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ASIMOV
^^ 100 original limericks ^^
by the bestselling author of
THE SENS^QUS DIRTY OLD MAN
BoldlyWustrated
A TASTE OF LECHEROUS LIMERICKS
by Isaac Asimov
123456789 10
r
o my wife
the doctor
NTRODUCTION
(6)
one or two of the initial feet in the lines to be iambic;
that is, to consist of one unstressed syllable followed
by a stressed one: dih-DAH.
5. The rhyme may be masculine, involving a single
(7)
A honeymoon couple named Kelly
Spent their honeymoon belly to belly,
Because in their haste,
They used library paste
In the place of petroleum jelly.
(8)
It is conventional to indent the third and fourth
lines, both because they are shorter than the other
three and because it is convenient to emphasize that
there is a change in rhyme for those two.
(9)
:
(10)
be taken seriously. The dih-dih-DAH, dih-dih-DAH
of the limerick has swallowed up gravity completely.
4. The humor should be vulgar and should deal
with actions and words concerning which society pre-
tends nonexistence reproduction, excretion, and so
on. This is not an absolute requirement and you can,
indeed, have "clean" limericks. My limerick about the
unmusical Persian is an example. Clean limericks,
however, lack flavor, like vanilla ice cream or pound
cake. They are perfectly edible, but, to my taste, are
tame, flat, and unsatisfying.
The "vulgar" limerick (usually called the "dirty"
limerick) has its value because to the humor of rhyme
and the challenge of metrical rigidity it adds the relief
of release. You can relax, for the space of some two
score syllables, the bonds of social decorum that hold
you in thrall most of the time. The sad tale of the hon-
eymoon couple named Kelly is an example of com-
pletely successful vulgarity.
5. Many limericks end the first line with a proper
noun, of either a person or a place. Such proper nouns
come in all kinds ofsound patterns and give you a
starting platform. You then need to find only two
rhymes to it. If the proper noun is difficult to rhyme,
the limerick becomes an exercise in ingeniuty. Here,
for instance, is a limerick {not my own) that goes:
(11)
As rhymes don't look very good. When
written, the
recited, however, the words can be slurred in such a
way that they become excellent and hilariously un-
expected. This makes the limerick satisfactory, for,
ideally, the limerick should be recited, and the written
form is merely a guide to minimize forgetfulness.
Sometimes, the directions for the spoken version are
made explicit in the written version as when the last
words of two and five in the limerick above are
lines
written "pigua" and "figua."
woman
" (or old man, young man, old woman,
of
and many other variations). Here is a limerick (not
mine) of this type:
(12)
Let me though, that the line of a
limer-
ick need not be "There
stress,
you are sure you are syllable perfect. If you forget and
stop, all value is lost. If you forget and improvise and
come out with a syllable too few or too many, the ef-
fect is greatly weakened.
2. In reciting the limerick, emphasize the rhythm
and rhyme You're not supposed to do
just a little bit.
this in reading serious poetry, but a limerick isn't
serious poetry. By proper emphasis you get across the
humorous aspects of the limerick more efficiently. It
(13)
4. If you do sing a limerick, don't sing too many of
them, for the tune will pall. Indeed, don't recite too
many them at one time, for the whole thing will
of
pall. The most effective limerick is almost always the
limerick.
(14)
start writing them down and finally (when I had made
up enough of them) to have a collection of them pub-
lished.
As far as I know there has been no collection of lim-
ericks by a single author (other than those of Edward
Lear, who started the craze) ever published. In fact,
most successful limericks are of disputed or even
anonymous authorship. Let me be the first then to pro-
duce a sizable book of completely original limericks
(barring always accidental or subconscious duplica-
tions in part).
The limericks included in this book, let me say at
once, are vulgar, and almost them are concerned
all of
with sex. If you are going to be offended by "dirty"
(15)
(16)
Xvecherous
X-/imericks
(17)
DARKEST BEFORE DAWN
There was a sweet girl of Decatur
Who went to sea on a freighter.
She was screwed by the master
An
utter disaster
But the crew all made up for it later.
This one marked the beginning. I composed it
(19)
RUSTRATION
(20)
The first twd* lines were given me as a challenge
by the writer Lin Carter at a meeting of the Trap
Door Spiders, a club to which we both belong. I
completed it in just a few minutes, getting that
crucial last rhyme (which is "didn't he?" in full)
at once. Don Bensen, another member of the
Trap Door Spiders and a crackerjack limericist in
his own right, suggested the use of the name Al-
phonse, in place of a more tortured rhyming con-
struction that I had. The mons is, of course, the
mons Veneris, which is the padded region just
above the vagina*
(21)
NDEPENDENCE
(22)
Limericks feed on themselves. I start quoting a
few, and then I am likely to be challenged. At a
librarian's convention, I got a few laughs and
then the beautiful blonde wife of one of my pub-
lishers dared me to base it on her place of birth,
Philadelphia. The above is the result (though the
fictional woman of the limerick has nothing in
common with the gorgeous damsel who elicited
it).
(23)
4
HE DANGERS OF DRINK
(24)
rOOK, EVERYBODY!
(25)
7jHE LAST STRAW
(26)
I was discussing the possibility of arranging a
some far-flung portion
cruise to see an eclipse in
of the ocean, and there was naturally talk about
the chance of bad weather. There were astron-
omers among us, so I recited the above, adjusting
it to the audience. There were three catastrophes,
you see. First, the weather was bad. Second, one
could not find sexual consolation, and I could see
that all the astronomers felt that was worse than
bad weather but what could I find still worse
had paused after the fourth line
for the last line. I
and let them wonder for a second and then recit-
ed the fifth line with an air of exasperation; and
the astronomers, recognizing that this had to be
worst of all, broke up.
The Isle of Wight is in the English Channel
just south of Southampton. It is only 147 square
miles in area, so it's fair to call it small.
(27)
OPS ARE HUMAN, TOO
(28)
The same gibup referred to in connection with
Limerick 6 went to dinner at one of New York
City's classier hotels afterward, and there was
much despondent conversation over the level of
the prices. "Oh, well," said one of the gentlemen,
determined to look at the bright side, "I under-
stand the hookers here are very refined."
Well, to the true limericist almost any casual
comment isan invitation to go off into a brown
study, which means that you are working your
way through the alphabet searching for rhymes, I
ended with the limerick above, which cheered
them up somewhat.
(29)
8
i?ETRIBUTION
(30)
Originally, I wrote this limerick around the
name of a personal and much-beloved friend of
mine; one of the best guys in the world. Every-
body laughed; he didn't. Well, my friend is worth
more to me than a million limericks, but I didn't
want to throw the limerick away either. So I
changed the name at the end of the first line.
(31)
D ON'T BACK OUT NOW
All was well with the Dowager Duchess
When trapped in the mad rapisfs clutches.
Till he turned on the light,
n*~
(32)
Note the economy of the limerick form. This is
(33)
10
ONVENEENT IN A PINCH
(34)
I suppose it is obligatory to have one limerick
at least thatmakes use of the Anglo-Saxon term
for the female pudendum. The rhyme scheme
here offers no chance for cleverness masculine
throughout and as soon as the first line ends, any-
one over the age of ten knows exactly what the
last word in the limerick will be. With rhyme out
(35)
11
o VERDOING IT
(36)
My first attempt at this limerick had the second
line read, "Whose vagina was lacking in hair." I
think that that is a much superior line but my
wife, a physician, on seeing the limerick wouldn't
allow it on anatomical grounds. To substitute
"genital regions" gave me too many syllables to
handle, so I compromised in a somewhat unsatis-
factory way, and tried the young woman a second
time in the limerick that follows.
(37)
12
TWoDESTY VICTORIOUS
(38)
In using a personal name to initiate the rhyme
scheme, it is important to use one that is as sim-
ple and common as possible. The more nearly un-
usual (or even impossible) a name is, the more
clearly it is there only to serve as a third rhyme
for something that has no third rhyme, and the
limerick withers.
(39)
13
"I am just/
9
moaned a girl from Racine,
U
A perpetual motion machine.
I can't help it. I must.
For I service the lust
(4ti)
A limerick starts sometimes simply because a
common phrase occurs to you that is a triple ana-
pest and therefore a perfect limerick line. "A per-
petual motion machine" is an example for its
(41)
14
REWARD OF INDUSTRY
A woman most gorgeously stacked
Thought screwing a glorious act.
So, for finding a niche
For those who were rich,
She was diamonded, minked, Cadillacked.
(42)
,
It's odd the things that hold you up sometimes.
The line "She was diamonded, minked, Cadil-
lacked" is a triple anapest that I knew would be a
good last line when I thought of it. I had very lit-
tle trouble thinking up the first four lines, but
(43)
15
sHOCKING!
(44)
Shortly after composing the above limerick, I
met a young woman I knew whose last name
rhymed with Riga. I promptly recited the limer-
ick, carefully substituting her name at the end of
(45)
16
A POOR EXAMPLE
An Olympian lecher was Zeus,
Always playing around fast and loose,
With one hand in the bodice
Of some likely young goddess
And the other preparing to goose.
(46)
Zeus was, of course, the chief of the gods living
on Mount Olympus in the Greek mythology, and,
indeed, no goddess, nymph, or mortal woman
was safe from him if we go by the myths. What
started the limerick, though, was the irresistible
rhyming of "bodice" and "goddess." Once that
occurred to me I had to follow through.
(47)
17
The classic
(48)
The composition Toccata and Fugue in D
Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach is very well
known, and it was the first segment of Walt Dis-
ney's famous Fantasia. When the phrase occurred
to me, and dih-DAH dih-dih-
I realized that its
(49)
18
t GOOD MOVE
(50)
In the first version, the last line read "And felt
(51)
19
(52)
composed a version of this limerick on Feb-
I
ruary 1, 1975, making it an "in" limerick on be-
half of NON (the National Organization of Non-
Parents), for which I give talks now and then. It
seemed to be greeted with general approval and
laughter, and this so bucked me up that I referred
to the young woman sitting on my right as "a sex-
ual tornado." Now you must understand that the
young woman was beautiful and had a figure that
had to be seen to be believed (and was well worth
seeing even after you believed) and was dressed
in an outfit that did nothing to obscure its value.
Nevertheless after I left,was a big hassle
there
at the meeting over my "sexist remark" and that
was reported in The New York Times of Febru-
ary 4, 1975. My speech (a good one) was ig-
nored. Well, as a matter of fact, limericks are, by
and large, male chauvinist in nature (certainly
mine are). So I hope that no feminist lacking a
sense of humor has picked up this book; if so I
hope she has put it down again long ago. If she
has gotten this far, please put it down and don't
write.
(53)
20
How AWFUL
(54)
The life of a conscientious limericist who is
seeking for respectable publication is hard. One
can get away with all kinds of sexual innuendo
and naughty phrases, but one must avoid other,
more serious forms of offense. For instance, my
first attempt at the first "A Mormon
line began,
said sadly. . .
." But you know, Mormons don't
practice polygamy anymore, and they might not
think this was funny, and I wouldn't blame them.
Then, too, I know some nice Mormons with
whom I want to stay on the very best of terms.
My next attempt was, "An Arab said sadly. ." . .
(55)
21
OMPENSATION
(56)
22
IDE EFFECT
(57)
23
LA FREUD
(58)
This one I read to my wife the doctor with con-
siderable trepidation. Her specialty happens to be
psychiatry (I think she views me as an interesting
case),and I feared the worst But she looked up
from the book she was reading, smiled, nodded,
and "Very good!"
said,
(59)
24
jDon't breathe
An expert at kissin
9
and dally in
9
(60)
i
My original first line was the very natural,
"There once was a stalwart Italian," but then, on
rereading, it began to seem like a racist slur. I did
a lot of hesitating for I hated to lose the limerick,
and then I decided to try for an alternate rhyme.
It wasn't easy, and if you think you can do better,
go to it.
(61)
25
WiHAT A SHAME!
An innocent hooker named Agnes
Was reduced to mere tatters and ragness
Because the poor sweet
Kept on working a street
That was laden with queers and with fagness.
(62)
Here is an example of where company
I part
(63)
26
(64)
One on whom I tried out this limerick
of those
insisted that he had heard the last line on some
other limerick, I asked him to repeat the entire
limerick, but he couldn't.
This left me in rather a dilemma. The number
of clever but vulgar notions is large, but not un-
limited, and I am bound, every once in a while, to
think of something that someone else has thought
of before. In fact, since I have read many, many
limericks in my time, I may even think of a limer-
ick no longer actively remembered and reproduce
it, thinking, in all honesty, that it is my own.
If anyone recognizes a limerick in this collec-
(65)
27
HE COST OF IGNORANCE
(66)
Well, you can't avoid it every time. Here's a
limerick that's funnier to the eye than the ear, be-
cause the misspelling exists in the printed form
but cannot be indicated in the recital. And the
fact that "intercoarse" with an "a" suggests some-
thing "coarse" would naturally repel a delicately
brought-up schoolteacher. Maybe.
(67)
28
HE PROSPECTIVE WIDOW
(68)
All right, I succumbed this time and altered
the spelling to make the rhyme more obvious. It
(69)
29
(70)
Another one of my favorites. After all itcom-
bines grotesquerie of image with effective and un-
expected rhymes. I don't get it like this all the
time. Incidentally,you will find "lollapalooza" in
The American Heritage Dictionary, where it is
characterized as slang and defined as "Something
outstanding of its kind." And I respect The
American Heritage Dictionary because it in-
cludes me as an entry on page 77. I'm defined as
"Russian-born American biochemist, educator,
and writer." They left out "limericist" but no
one's perfect
(71)
30
ORETHOUGHT
(72)
i
I had originally written the last line as "Would
just be a pain in the ass," but my wife the doctor
shook her head and informed me that I was un-
fairly limiting the range of male homosexual ac-
tivity. Well, all I know about such things is what
people tell me. So I replaced the declarative with
the conditional.
Chicopee, by the way, for those of you who are
not New Englanders, is a town just north of
Springfield.
(73)
31
M\USIC LOVER
During sex, Mary's moans were harmonic
From high C, down by chords, to the tonic.
So John felt it unsordid
To have them recorded
In sound that was stereophonic.
(74)
I'm faking it here, for I'm a musical illiterate,
but I think that the second line makes sense. The
dictionary says that the "tonic" is the keynote,
whatever that means.
(75)
32
OOBAD
(76)
33
A young man from a lofty sierra
Found sex both a puzzle and terror.
But he met with a lass
In a similar pass
And they both learned by trial and error.
(77)
34
ALEDICTORIAN
(78)
Vassar is the well-known woman's college in
Poughkeepsie, of course. I was never there, but
years ago I was asked to lecture at Smith College,
an equally well-known woman's college in North-
ampton, Mass. I was to speakon two successive
days, and they offered to put me up in the wom-
en's dormitory for the night. I could hardly wait
to get there.
They did put me up in the dormitory, too. A
special room with its own special door to the
street
and no other door at all. Wise guys!
(79)
35
o UCH!
(80)
was held up here on a question of spelling.
I
The American Heritage Dictionary, which con-
tains all the vulgarisms known to man, I think,
spells it "hard-on" and defines it as "an erection
(81)
36
L AW ABIDING
(82)
(83)
37
ETSSEENOW
There was a young woman named Susan
Who found it completely amusiri
To make love to three men
Although who did what when
Was frequently rather confusin'.
(84)
Naturally, I repeated this to the first young
woman I met who was named Susan. She laughed
politely, then said, "Oh, I could figure it out, if I
wanted to."
(85)
38
HERAPEUTIC EFFECT
(86)
Wishful thinking, I suppose, because I wish sex
were slimming. My own experience is that it
(87)
39
Yo HEAVE HO
(88)
(89)
40
(90)
41
//eh, HEH
(91)
42
OoH, LA, LA
(92)
Fortunately, I am not backward about point-
ing out my expertise. The three rhyme words,
"Calais," "negligee," and "gourmet" are French
words, are at home in English, and, though they
are perfect rhymes, each is different to the eye. It
is these little things that add to the flavor of limer-
ick composition, even though they may be over-
looked in the reading or recital.
(93)
43
LEASANT SURPRISE
(94)
Even when a line scans perfectly, as does line
number two here: "Was by WAR-striped young
INdians TAINTed," dih-dih-DAH dih-dih-DAH
dih-dih-DAH-dih, it remains possible for the
sound combinations to be hard to recite. If s a
difficult line to say, had to cram into ten
and yet I
(95)
44
OOLOGICAL COMPARISON
A when he necks,
stately giraffe,
Or a hippo, when he's having sex,
Aren't worth a tut-tut
To the bellowing rut
Of the great Tyrannosaurus Rex.
(96)
This one is a complete cheat. The great prehis-
toric dinosaur ti-RAN-oh-SAW-rus-REX, three
is
iambic feetdih-DAH-dih-DAH-dih-DAH. It is
impossible to make a limerick out of that. Howev-
er, is there a law that says you can't mispro-
(97)
45
Oh , THAT SCREAMING
(98)
The last line is a little difficult to say clearly,
but I wanted to keep it intact because it's a com-
mon expression I wanted to lead up to.
(99)
46
NDECISION
(100)
My first attempt at a last line read, "And
scarcely knew which way to turn." This would be
all right, if you read it with the first stress coming
(101)
47
Him?
(102)
Well, let's see. "Bitte" is German for "please";
"couchez avec" is French for "come to bed with"
and "mich" is German for "me." As for "my
dear," that's English. I was at a party when some-
one mentioned that he spoke a large number of
unlikely languages. All I can manage are Ger-
man, French, and a little bit of English, so I did
my best. When I recited it, I drew a blank from
everyone but the multilinguist, who perhaps felt
(103)
48
WAGNERIAN
(104)
In English, the name is Isolt, and in French it
(105)
49
ftITHER WAY
There was an old Scotsman of Fife
Who had left, in the course of his life,
Scores of well-rounded ends
Of the wives of his friends
And likewise of the friends of his wife.
(106)
This was one of those rare limericks where I
began without a notion of the fifth line. (It is al-
(107)
50
Hold tight!
(108)
51
(109)
52
(UO)
Prudery makes it so difficult to refer to sexual
intercourse in any straightforward way that those
who must do so have invented an incredible
number of euphemisms for the purpose. Some of
them are extremely common words, such as
"making" and "having." As a human being I de-
spise the social hypocrisy that makes this neces-
sary; but as a limericist, I appreciate it and take
all the opportunities it affords me for giving an
innocent phrase a vulgar twist heh, heh.
(Ul)
53
jFollowing orders
Of all inhibitions
And, despite the conditions,
As the crowd yelled "Ole!" Jose did.
(112)
This is one of the limericks that never failed to
get a laugh when I tried it out. I'm a little sur-
prised at that since it possesses a serious failing in
that the second line runs directly into the third,
and I have to allow an artificial pause after "rid"
in order to emphasize the rhyme and meter well
enough to produce an effect. I guess the final un-
expected use of the cry "Ole" (pronounced "oh
lay," of course) carries all before it. Well, who
am I to quarrel with success.
(113)
54
C/nwieldy
(U4)
Juilliard is a music school in New York, within
short walking distance of where I live. As it hap-
pens, a young woman who worked at Juilliard
was visiting us, and the word naturally came up.
When I finally worked it out and recited it, she
said, "Juilliard doesn't really have a schoolyard,"
(U5)
55
D ISILLUSIONMENT
(116)
If you stop to think of it, this one is deeply phil-
osophic. But don't stop to think of it. Philosophy
doesn't help a limerick.
Incidentally, a line that consists entirely of
monosyllables tends to be a little jerky since the
pause between words is a little greater than the
pause between syllables of a polysyllabic word. In
real poetry, there is a tendency to avoid that row
of monosyllables, therefore; but in limericks, I
rather like it when the words come naturally as in
"So he might just as well have stayed home," or
as in "And was hurt when he slipped and fell off"
(U7)
56
JjTeARTBREAK!
(U8)
No laughs when this one is recited, and I knew
there wouldn't be when I finished it and consid-
ered what I had written. The first four lines are
actually too sweet and soft to be part of a proper-
ly vulgar limerick. In fact, when recited with the
right kind of melting sentiment, the listeners
(especially the women somehow) rummage their
minds anxiously for what it will be that can possi-
bly go wrong and remembering the "Bill" and
"still" they more than once have burst out, "Oh,
(U9)
57
(120)
I suppose that each limerick has its optimum
recital method. Experimenting with this one I
(121)
58
SYMMETRY
(122)
I made a great discovery with this one. Having
recited some limericks to a young lady with con-
siderable success, I came to this one. I recited it
with gravity and great earnestness and when I
said, "By keeping one breast / In total arrest," I
(123)
59
^Reciprocity
(124)
My wife the doctor reacted favorably to this
one. She grinned and said, "That's nice/' I do not
know to what she was referring. She and I have
different views on just what is nice, thank good-
ness. (At this point, I wouldn't say "Vive la dif-
(125)
60
(126)
This is another one that some of my young
women listeners sometimes don't greet with
laughter. Instead, I get those cries of "Right on!"
I think that the women's liberation movement is
(127)
61
TVoTHING PERSONAL
(128)
My wife the doctor took a personal interest in
this one and, in fact, supplied the third and
fourth lines while I was taking my morning show-
er. I what my corresponding lines were,
forget
but they were rotten and hers were much better.
Of course, I am a little nervous over the fact that
I myself happen to be the husband of a psychia-
(129)
62
TVeXT!
(130)
I was nearly trapped with what one might call
an identity rhyme in this one. The third and
fourth lines, as I originally composed them, read:
"out of self-preservation / To avoid depriva-
tion." Although "self-preservation" and "depriva-
tion" are quite different words, using both, suc-
ceeds in rhyming "vation and "vation" and this
can't be done. Fortunately, I caught it in time.
(131)
63
(132)
For some reason I am reminded of the movie
in which James Coburn takes advantage of a
young woman Her father pursues him,
in a barn.
catches up, and when Coburn denied wrongdo-
ing, the father demanded to know what he called
(133)
64
HE ECONOMIC FACTS
(134)
_
The mere use of the word "coition" reminds
me of the sad fact that there are hundreds of
great limericks that I can never possibly think up
for the reason that they are already thought up.
Thus, no limerick using "coition" can ever sur-
pass that great classic (which is, alas, not mine)
(135)
65
WOMAN'S PREROGATIVE
(136)
The triple rhyme is much better when recited
than when written, but by now you should be
aware of such things. The rising tide of women's
liberation,by the way, is pushing aside those little
privileges men were wont to shower on women to
make up for the latter's economic and social slav-
ery. Ill bet some of you don't even know what
(137)
66
TVoT FOILED!
(138)
You know it isn't always good to punctuate a
limerick according to the strict tenets of the En-
glish teacher. In the last line, marking off the par-
enthetical remark 'like the plan" with commas is
(139)
67
R ETIREMENT!
There was an old man of Belfast
Whose active sex life was so vast
He was glad he'd worked through
To a spry ninety-two
When his lust was declining at last.
(140)
Actually, there are reports that an active sex
life can indeed continue into advanced old age. If
(141)
68
No, IT WON'T
(142)
Taurus is one of the signs of the zodiac, and as
soon as composed this limerick, it occurred to
I
(143)
69
(144)
T stretched for this one. "Con brio" is an Ital-
(145)
70
(146)
I hesitated here for I thought that the first line
(147)
71
(148)
I'm not renowned for the length and depth of
my sleep. In fact, if I get five hours on any given
night, that's plenty, and I don't always make it.
(149)
72
OO GOOD TO USE
(ISO)
This illustrates the general thesis that caution
may be carried too far. Has it ever occurred to
you that a wide stock of limericks held in reserve
in your memory banks might serve to make it
possible for you to illustrate many philosophical
points? If someone's overcaution is getting in
your way, you can say, disapprovingly, "You re-
mind me of the finicky man from Australia.'' The
other is sure to say, "What finicky man from Aus-
tralia?" You then recite the limerick and make
your point. (And if you're a nice guy, you send
me a bonus.)
(151)
73
D ISILLUSIONMENT
A suit an 9 inspecting his harem,
Said, "Eunuch, proceed to unbare
9
em"
Having seen the details
He issued long veils
And ordered the harem to wear 'em.
(152)
I suppose every nonpolygamist is fascinated by
the thought of a harem. My own private feeling is
that was probably a lot more trouble than it
it
(153)
74
(154)
75
(155)
76
(156)
This started with the rhyme of "semen" and
"he-men" which I couldn't resist once ithad oc-
curred to me. In fact, for a while I added the
phrase "we men" and tried to place it in the first,
(157)
77
sCARCELY WORTH IT
(158)
My original version of the fourth line was
"And his penis so slick" but my wife the doctor
pointed out the humorous virtue of having an in-
ternal rhyme. I made the shift and sure enough
the laughs seemed better. My wife swears she can
improve all my limericks the same way, but I
have no faith whatever in her sense of decorum.
Who knows what excesses she may commit?
(159)
78
J?RAVO!
(160)
Ah, managed to get Juggernaut into a limer-
I
(161)
79
(162)
Of course, I'm not too proud to stretch a limer-
ick past the breaking point* The Kamasutra is the
well-known Hindu manual of love, which was one
of the great "forbidden books" in the days when
there were forbidden books. Actually, it's a kind
of creaky period piece, easier to talk about than
to read. Still, I wanted it part of a limerick, and
for the sake of doing so, I was ready to pretend
that a wish was feminine so that you could use
the phrase "utter *er" instead of the proper "utter
it"; and I Kamasutra to be pro-
also allowed
nounced with a short "u" so as to rhyme the "sut"
syllable with "stut" and ut." Actually, it is "Ka-
masootra." The original third and fourth lines as
I composed them were "Had to carefully
gauge / The appropriate page" but that meant a
split infinitive as well, and the third infelicity was
(163)
80
(164)
Don't think I don't hear those groans. But the
day before yesterday was hearing a pianist play
I
(165)
81
(166)
Oddly enough, was having lunch with an as-
I
(167)
82
(168)
I wrote this one while waiting to go on a radio
talk show, The interviewer asked what I was
doing, and I said I was writing a limerick. He
said,"Good, you can read it on the program."
Something told me I ought to read it to him first,
however, and I did. He laughed, but he changed
his mind*
(169)
83
L AST LAUGH
(170)
My first thought was to try Oliver as the rhyme
word (because I had just seen the movie "Oliver"
for the third time and loved it all over again) but
got nowhere. It's just as well I gave up and
switched to the diminutive, because I like this one
quite a bit.
(171)
84
(172)
I like those ten monosyllables in the last line,
and the play on "Right on," too. I have always
supposed that the exclamation "right on" was
short for "right on target," but once any phrase
becomes associated with any group it tends to be
overused by that group to the point where it is
meaningless except as a sound intended to convey
membership in that group.
My first attempt at lines three and four by the
way was "Had picked up a tar / In a neighbor-
hood bar," but I decided reluctantly that the use
of the word "tar" for "sailor" was British rather
than American,
(173)
85
(174)
I struggled quite a bit to find a decent rhyme
for "Florence" and "abhorrence." I got those two
so easily that itseemed impossible there shouldn't
be a third. Well there is, if you consider "war-
rants" and "torrents," but I couldn't use them in
such a way as to end up with a proper climax.
'Insurance" was just what I wanted, and I decid-
ed to ignore the imperfect rhyme.
(175)
86
(176)
Another sign of the zodiac. Well, who knows,
perhaps in future editions I will have all twelve
after all.
(177)
87
A NATURAL MISTAKE
(178)
Why an actor and actress? Well, I started off
(179)
88
MPATIENCE
(180)
This started with the first two lines, and I was a
little dubious because I know as well as you that
we say "more torrid" and not "torrider." When it
(181)
89
HANGE OF LIFE
(182)
This is one of those limericks that exists only
for the rhymes. Generally, I prefer content to
rhymes, but I couldn't resist this.
(183)
90
TVaTURALLY!
(184)
When Franklin Roosevelt was President, he
would sometimes say in one of his radio speeches
that he had said something "Again and again and
again," giving the second syllable of "again" the
long "a" sound. I suppose that means the limerick
(185)
91
H IGH STANDARDS
(186)
I trust I don't have to point out the cleverness
of the second line with its play on "belle" and
"bell" and with the phallic significance of the
clapper. I don't? Well, that's a relief
(187)
92
(188)
The second line is one of those in which the
natural stress is not likely to fall on the limerick
stress. If you read it "I THINK that it's my
BOUNDen DUty" it's not going to work. The
second stress must fall on "my." Naturally, a lim-
erick should be so constructed that it is impossi-
ble to mistake the stresses, but we can't be perfect
every time, can we?
(189)
93
jFor a change
(190)
This is one of those that I composed in the
shower a very good place to indulge in mental
activity since it helps pass a job which is tedious,
repetitive, and at least daily. The only drawback
is thatyou spend the time intensely enough in
if
(191)
94
TVoNFUNCTIONAL
(192)
The conciseness and density of thought of a
limerick forces every word to bear its full weight
of meaning. In the first version of the limerick, I
had the third and fourth lines read, "Her husband
growled, 'Dear, / Remove your But
brassiere."
you can see that that's not enough. To remove the
brassiere might be a husband's desire if the
breasts were undeniably gorgeous just as much as
if they were undeniably small. The suggestion of
burning goes along with the disenchanted
"growled," and is further reminiscent of the no-
torious bra-burning antics of the more extreme
feminists.
(193)
95
OO GOOD
(194)
My first attempt had the last word "guts" with
appropriate rhyme words in the first and second
lines. My wife the doctor, however, pointed out,
quite censoriously, that you don't see the intes-
tines by x-ray unless you fill them with x-ray
opaque material which would not be the case of
the average "clothed lass" one would meet in the
street or at dinner parties. I knew that, of course,
but I tried to point out that the humor was worth
the poetic license taken with reality, and she
countered by saying that the word "guts" was
needlessly ugly, that I would be rousing suspicion
among my readers as to my scientific competence
and why not use "bones."
So I did and it was a great improvement. In the
first version, my inventor's name had to be Lutz,
(195)
96
ASTER, FASTER!
(196)
I must admit that I don't like the run-on from
"work" to "up" in the fourth and fifth lines. It in-
and yet I'm not sure I like that better. Take your
pick, Gentle Reader,
(197)
97
RUTH IN ADVERTISING
(198)
There again we have an unfortunate run-on be-
tween lines one and two this time. All my ingenu-
ity and wit, however, can't help me avoid it, at
(199)
98
HE GOOD DOCTOR
(200)
My wife the doctor is, as it happens, not of the
school of the great Sigmund Freud, so this limer-
(201)
99
(202)
(203)
100
^4nd, FINALLY
(204)
L^^A
Except, of course, to my wife the doctor, who
knows all about it. So farewell, everybody, live
long, prosper, and enjoy. If this book gets you
started writing limericks on your own, fine. Re-
member, that if I can do it, anyone can.
(205)
WiRITE YOUR OWN LIMERICKS
(206)
w RITE YOUR OWN LIMERICKS
(207)
TFiRITE YOUR OWN LIMERICKS
(208)
You have heard of
ISAAC ASIMOV
as the Master of Science Fiction.
But have you heard of
ISAAC ASIMOV !
the celebrated limerick writer?
With this book the
great man makes his debut into the world of the
d--ty limerick. Here are stirring rhymed tales of:
ISAAC ASIMOV
has brought the d--ty limerick
to splendid new heights.