Happy Limerick Day!

Yes, as I just found out, there is actually a holiday to celebrate the limerick, and not coincidentally, it falls on May 12, birthday of Edward Lear, who popularized the form.  I've been writing quite a few of them lately, inspired by the weekly "Limerick-off" contest on Mad Kane's Humor Blog.  This week I wrote some limericks in response to the Poetic Asides weekly prompt, which was to take the title of a famous book and change it in some way, then write a poem with that altered title.  So here are four "Literary(?) Limericks":

1. Great Expectorations

A fellow who bragged he could spit
a mile or more, left in a snit
when a young guy named Clem
hocked some long-distance phlegm -
we’re still waiting for it to hit.


2. Gone with the Wings

At the annual Wing Bowl contest,
big hefty guys vied to be best
at gobbling chicken,
but they took a lickin’ -
a slim Asian girl beat the rest!


3. To Chill a Mockingbird

A crazy old guy up the street
caught some songbirds by snaring their feet.
They were kept in his freezer,
“So I’ll have,” said the geezer,
“on a hot day, a nice frozen tweet!”


4. Lord of the Pies

A baker had a notable knack
for making great pies from his shack.
For the king, he was willing
to make a strange filling:
four and twenty birds, all of them black.

I also forgot to mention something between my January and April posts:  I had three poems published in issue #3 of Curio Poetry, which describes itself as a journal for poetry of objects and the moments that they inspire (that's my interpretation, anyway).  It's an excellent little journal and you should check it out.