|
|
|
ART DERSCH: Dersch Takes Over Limerick Column
It is an honor to follow Tommy Thompson as the editor, guru and instigator for the limerick column.
I fell in love with the limerick’s concise, funny form in 1959 in college. There are few books I’ve returned to more times than the paperback textbook, “Sound and Sense” by Laurence Perrine of SMU. He quoted Alexander Pope (1688-1744):
True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learned to dance.
’Tis not enough no harshness gives offense,
The sound must seem an echo to the sense….
— From an Essay on Criticism
Perrine pointed out that English poetry uses traditional patterns, and of those, the limerick and the sonnet are the only two “fixed form” patterns that “have really taken hold.” For me, this linkage elevates the limerick from “exclusively for humorous and nonsense verse” to an easy pattern for effective communication of all sorts of ideas and emotions.
Some of Pilot readers proved that with their Valentine’s Day limericks! Some were sensitive and romantic, a far cry from “humorous nonsense.”
We’ll continue Your Limerick Column with a few changes, which we think you’ll like:
As Tommy did, I’ll select the monthly winners and run them in this column. Then, you will select the best of the winners each quarter, by voting for your favorite. If you write or e-mail us with your choice, your selection gets one vote. But if you name your choice in the form of an original Limerick, your choice gets two votes! …and the best nominating limerick will be published.
You can now e-mail your limericks to ArtLimericks@aol.com. Maximum: four limerick stanzas per month per household. So, write ’em out, edit ’em, refine them, and then e-mail them, or snail-mail them to Limericks, The Pilot, PO Box 58, Southern Pines, NC 28388. More than four limericks per household per month are automatically dumped. We cannot read or reply to other e-mails sent to that address. Mail comments and requests to Limericks, The Pilot, PO Box 58, Southern Pines, NC 28388.
You will usually have a little more leeway with the first line.
Children are encouraged to send in limericks, too, by mail, to The Pilot. Some will be published from time to time in the mid-month column.
We will still publish the column twice a month. The first Sunday’s column will present the winners from the previous month, and pose the next challenge. On the third Sunday of the month, we’ll present other limericks of interest and take a look at meter, structure, and more of the details of limerick construction.
By submitting your limericks, you agree to have them edited and published at any time, without compensation.
From my seven-stanza limerick appeal to The Pilot to continue this column, here are two:
So many more neighbors will find
Writing limericks stretches the mind
And surely will add
To everyone’s vocab —
Tommy’ll be sorry he ever resigned.
Moore County shall widely be known,
As this poetic form’s favorite home.
Soon golf will be gone,
As we sing Limerick’s song
Where Number 2’s grass once was grown!
Fear not! The next verse allowed “Pinehurst to stay, Since they bring tourist dollars our way.”
We have no problem with the use of two-stanza limerick poems to complete a story. For example, a few months ago Tommy posed: “The first time I saw her…”
Grandpa’s Romance
“The first time Ah saw her, Ah thunk:
That Lady - she smell like a skunk!
But then Ah looked down
An’ there on the ground
Was a black and white polecat whut stunk.
The next time Ah saw her Ah said:
“Yore beauty is tarnin’ mah head!”
Then quick as a wink,
Before Ah could blink,
And 40 years since, we bin wed!”
Here, a country dialect is used to add color and impact to an otherwise hard-to-describe situation. The poetic use of foreign phrases, though common in sonnets, has very limited usefulness in published limericks. If you have an appropriate application, please include an explanation in English of what precise sound or sense you are conveying.
Over the next several months, we’ll wax poetic over golf (the best shot you ever made or ever saw), bad drivers — there’s lots of material out there; your trip to the beach; and the wonders of Moore County history.
The July Contest will relate to Independence Day and the FOUR verses of our National Anthem. (The third verse deals with terrorism, as you know.) Your challenge for June: Tell us why your community is the best in the county. The first line: (Your town) is the best .... For example, “High Falls is Best Town in our State…” Please use “is the best” or “is best” in the first line. (By submitting your limericks, you agree to have them edited and published at any time, without compensation.)
Art Dersch is a Whispering Pines resident. He may be reached at ArtLimericks@aol.com.
|
