THE POWER OF LIMERICKS
Years ago, before kids, while Terry and I were on a long trek across the great plains, Terry and I helped the time go faster by composing limericks as we drove. At first the silly poems were about our pets at the time. Terry's cat was named Esser. (Don't ask me why. It makes no sense.) Esser was black and very proud. For Esser we wrote:
There once was a kitty named Esser
Who would constantly jump on the dresser
At a shout from Ma Niles
She would say full of smiles
“Of my tricks this is one of the lesser.”
I wrote one for Terry.
There once was a lady named Terry
Whose smile was quite cheerful and merry
With her hair oh so red
As it fell from her head
She was often mistook for a cherry
Terry wrote one for me.
There once was a fellow named Dave
Who everyone thought was so brave
He directed the youth
Who were really uncouth
And got all the people to rave
Now that Terry has little to do except go to therapy and work at her computer, she is spending time looking through old files. She came upon these limericks this past week and sent them out to Carl and Mary and cousin Rick. That set in motion a flood of family limericks that kept us all in stitches all week. The construction does not always fit the form, but these silly poems went flying back and forth and worked magic on our beleaguered spirits.
For Mary, Carl wrote:
There once was a sister named Mary.
Whose back was unusually hairy.
Her ears, they were pointy
Her knees quite disjointy
On the whole she was rather quite scary!
For Carl, Mary wrote: (Not quite fitting the format.)
There once was a dumb dumb named Carl
He thought he was ridiculously smart
But when he would walk
And when he would talk
All you could hear was him FART.
Every time I would open an email I would find dueling limericks. It was wonderful. We laughed all week and kept the compositions flowing. It was a wonderful tonic to our present stress. That is why I wrote this one and sent it out:
A family is never dysfunctional
If in crisis they muster the gumption all
Need in the moment
To write a short poem that
Brings a quick smile in their stress 'N all.
Dave Gladstone