Acrostic Poetry: The First-Ever Anthology (published by Dover Publications last month) primarily features poems that portray subjects in a positive—often effusive—manner. That’s the primary association for this poetic form, dating back to 1599, when Sir John Davies penned 26 acrostics spelling out Queen Elizabeth I’s name. Acrostic Poetry includes only four acrostics that treat their subjects negatively, and they’re remarkable because they’re so against the grain. Highlights include a scathing selection by First Lady Louisa Catherine Adams and a poetic…
Acrostic Hybrids: Sonnets, Limericks, Haiku, and More!
Posted on August 16, 2023Acrostic Poetry: The First-Ever Anthology is out today, published by Dover Publications! The book includes several acrostic sonnets—some by Edgar Allan Poe and other renowned poets—and I considered devoting a chapter to them. Acrostic sonnets drive home the point that a poem can be both an acrostic and another form. The acrostic structure lends itself to hybridity. Here are examples of acrostic hybrids, including the acrostic sonnet, limerick, and haiku. I even created my own hybrid form: the acrostic clerihew!…
Acrostic Limericks: A Hybrid of Two Forms
Posted on April 21, 2023My most recent book, There Once Was a Limerick Anthology, was published by Dover Publications in August 2022, and my next book, Acrostic Poetry: The First-Ever Anthology, will be published by Dover in August 2023. There’s no better way to transition from one poetic form to another than by discussing a hybrid of the two: acrostic limericks! Madeleine Begun Kane, aka Mad Kane, has written myriad limericks for Mad Kane’s Humor Blog, which she founded in 2006, and runs a…
Tongue Twister Limericks
Posted on December 2, 2022One of my favorite chapters in There Once Was a Limerick Anthology is the tongue twisters! As I explained in the chapter introduction, “The limerick’s limited real estate, intrinsic rhyme scheme, and penchant for puns invite tongue twisters.” Here are a half-dozen selections. Two are by Carolyn Wells, who is tied with Edward Lear for the most limericks in the book. Her outstanding Book of American Limericks yielded many of the selections in my anthology. Also included is one of…
Limericks with Creative Misspellings
Posted on October 7, 2022Many limericks have creative misspellings, and in There Once Was a Limerick Anthology (which was published in August by Dover Publications), they appear together in one chapter. I’m usually a stickler for following spelling conventions, but these limericks delightfully break the rules and tickle my funny bone. As I explained in the chapter introduction, “The poets revel in the idiosyncrasies of spelling and pronunciation, showing tremendous love for the English language in order to butcher it so cleverly.” I continued,…
New Jewish Punk Memoir by Joe Trohman, Lead Guitarist of Fall Out Boy
Posted on October 2, 2022On September 12, I was interviewed by a University of Oxford student conducting ethnographic fieldwork on alternative Jewish music. I pointed out that even though Jewish punk has largely been on the back burner during the pandemic, there continue to be exciting developments since I published Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk in 2016. Case in point: Joe Trohman, the cofounder and lead guitarist of Fall Out Boy, was releasing a memoir, None of This Rocks, the next day!…
Limericks with Creative Abbreviations, by Mark Twain, Me, and Anonymous
Posted on September 12, 2022When I first encountered limericks with creative abbreviations as part of my research for There Once Was a Limerick Anthology, my mind was blown. Upon reading the “Mr.” limerick below, I thought, The English language isn’t supposed to work that way! The “LL.D.” and “mdse.” limericks are harder to figure out and are jaw-droppingly clever. I initially had trouble finding more than a handful of limericks with creative abbreviations, but eventually I had enough for an entire chapter, which I’d…
Why There Once Was a Limerick Anthology Is a Different Limerick Anthology
Posted on August 17, 2022Limerick anthologies have been around for more than a century. I compiled There Once Was a Limerick Anthology, which is out today from Dover Publications. What makes this book different? My anthology is part of the Dover Thrift Editions series, which aims to be a “carefully curated library of the world’s greatest literature.” I didn’t necessarily include limericks that are the most commonly anthologized or that a comedian might recite aloud in order to get a cheap laugh. I portrayed…
Celtic Punk Connections to Limericks and Limerick
Posted on July 1, 2022After explaining the link between limericks and Limerick, Ireland, last month, I can tenuously claim that both of my books out this year have Irish tie-ins! I enjoy putting my books in conversation with each other, so finding the nexus between Celtic Punk Superfan and There Once Was a Limerick Anthology makes sense. Connections between Celtic punk and limericks/Limerick include some of the best-known acts in the genre, the Pogues and Flogging Molly; lesser-known bands The Gobshites and Siobhan; and…
Quatrains about Air Guitar
Posted on June 15, 2022In 2020, I published Air to the Throne: A Poetry Chapbook about Air Guitar and blogged about my air guitar limericks. In the last few weeks, I’ve penned more than a dozen quatrains about air guitar—and other air instruments! Some of these poems were inspired by clerihews, humorous aabb quatrains with a biographical focus and irregular meter, but it’s more accurate to call them quatrains. The content absurdly pushes past the boundaries of what is possible for air instruments, as…