.

I’m not quite sure what to do about it now that the CDC guidelines are to drink a shot of bleach each morning for the germs and take one bath in raw sewage before bedtime each evening for a robust immune system.

PROMPT: Laugh

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Daily writing prompt
What makes you laugh?
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Comedy… and select instances of tragedy.

Shit Creek [Limerick]

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Photograph taken in Budapest, Hungary at the City Park.
The sign said that one cannot swim,
  But the chances of that were quite slim.
   It looked like pea soup,
   But the color of poop,
 To swim up Shit Creek you'd have to be dim.

PROMPT: Ambitious DIY

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Daily writing prompt
Describe the most ambitious DIY project you’ve ever taken on.
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Trying to get squirrels out of the attic. They did me like Macaulay Culkin / Kevin McCallister in Home Alone. Ultimately, had to call experts (pest control, not hitmen,) and they made short work of it.