Limerick, Poetic Form Exercise Options

[Larry]

I leave nothing I’ve wanted to keep
and that may make me sound like a creep
but with rocketing prices
the thing that is nice is
I got it while it was still cheap.

[JustDaniel]

If you married while you were still cheap
does that mean you've a wife you should keep
until she is expensive?
Are you apprehensive
that she may soon leave her old creep?

[Larry]

If she leaves the old creep, she may soon
wish she'd stayed because he was a boon
for she got what she wanted
whenever and flaunted
the fact that she did! Changed her tune!

[JustDaniel]

If the facts show that she's changed her tune
time to launch that surrender balloon
so she knows you are there
and that you still care
at the end of her little typhoon.

[Larry]

If the typhoons she throws are not little
and her reasons for them are a riddle
then I'd say she's in need
of more love. Just proceed
to see if she'd like "hey diddle-diddle"!

[JustDaniel]

If you see she likes 'hey-diddle-diddle'
you should ask if she'd like to go fiddle
out behind the back barn
so perhaps you could larn
what she wants, knotted up in her riddle.

[Larry]

If it's not just a rittle she wants
but a rot and the thought really daunts
you because you don't have
quite enough but with salve
you can rove her but reave when she taunts.

[JustDaniel]

If you're reaving with Rover with taunts
you are likely to have many jaunts
into places unknown
and do things not condoned
by your conscience, nor likely your aunt's.

[Larry]

If your aunt is your conscience you may
wonder why she and mom always say
the same things when you err.
Could it be that they were
always sharing each other’s birthday?

[JustDaniel]

We are sharing each other's birthday;
brother Art came came as Mother's bouquet.
Turned eleven next morn
and voila, he was born
after Mom's water broke on the way.

[Larry]

Not long after Mom’s water had broken
Art arrived as a brotherly token
on the day of your birth
causing a lifelong dearth
of lone celebrations you could soak in.

[JustDaniel]

I can soak in a lone celebration;
the three-thousand-mile approximation
that's between us has eased
us to play as we've pleased
on our birthday with no affectation.

[Larry]

Affectations on birthdays cause rifts
in the family and those with gifts
who may plan to attend
but their schedules append
‘tll the celebrant’s attitude shifts.

[JustDaniel]

We've no celebrant attitude gripes,
and we aren't encumbered with snipes
at each other to hurt,
neither hid nor overt.
"Happy Birthday" we sing with our pipes!

[Larry]

To sing “Happy Birthday” with a pipe
in your teeth may take a special type
for saliva may ooze
past your lips as you schmooze
so keep hankies with which you can wipe.

[JustDaniel]

The only thing needful to wipe
is the sweat from your face when you pipe
with your throat, silly goose.
You just keep the pipes loose
in your larynx; there need be no hype.

[Larry]

There was great need for hype when we toured
for the music we brought had endured
centuries of time’s test;
A Capella was best.
Of that fact, JFK had assured.


In the mid-60’s, our choir sang in the White House rotunda and afterwards, Kennedy’s personal secretary brought word that JFK had to leave for a meeting in Germany but wanted us to know that he’d said our singing was the nicest alarm clock he had ever heard.

[JustDaniel]

When they shot JFK, so I heard,
our quartet had not yet sung a word,
but a year or two later
we'd sing in Decatur,
performed a cappella, chauffeured.

I was the soloist and bass/baritone/second tenor (depending on the arrangement) in our college's men's quartet that toured supporting churches of the school across the country.... over 10,000 miles by car in each of two summers for six weeks.

[Larry]

Chauffeured a cappella to perform
with an excellence over the norm
is the way to begin
so you know that you’ve been
treated properly when you can charm.

[JustDaniel]

Treated properly 'cause you could charm
your sitter... or threaten great harm
if they were too strict,
that you would inflict
injuries that would cause them alarm.