THELIMERIXGUY: I am a retired consulting engineer who found long ago that writing poetry is not all that difficult. I found this out when I was short of a present and card on the night before an anniversary. A quick poem rescued my plight. I tend to the gravitate to the opposite ends of the poem spectrum (love poems to doggerel) but also like to write satire and children's verse. However, I mostly write Limerix (spelled with an X), which I define as a standard limerick except has multiple verses, tells a complete story and usually has a surprise ending. Or you could describe it as: a Limerix is a Limerick on steroids. LIMERIX RULES The rules of a Limerick, spelled with a K Are quite rigid, no areas of gray Master poet, Edward Lear Writing Limericks, was his career The rules of which, he never strayed But I write Limerix, spelled with an X Writing the prose to my own specs But when I am done, My lines are shunned By poets who say, reject, reject I start with a line, and so it goes Searching for words, fitting to compose To put into verse Sometimes in reverse Then the story just grows and grows The poet talks about metric feet Each line parsed, quite discrete But, what are these feet That a poet must meet Before the poem is considered complete A metric foot has nothing to do With the shape, width or size of my shoe Nor does it relate To a length or weight It's meaning is obscure and understood by few So I write Limerix, not following the rules Of course the poets all call me a fool But, do I care That I don"t share The Limerick's rules? No, I just do it The above Limerix is my way of telling you that I am not a -technical poet--. That is, I do not understand the technical descriptions (such as ABBA, CCDD) or the limitations of syllables count. I do it "by ear". If the proper rhythm is there on reading, it"s OK. If a natural rhythm is not there, redo it. Poems are a way to express emotions in visual form which sometimes puts me in an awkward position when my desire for literal translation emerges. That is, to make poetic in the literal sense and to provide a visual picture at the same time may be difficult at best. One last item. If at any time you can improve on my writing, I encourage you to do so. Send me your improved copy and I will acknowledge you accordingly. This is not a challenge, but rather a request for you to help me write better poetry. |
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