Limerick Digest Challenge: Rewrite a Poem in Limerick form

[Lyricalli]

I've never written a limerick, but they sure can be fun to read. I found this little gem while roaming the internet. Butters had the brilliant idea of adding it to the forum, and has already written one of her own.

So, here's the challenge. No end date, no prizes, just something to have fun with when you want to write a little rhyme. Just take a poem (or book, movie, song) and summarize it as a limerick.

Examples below:


https://i1.wp.com/www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/limericks.jpg?w=350&ssl=1

 

[butters]

to be fair, my attempt was a book... Wuthering Heights. hope you don't mind me playing with those rules and i will give poems a shot when one suggests itself. thanks!


and here's a book/movie

fire, ice, and malice (i.e the trials of Bambi)

a dear deer with sad mummy issues
had everyone reaching for tissues
he learned that thin ice
is not very nice
but grew to be king, as supposed to

 

[butters]

the love song of alfred j prufrock
posed question on question--a mind-rock
his marmalade phase
his mermaids au-lait
had spoons rubbing shoulders with smog


prufrock has us gassed on a table
where ladies and ladies enable
the gossip of days
the daydreaming haze
where mermaids are more than mere fable

 

[butters]

like cream

this spirit will rise to the heights
no matter the slurs and the slights
no keeping us down
we'll smile where you frown
you don't get to drown out our rights









mea culpa, maya, this deserves better

 

[Lyricalli]

to be fair, my attempt was a book... Wuthering Heights. hope you don't mind me playing with those rules and i will give poems a shot when one suggests itself. thanks!

Not at all! Just more things to have fun with. I added more options to the description in my post.

Obviously, I'm going to have to give this a go myself at some point, too hehe

 

[Tzara]

Story of O, Condensed

Once Rene sent sweet O on a trip
To Roissy where they forced her to strip.
On the floor as she knelt,
Demure, helpless, and svelte,
They then introduced her to the whip.

The Château was a kind of cabal
Where jeunes filles were sequestered in thrall.
There obedience reigned,
And the slaves were there trained,
Left blindfolded, nude, open to all.

Many chapters describe O's travails,
But here we'll skip over details.
Just suffice it to say
O's abused every day
Yet her spirit's not crushed--it prevails.

Then at last she was forced to submit
To a cultured and well-endowed Brit.
Stephen bound her. He flogged.
Her poor anus he dogged.
Though she loved him, he wouldn't commit.

Stephen brands O as his with a chain
Through her labia, pierced. She is caned.
To a post in the Square
She is bound, masked and bare.
And abandoned? It isn't explained.

 

[Levitating_Bed]

Ulysses

It's a catalog of Irish distresses
which a work of genius nevertheless is.
God's a shout in the street,
as Leopold beat his meat -
but it all ends with Molly Bloom's Yesses.

 

[Angeline]

WB's Animals

From Yeats there is much that's of use--
a roaming cat, a Sphinx on the loose.
Swans may be aware
of each other: sweet pair,
but hoo boy look out if one's Zeus.

 

[Tzara]

ENGL 202: Modernist Poetry,
Exam Question 1

In your essay, please strive to explain
How Bill's wheelbarrow, left in the rain,
Portends something profound;
And please also expound
On those chickens--how do they pertain?

 

[Angeline]

Forgive Who?*

And how about those plums
that were eaten wholly, not some,
and who left that note,
did he mean what he wrote,
or was he merely one hungry bum?

*This Is Just To Say, William Carlos Williams

 

[Tzara]

ENGL 202: Modernist Poetry,
Exam Question 2

Of this gyre that is spinning around,
And the falcon that cannot be found--
Are they anarchy loosed
Or just symbols produced
Of the rough beast of Chaos unbound?

 

[Levitating_Bed]

The Big Lebowski

Rife with distinctly Coen-ian argot.
It's got Dylan and Bowling and Marmots.
We learn nihilism's exhausting
and what a toe is costing
all because somebody pees on a carpet.



@Tzara: someday I will tell the tale of finding a copy of The Story of O on the side of the road at age 16 while riding my bike in suburban New England. I'll spoil the end of that tale now though - I end up here. I laughed out loud at your condensation.

@Angeline: Forgive Her

So, apparently referential limericks > ordinary limericks. Who knew? The last time a limerick came anywhere near to making me as happy as all of these do, I was 12, and yes, the word Nantucket was involved.

Thanks also to Calli for starting this nonsense. It's time for you to get on board this train too.

 

[Lyricalli]

This is all so great! I'm glad you're having such fun with it, and you're all so good.

Thanks also to Calli for starting this nonsense. It's time for you to get on board this train too.

I know. I've just got nothing yet. I'm going to try, promise.

 

[butters]

something wonderful's happening in this thread *yuge grins*

 

[Tzara]

ENGL 202: Modernist Poetry,
Exam Question 3

If a metaphor's kind of a dream,
This one's chilly--it being ice cream.
Is this verse about death
Or about those who're left?
Well, in any case, what is its theme?

 

[Angeline]

ENGL 202: Modernist Poetry,
Exam Question 3

If a metaphor's kind of a dream,
This one's chilly--it being ice cream.
Is this verse about death
Or about those who're left?
Well, in any case, what is its theme?

Darn it! I was cogitating on how to limerickize this poem. (It's very good. )


My Hero

And now we shall consider Frank
who was modern, artistic, no crank.
His hum-colored city
crosses whimsy with gritty.
Do I emulate him? Alas, c'est mon manque.

 

[Angeline]

Rife with distinctly Coen-ian argot.
It's got Dylan and Bowling and Marmots.
We learn nihilism's exhausting
and what a toe is costing
all because somebody pees on a carpet.



@Tzara: someday I will tell the tale of finding a copy of The Story of O on the side of the road at age 16 while riding my bike in suburban New England. I'll spoil the end of that tale now though - I end up here. I laughed out loud at your condensation.

@Angeline: Forgive Her

So, apparently referential limericks > ordinary limericks. Who knew? The last time a limerick came anywhere near to making me as happy as all of these do, I was 12, and yes, the word Nantucket was involved.

Thanks also to Calli for starting this nonsense. It's time for you to get on board this train too.

So it was a her!

I'll echo the others here: Callie you have a winner with this challenge. The form requires a certain silliness that really brings the fun!

 

[Tzara]

ENGL 202: Modernist Poetry,
Exam Question 4

What does poetry mean in the end,
Do we read it as it was first penned?
Or can themes be revised
Through interpreter's eyes?
On whose take do we finally depend?

 

[Levitating_Bed]

The Wizard of Oz

There was a young lady from Kansas...

...I kid, I kid.

A young woman and outcast friends
on whom saving the world depends,
while a useless white guy
full of scared selfish lies
saves only himself in the end.

Obviously, a film way ahead of its time.

 

[Lyricalli]

I'll echo the others here: Callie you have a winner with this challenge. The form requires a certain silliness that really brings the fun!

The thread idea is all butters', and I'm sooo glad she suggested it.



And, I'm pretty sure this is the first limerick-y thing I've ever written


Homage to My Hips

These hips, they surely don't lie
They have no shame in their size
They're bold and they're round
Strutting 'round town
Leaving behind men mesmerized

 

[Ashesh9]

Bravo!!!

Story of O, Condensed

Once Rene sent sweet O on a trip
To Roissy where they forced her to strip.
On the floor as she knelt,
Demure, helpless, and svelte,
They then introduced her to the whip.

The Château was a kind of cabal
Where jeunes filles were sequestered in thrall.
There obedience reigned,
And the slaves were there trained,
Left blindfolded, nude, open to all.

Many chapters describe O's travails,
But here we'll skip over details.
Just suffice it to say
O's abused every day
Yet her spirit's not crushed--it prevails.

Then at last she was forced to submit
To a cultured and well-endowed Brit.
Stephen bound her. He flogged.
Her poor anus he dogged.
Though she loved him, he wouldn't commit.

Stephen brands O as his with a chain
Through her labia, pierced. She is caned.
To a post in the Square
She is bound, masked and bare.
And abandoned? It isn't explained.

The Story of O has never been so lovingly X-rayed!!! Bravo Tzara!!!

 

[Piscator]

T.S.E.’s Fetish

A feline fetish without doubt
but must he his mania flout
and make phantasmagorical
a new cat-egorical
and now the cat is out.

 

[Levitating_Bed]

[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]

Handles on hearts metaphorical.
The lifting's instead metaphysical.
Parentheses abound
(but it's beauty that surrounds).
Warm words which are wonderfully whimsical.

 

[Levitating_Bed]

The thread idea is all butters', and I'm sooo glad she suggested it.



And, I'm pretty sure this is the first limerick-y thing I've ever written


Homage to My Hips

These hips, they surely don't lie
They have no shame in their size
They're bold and they're round
Strutting 'round town
Leaving behind men mesmerized

Well done!

Fitting Shakira and Lucille Clifton in the same limerick almost made my head explode.

 

[Piscator]

a bargain at half the price
to make limericks nice
from works of modern (postmodern?) poets
and wouldn’t you know it
lightning strikes more than twice