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Young Writers Society


Event 4: Serious Limericks



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Wed Aug 04, 2021 12:00 am
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Plume says...



Serious Limerick


Summary: Write a limerick regarding a more serious and somber topic (i. e. love, heartbreak, loss, death, cycles, identity, etc.) that follows the classic limerick structure.

Judge: Plume

How to Enter: Post your limerick below, along with your team name (if you're on a team). It can be formatted and visually advanced however you wish, as long as the actual text follows the classic pattern of a limerick. Please enspoiler your entry like this:

Code: Select all
[spoiler]text here[/spoiler]


Description:

A limerick is a poem with an A/A/B/B/A rhyme scheme. It usually has a very rhythmic flow to it and conjures up a very playful and whimsical vibe. The rhyming lines should have the around the same number of syllables, with the two "B" lines having fewer syllables than the "A" lines. For a shorter limerick, the pattern is generally 8/8/5/5/8, though you can add more or less if you want. For reference, here are some examples of limericks.

There was an Old Man with a beard
Who said, "It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!"


Above is an example written by Edward Lear of a shorter limerick, with a simple 8/8/5/5/8 pattern. You should be able to get the idea of how limericks are meant to flow from it.

There once was a man from Nantucket,
Who kept all of his cash in a bucket,
But his daughter, named Nan,
Ran away with a man,
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.


This one is a slightly longer limerick in terms of syllables, using a 9/10/6/6/9 pattern (also displaying how syllables in rhyming lines don't always have to match). One more thing: I know that in both of these examples the last word of the first line and the last word of the last line are the same, but that doesn't need to always be the case.

Generally, most limericks focus on a character or situation intending to be weird or humorous in some way, evidenced by the examples above. However, this challenge calls on you to create the exact opposite. Your poem can be as metaphorical or as literal as you wish, as long as it focuses on a more serious topic. For ideas about a topic, you could research and pick out a literary theme, or take inspiration from your life and environment! Multiple stanzas are allowed, but remember, quality over quantity! I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Ends: (automatically adjusted to your timezone)

If you have any questions, post them in the discussion topic!
I was born to speak all mirth and no matter.





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Wed Aug 04, 2021 11:25 am
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Hijinks says...



Spoiler! :
i speak, but i know you don't hear.
i cry: get a glance at my tears.
and then i don't weep
and your thumb meets my cheek—
in a dream that just tauntingly lears.

You're too young to know anything, Dear.
i smile 'cause i know you want cheer
even though your canned words
bite like botulus slurs.
i'll pretend my dented sides are not queer.
When you're faced with something you don't understand, I think the most natural thing but also least interesting thing you can be is afraid.

-- Hank Green

they/them
(previously whatchamacallit and Seirre)





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Wed Aug 04, 2021 1:59 pm
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rida says...



Team chickens
Spoiler! :
I’ve been sketching a garden lately-
where lilac-dreams ripple gracefully
And rhododendron-lies sing comfort,
And beneath all of that hurt
To the garden, I can always flee

There’s a new look to me (did you see?)
A flutter at the sides of my cheek,
For I’ve been drowning in garden-dirt
Painting lie-comfort over my hurt
It’s easier this way, don’t you see?

Yesterday I had bled internally,
They say I’ve 100% chances recovery,
I shouldn’t be spending time in garden-dirt
I Shouldn’t be drinking lie-comfort
They say I’ve to let in the hurt, the memory





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Wed Aug 04, 2021 2:28 pm
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Liminality says...



Here's mine!

Spoiler! :
There was an old woman of ours
who hummed in the latest of hours,
and though now she's gone,
I hear on and on
the song in the hallway which sours.
she/her

.
Have you met my friend, The Story Review Template?





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Wed Aug 04, 2021 2:29 pm
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Riverlight says...



Team Chickens
Type: 8/8/5/5/8
Stanzas: 2
Spoiler! :
Theme: Inability to Act

I know that there's darkness all 'round
and much can be found in the ground,
but I am a child
that's not very wild,
that is not among the profound.

I cannot join in the true fight
between reigning darkness and light:
my mind is broken,
madder than Tolkien,
and darker than an awful wight.
The politics of the world may be corrupt, but that does not mean that we must be corrupted ourselves.





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Wed Aug 04, 2021 2:32 pm
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EternalRain says...



decided to give this a shot!

Spoiler! :
Once the sea swallows her away,
mold her, hollow papier-mache--
The earth revolves,
Till paper dissolves,
nothing but a ghost gone astray.
“Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like.”

-- Lemony Snicket


Check out Squills!

Need a Review?





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Wed Aug 04, 2021 2:40 pm
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FireEyes says...



Team chaos! Oh and trigger warning just to be safe: self harm
Spoiler! :
At five years old she’s ugly
At seven she’s now pudgy
Nine and ten, worthless
Eleven and twelve, she’s certain
She broke and her hands are all bloody

Her mom walked in on her one day
She fell to her knees and prayed
"I brought you into this world!"
The girls feelings, she furled
But thought how she wanted to be in an ashtray
I won't go down by myself, but I'll go down with my friends
I'm taking back the life you stole
Came a time when every star fall brought you to tears again

-My Chemical Romance





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Wed Aug 04, 2021 4:37 pm
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Rodionandaxe says...



Spoiler! :
Apparition

The tea is boiling over the top
she is dancing with her old mop.
There are stains on her dress
everything is a mess
but the mad hatter won't let her stop.

The yellow clock is striking midnight.
The blue moon is shining so bright.
Her feet, they twirl
Her heads, they whirl
and the mad hatter claps in delight.
"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened. " - by Dr Seuss





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Wed Aug 04, 2021 4:39 pm
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ForeverYoung299 says...



Alright. Here I go. Just tried.
Team: Chickens!


Spoiler! :


I AM IN THE MIDDLE
Ah! Just read this:
My brain is an introvert
My heart is an extrovert
And I am confused
But I am amused
For I am ambivert!

Spoiler! :
Now talking of seriousness, this is serious if you really think of thr nature of an ambivert.





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Wed Aug 04, 2021 6:47 pm
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Que says...



Team Chickens

uh trigger warning for war and death
Spoiler! :
After toiling through mud and through gore
gunfire and bombs fade to roar;
glazed-over eyes
as another friend dies
to feed the machine that is war.
Parlez-vous français?





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Wed Aug 04, 2021 7:38 pm
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Valkyria says...



Team Dragons ~8/8/5/5/8

Spoiler! :
I though you would live forever.
Body and spirit is severed;
I can’t hear your purr,
ever feel your fur.
You’re gone in the dirt forever.
There is always something left to love.
- One Hundred Years of Solitude





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Wed Aug 04, 2021 7:45 pm
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momonster says...



Team Chickens

text: TW: dr*wning
Spoiler! :
there was an old woman of could,
who always said, "i should."
alas, then she drowned,
and never was found.
so sad that she never would.
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Romans 6:14 NIV

never apologize for standing up for what you believe in.

previously MomoandAppa, LordMomo, MomoMajesty, and dancingontheclouds





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Wed Aug 04, 2021 7:46 pm
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dissonance says...



Team Chickens <3
Spoiler! :
the stars consumed themselves in a fuss
when he died, imagine that soul, thus
he is battered and broken,
and imagine the words unspoken--
what a sad day for him, but mostly us.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.





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Wed Aug 04, 2021 9:01 pm
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alliyah says...



cw: alzheimer's / dementia

Spoiler! :
There was a woman who forgot
her kids, her job, all her loose thoughts,
they asked her to write
but she put up a fight
and said what’s lost cannot be caught.

There was a daughter who worried
for memory gardens filled with weeds,
Would her mother know
the good times or low?
What would root in her mind and take seed?

There was a woman who forgot
her grudges and loves; all just rot.
So again repeat -
her daughter would sing
the love songs her mother once taught.

There was a daughter who worried
for the sand that leaves with the sea,
but she learned the tide
left more than it could hide.
It seems love goes beyond memories.

team chickens
you should know i am a time traveler &
there is no season as achingly temporary as now
but i have promised to return





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Wed Aug 04, 2021 10:19 pm
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Quillfeather says...



Team chickens

Spoiler! :
You never listened
As my tears glistened
You'll never see
You'll never be
The one that listens
Last edited by Quillfeather on Wed Aug 04, 2021 10:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Was: Nicole136
And then: TrinityPoeting
Am now: Quillfeather

If you ever need to talk I am here for you<3

"All great change is preceded by chaos" - Deepak Chopra
Fight through the chaos, there are good things ahead<333








That awkward moment when you jump out a window because your friend jumped out a window, then you remember that your other friend can fly.
— Rick Riordan, The Ship of the Dead