Jim Slaughter | + Follow Poet |
Limerick | + Fav Poem | Comment | Email | Print |

Let There Be Limericks: To All You Wannabe Poets

I
To all you wannabe poets,
Here's a word of advice ere you start:
If you want folks to love it,
Keep your ego out of it,
When you write always write from the heart.

II
It's great fun to write haiku and sonnets
About rainbows and gay Easter bonnets,
But if you find them too terse,
You can flesh out your verse,
And festoon it with quatrains and nonets.

III
Poets come, and poets go, and poets coincide.
Some rhyme time and time again, others "free verse" with pride.
But those who let their egos reign
Oft fade and never scribe again.
They succumb to the literary sin of authorcide.

IV
Writing is for me both pain and pleasure,
The time I spend with pad and pen I treasure.
I must confess, though,
Sometimes I stress so,
When syllables I choose to use refuse to measure.

Please Login to post a comment

Linda Alice Fowler Date: 10/20/2022 6:55:00 AM Honest writing with this one Jim. I just relax and have fun with it most of the time. :) Login to Reply Jim Slaughter Date: 10/20/2022 11:37:00 AM "most of the time"...don't we all...Thanks, Linda.

I Am Anaya Date: 10/18/2022 12:33:00 PM Authorcide--love that! But nothing wrong with a little ego, but, great advice [en todos modos]! I goofed my first limericks up and they were a tribute to a poet here! I did go back and fix'em up eventually! Login to Reply Jim Slaughter Date: 10/18/2022 2:20:00 PM You're right, Anaya, ego is what, most likely, makes us want to write, in the first place. There's nothing better than seeing your words in print. And to realize that those words can be done better is a real tribute to a real writer.

Gershon Wolf Date: 10/1/2022 8:35:00 PM Ah! Wow! FAVE-time for me. Thanks for expressing so humorously and seamlessly what's often on my mind. ~ Crystal (without the ball) Login to Reply Jim Slaughter Date: 10/2/2022 9:28:00 AM Thanks, G. I wouldn't call it "seamlessly", exactly...but...

Constance La France Date: 10/1/2022 2:55:00 PM Jim, wow, what a great poem, I loved it, well done, Constance Login to Reply Jim Slaughter Date: 10/1/2022 2:58:00 PM Constance, thank you.

L Milton Hankins Date: 9/30/2022 1:18:00 PM I liked your last one best of all, Jim. I don't care for syllable counts, so I mostly avoid those forms that require it. I like to think I am free-spirited. Who knows???? Login to Reply Jim Slaughter Date: 10/1/2022 9:50:00 AM Thanks, L M. I sort of agree, but I really enjoy giving the English language a good, thorough workout when I write.

Kim Rodrigues Date: 9/30/2022 1:02:00 PM So true: But those who let their egos reign Oft fade and never scribe again Login to Reply Jim Slaughter Date: 10/1/2022 9:49:00 AM Well, Kim, that's something you need never worry about. Thanks for stopping by.

Anne-Lise Andresen Date: 9/30/2022 10:34:00 AM - I wish I could write limericks like you, Jim ... I'm bad at it... - but, I always write from my heart :) - Have a wonderful weekend :) - hugs Login to Reply Jim Slaughter Date: 10/1/2022 9:48:00 AM They are, actually, more difficult than one might suppose, S S. I think the main problem is that writers too often just try to whip them out without too much thought. I hope mine are a bit more "composed" than that. I'm glad you enjoyed these, thank you. And, yes, there is a lot of "heart" in your work.

Sam Kauffman Date: 9/30/2022 10:10:00 AM Ah, the life of a writer-poet and its challenges perfectly articulated in your limericks Jim. Nicely done. Login to Reply Jim Slaughter Date: 10/1/2022 9:45:00 AM Thank you, Sam. I feel like I have progressed from someone who writes, to being a writer, to someone who writes poetry, and now, hopefully, to being a poet. But I'm still working on it.