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Jan Allison - Premium Member

Notes About The Poem

Inspired by Lin Lane's "The Purity of Poetry" poem 05/29/26

N.B In Britain a 'gong' is another name for a top award like and OBE, MBE presented by the King

It saddens me to see recent events on soup, I have written over 1000 limericks and have helped several poets to get the form written correctly

Limerick Lament


Don't bastardise the limerick form
and deviate from Edward Lear's norm
Poet’s writing form wrong
Should not deserve a gong
Some efforts were just truly lukewarm

 
The syllable count and rhyme scheme
Ain’t something that folk should demean
Limericks can be rudish
Not designed for folk prudish
Of writing poop poems I'm Queen!

Copyright © Jan Allison | Year Posted 2026

integritypoetrylimerick

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1

June 24, 2026 at 10:23 AM

BRAVA, Jan! BRAVA!!!

June 17, 2026 at 8:36 AM

Jan, funny you are indeed! I like how you toot your own horn in the second one!!! Sending smiles and keep up the great work!!!

June 10, 2026 at 3:51 PM

Oh, the award, my gosh golly gee wiz forgetful me - I WHOLE HEARTEDLY CONGRATULATE YOU, you are award worthy PLUS.

June 10, 2026 at 3:49 PM

WONDERFULLY written, as limericks always are by your pen. I feel RAW, RIPE INDIGNATION towards AI, can't shake it and want to hang it, break it, make all forsake it. So, I don't just know how you feel, I FEEL it. I've been writing a few poems / lines directed at it and will post soon. You're right, right is right, wrong isn't and it should matter or where do we draw the line in the world, just let fakes (AI) and imposters (limericks) go helter skelter in the world to rampage at will? LOVE you

Andrea Dietrich

June 7, 2026 at 6:42 PM

Belated congrats. I had no idea you got a big award for this!

June 7, 2026 at 5:23 AM

Congratulations Jan on POTW!! Debx

June 7, 2026 at 2:37 PM

Thanks so much Deb! hugs jan x

June 6, 2026 at 6:26 AM

Nice, I find them very difficult, Jan, congratulations on POTW:)

June 7, 2026 at 2:36 PM

If you ever need help please soup mail me:-) hugs jan xx

Anne-Lise Andresen

June 3, 2026 at 11:52 AM

- Congratulations on your p.o.t.w., Jan :) - hugs

June 7, 2026 at 2:36 PM

Thanks Anne- Lise - like man I spend less and less time on the site, its not the way it used to be:-(! hugs jan x

Paula Goldsmith

June 2, 2026 at 10:29 AM

Congratulations on your POTW win. I enjoyed reading your wonderful "Limerick Lament" Limerick write. What A Great/True Last Line... Have a blessed day with your wonderful win...............

June 7, 2026 at 2:35 PM

Thanks Paula! hugs jan x

June 2, 2026 at 6:05 AM

You are the Queen Jan, best wishes

June 7, 2026 at 2:34 PM

Thanks Joseph! hugs jan x

the barefoot bard

June 1, 2026 at 8:04 PM

the barefoot bard

June 7, 2026 at 8:38 PM

Good day Jan Thank you so much for your offer. I have written one limerick I have written others i called a limerick but now know they weren"t. I entered one in a contest I have renamed it Wobble in. Would you check that out for me please. Also I have another request. You may have noticed i have been putting up some of my own illustrations but I would also like to put some audio with them and am not sure how to go about that. Once again thank you Blessings Douglas

June 7, 2026 at 2:34 PM

the limerick form is an established form and its sad to see it bastardised to a degree it is nothing like the form:-( if you ever need me to read over one of your limericks before yoy post it then do send it on:-) hugs jan xx

the barefoot bard

June 1, 2026 at 8:10 PM

Good day Jan Congratulations on POTW I thought I was clear on what a limerick was. I,ve got the five lines right but the syllable number may pull me up. I'm grateful for your poem I know I'm close but a little more practice and I'll get there I was only ever going to stick to rhyme but I love limericks and trialing them Blessings Douglas

Benjamin Bartley

June 1, 2026 at 12:48 PM

Congratulations on your POTW! Well deserving poop queen poet. Thanks for sharing. And keep on publishing ...

June 7, 2026 at 2:32 PM

Thanks so much Benjamin:-) hugs Jan xx

June 1, 2026 at 6:46 AM

must we all jump through the hoop... writing verse of truth or poop... or must we curse... or even worse.... when sampling unseasoned soup .

June 1, 2026 at 9:39 AM

Thanks John, unfortunately soup is tainted on many levels with the use of AI, plagiarism and glitches which dont get fixed. hugs Jan xx

June 1, 2026 at 3:21 AM

lol Congratulations on your potw status

June 1, 2026 at 9:37 AM

Thanks Karen, having written over 1000 limericks i didnt enter the contest for obvious reasons! hugs jan x

June 1, 2026 at 1:01 AM

Congratulations Jan on having received ‘Poem of the week’ for your Limerick Lament… Beryl

June 1, 2026 at 9:37 AM

Thanks Beryl:-) hugs Jan xx

Constance La France

May 31, 2026 at 11:53 AM

Jan, I love you humor, though sadly based on fact, congratulations on receiving the POTW honor ~

June 1, 2026 at 9:36 AM

Thanks Constance, you are one sponsor who always keeps an eye out for plagiarism and AI and the use of the correct form and you judge fairly! hugs jan xx

Joseph P. DiMino

May 31, 2026 at 10:08 AM

I agree. If one can't commit to form, do not enter the contest. And those who sponsor contests should make certain that they themselves fully understand the form. Simple. Well said, Jan.

Joseph P. DiMino

June 5, 2026 at 10:37 AM

I can't stick to form, so I don't even enter contests. I write Free, Blank verse, no lipstick, they are all pigs admittedly. Blessings my friend. You fight a good cause.

June 1, 2026 at 9:35 AM

By allowing poets to bastardise a form its making a mockery of poetry and the site. shame admin dont stamp it out before it gets any worse - next thing will be 1 line haiku and sonnets of 10 lines:-( hugs Jan xx

May 31, 2026 at 6:01 AM

It’s a statement of negligence brought to light. Well written Limericks in proper form. Well done on potw, Jan

May 31, 2026 at 9:09 AM

Thanks Jan but verses aren’t as inspiring when the Limerick queen writes! The honor is yours

May 31, 2026 at 8:58 AM

Agreed Lin and thanks to your purity of poetry poem you inspired me to write this poem:-) hugs jan x

May 31, 2026 at 5:48 AM

Jan, back to congratulate you on POTW! A well deserved honor with your limerick set. -hugs

May 31, 2026 at 8:58 AM

thanks so much Tania, as you can imagine i am thrilled to get POTW! hugs jan x

May 31, 2026 at 5:34 AM

Back with congratulations to you Jan on this week's POTW. Tom

May 31, 2026 at 9:01 AM

many thanks tom I am thrilled admin gave me this award and hopefully the message will get through! hugs jan x

May 29, 2026 at 2:01 PM

Jan, love it. A great poem and so true.

May 31, 2026 at 8:47 AM

I learned to write limericks from a contest and it quickly became my favourite form, its sad to see poets encouraged to write an established form incorrectly. hugs jan x

May 29, 2026 at 1:12 PM

You have definitely done a good job of writing this one. Way to go. If for a contest, it reads like a good contender to me. Sara K.

May 31, 2026 at 8:46 AM

no its not for any contest and i would not write for a contests where folk were encouraged not to write the form correctly , it brings the site into disrepute

May 31, 2026 at 8:40 AM

It sends a message that Jan will explain since you didn’t get it.

Andrea Dietrich

May 29, 2026 at 12:49 PM

Definitely extreme deviations from true syllable count are weird! It's funny to me. We had a gong show years ago on TV. To get gonged meant to suck at something!! Is it opposite meaning in England?

May 29, 2026 at 12:55 PM

Yes a gong is a pet name for a medal/ award for doing something exceptional . hugs Jan x

Anne-Lise Andresen

May 29, 2026 at 11:54 AM

- Yes, you are the queen ... I'm terrible at limericks - I'll stick to Haiku poems :) - Have a wonderful weekend, Jan :) - hugs

May 29, 2026 at 12:54 PM

you are the haiku queen Anne- Lise I love your poetry:-) hugs Jan xx

May 29, 2026 at 11:50 AM

If you want to learn limerick's ask Jan/ And she writes bawdy humour cos she can/ Has written a book or two/ She's qualified to help you/ And she's the queen of the limerick clan/

May 29, 2026 at 12:53 PM

aww thanks Tom, its such a fun form I hate to see it bastardised to the extent its unrecognisable as a limerick:-( hugs Jan xx

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