Archive for the ‘Authors & Playwrights’ Category
Tuesday, May 4th, 2021
After reading that the earliest use of “Proot” was found in Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes,” I couldn’t resist writing this limerick:
If your donkey behaves like a mule
And is moving too slowly, your tool
To boost the beast’s speed
And get him to heed
Is shout “PROOT!” (That’s the “Stevenson rule.”)
UPDATE: It just occurred to me that I used the current Limerick-Off rhyme-word “Tool” in this limerick, without planning to. But that gives me a good excuse to remind limerick writers about my Limerick-Offs. Here’s the link to my “tool”-rhyme contest. The entry deadline is May 15, 2021 at 4 p.m. Eastern time.
Tags: Animal and Pet Humor, Donkey Humor, Donkey Limerick, Mule Humor, Mule Limerick, Proot, Robert Louis Stevenson
Posted in Animal & Pet Humor, Authors & Playwrights, Language Humor, Limericks, Public Figures, Travel Humor | Comments Off on How To Deal With A Stubborn Donkey (Limerick)
Saturday, November 7th, 2015
Just in time for Book Lovers Day, celebrated both on the first Saturday of November and on August 9:
Like most of my friends I love books,
And I don’t want to read them on Nooks
Or other devices;
Real paper entices.
Don’t dare give me pity-filled looks!
Tags: August Holidays, Authors & Playwrights, Book Lovers Day, Computer Humor, E-Books, E-Readers, Electronic Devices, Kindles, Nooks, November Holidays, Odd Holidays, Technology Humor, Writing & Publishing Humor
Posted in Authors & Playwrights, Book Publishing Humor, Books, Computer Humor, Limericks, Odd Holidays, Technology Humor, Writing & Publishing Humor | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, May 12th, 2015
My lim’rick obsession’s severe;
I write rhymes night and day ev’ry year.
My addiction is brutal.
Resistance is futile…
And I warrant the fault lies with Lear.
Happy birthday, Edward Lear, and Happy Limerick Day!
Tags: Addiction Humor, Birthday Limerick, Celebrations Poetry, Edward Lear, Holiday Poetry, International Limerick Day, May Holidays, National Limerick Day, Obsession Verse, Odd Holidays, Rhyming Obsession, Writers, Writing & Publishing Humor
Posted in Addiction Humor, Authors & Playwrights, Birthday Verse, Celebrations Poetry, Celebrity Humor, Holiday Humor, Light Verse, Limericks, Odd Holidays, Writing & Publishing Humor | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, April 21st, 2015
Here’s my double dactyl to celebrate John Mortimer’s birthday today. (Though he died back in 2009, I still have vivid memories of meeting and interviewing him for a profile I wrote for British Heritage Magazine way back in 1996. You can read my John Mortimer profile here.)
But back to my double dactyl:
Higgledy Piggledy
John Clifford Mortimer
Barrister, Author,
Rumpolian wit.
Bailey, his bailiwick
Prima-facetiously
He and his Horace sure
Loved to acquit.
Tags: Authors & Playwrights, Barristers, Brits, Death, Double Dactyls, Interviews, John Mortimer, Lawyers, Obit, Profiles, Writers
Posted in Authors & Playwrights, Books, Celebrity Humor, Double Dactyls, Interviews, Legal & Lawyer Humor, Limericks, Public Figures | Comments Off on Double Dactyl For John Mortimer
Tuesday, October 7th, 2014
Limerick Ode To Allen Ginsberg
By Madeleine Begun Kane
Were Ginsberg alive, how downbeat
Might he be at our nation, replete
With war, greed, repression,
Conformist aggression!
Would he Howl at our abject defeat?
“Beat” poet Allen Ginsberg read his controversial poem Howl for the first time on October 7, 1955 at Six Gallery, in San Francisco. It was the subject of an obscenity trial, but was decreed to be of “redeeming social importance.”
Tags: Allen Ginsberg, Authors & Playwrights, Beat Generation, Beat Poetry, Celebrities, Howl, Obscenity Trial, October Holidays, San Francisco, Six Gallery
Posted in Authors & Playwrights, Celebrity Humor, Limericks, Odd Holdays | Comments Off on Limerick Ode To Allen Ginsberg
Tuesday, June 24th, 2014
Ambrose Bierce, A Limerick Birthday Ode
By Madeleine Begun Kane
Who the devil is Ambrose G. Bierce?
An author whose insights were fierce.
Each satirical lap
Keenly cut through the crap
With panache, as our foibles he’d pierce.
Tags: Ambrose Bierce, Authors & Playwrights, June Holidays. Birthday Limerick, Writers
Posted in Authors & Playwrights, Birthday Verse, Celebrity Humor, Limericks, Writing & Publishing Humor | 2 Comments »
Monday, May 12th, 2014
It’s Limerick Day, in honor of Edward Lear’s birthday on May 12th, and so…
Yet Another Limerick Day Ode to Edward Lear
By Madeleine Begun Kane
On May 12th I must celebrate Lear,
Though he’s mostly to blame, it is clear,
For my rhyming affliction
And lim’rick addiction;
I’m perversely a fan, so I cheer.
Tags: Birthday Limerick, Celebrations Poetry, Edward Lear, Holiday Poetry, May Holidays, National Limerick Day, Odd Holidays, Writers
Posted in Authors & Playwrights, Birthday Verse, Celebrations Poetry, Celebrity Humor, Light Verse, Limericks, Odd Holidays, Writing & Publishing Humor | 2 Comments »
Thursday, February 21st, 2013
Happy “Be Humble Day!” (February 22)
Limerick Ode To “Be Humble Day”
By Madeleine Begun Kane
A man who was told to be humble
Objected and started to grumble:
“My modesty’s famed,”
He loudly proclaimed.
‘Twas a fumble that’s worthy of Trumbull.*
*John Trumbull was an American political satirist, poet, and lawyer.
Tags: Be Humble Day, February Holidays, Humility, John Trumbull, Modesty, Odd Holidays
Posted in Authors & Playwrights, Behavior & Personality, Limericks, Odd Holidays | 10 Comments »
Thursday, February 7th, 2013
Happy Birthday, Charles Dickens! (February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870) And happy Charles Dickens Day!
Limerick Ode To Charles Dickens
By Madeleine Begun Kane
What day is today? The plot thickens:
It’s the birthday of author Charles Dickens,
Whose serial fiction
(For some an addiction)
Never suffered from slim verbal pickin’s.
Tags: Authors & Playwrights, Charles Dickens Day, Charles Dickens Humor, February Holidays, Odd Holidays, Serial Fiction
Posted in Authors & Playwrights, Birthday Verse, Limericks, Odd Holidays, Writing & Publishing Humor | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, October 31st, 2012
Well-Endowed Limerick
By Madeleine Begun Kane
A man got a look at the titty
Of the well-endowed, lovely Miss Kitty
And imagined his life
With that gal as his wife
In his harem at Casa de Mitty.
(With apologies to James Thurber)
Tags: Bawdy Humor, Breast Humor, Fantasy Limerick, Harem Limerick, Imagination Humor, James Thurber, Marriage Verse, Physical Appearance, Polygamy Humor, Walter Mitty
Posted in Authors & Playwrights, Bawdy Limericks, Behavior & Personality, Limericks, Literary Humor, Marriage Humor, Physical Appearance | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, August 8th, 2012
Tomorrow, August 9, is Book Lover’s Day Needless to say, I’m celebrating with a limerick:
Best Selling Limerick
By Madeleine Begun Kane
A fellow who had what it took
To author a best selling book
“Wrote” novels galore.
(Able ghosts did the chore.)
He made millions by hook and by crook.
Tags: August Holidays, Authors & Playwrights, Best Sellers Humor, Book Lovers Day, Ghost Writing, November Holidays, Odd Holidays, Writing & Publishing Humor
Posted in Authors & Playwrights, Book Publishing Humor, Books, Limericks, Odd Holidays, Writing & Publishing Humor | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, August 1st, 2012
Ode To Gore Vidal (Limerick Obit)
By Madeleine Begun Kane
Gore Vidal was an elegant writer,
So acerbic, prolific, a fighter—
The “Best Man” to make hay
Over foibles — wordplay
Fused with wit — an enlightened igniter.
Tags: Authors & Playwrights, Best Man, Gore Vidal, Limerick Obit, Obit
Posted in Authors & Playwrights, Celebrations Poetry, Limerick Obituary, Limericks | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, July 10th, 2012
I just found out that today (July 10) is National Clerihew Day. What the heck’s a clerihew? It’s a “whimsical, four-line biographical poem invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley.”
More specifically, clerihews are four-lines long with an A-A-B-B rhyme scheme and irregular meter. The first line names a person — the subject of the poem.
Here are a couple I’ve written about writers:
Edgar Allen Poe
A writerly bro
Who’s famed for the Raven.
What a scary poem maven!
*****
The author George Orwell
We ought not ignore well;
His writings polemic
Ain’t at all academic.
*****
And here are two about actresses:
Bette Davis
Film joy gave us.
Seduced gals and guys
With Bette Davis Eyes.
*****
Mae West
For life had zest.
Stoked gals and blokes
With “evil” jokes.
*****
(You can find my political clerihews here.)
Happy birthday to George Orwell, born June 25, 1903.
Tags: Bette Davis, Clerihew, Edgar Allen Poe, Edmund Clerihew Bentley, George Orwell, July Holidays, June Birthdays, Mae West, National Clerihew Day, Poetry Forms
Posted in Actors & Actresses, Authors & Playwrights, Books, Celebrations Poetry, Celebrity Humor, Clerihews, Holiday Humor, Limericks, Poetry Forms, Public Figures | 8 Comments »
Thursday, May 12th, 2011
I Blame Edward Lear! (Limerick)
By Madeleine Begun Kane
A woman who loves to write verse
Has bits of it stuffed in her purse.
She frets about rhyme
Nearly all of the time.
She’s addicted, for better or worse.
Happy Birthday, Edward Lear! And Happy Limerick Day, May 12th!
You can find more National Limerick Day celebration limericks here and here.
Tags: Addiction Humor, Edward Lear, International Limerick Day, May Holidays, National Limerick Day, Obsession Verse, Rhyming Obsession, Writing & Publishing Humor
Posted in Addiction Humor, Authors & Playwrights, Behavior & Personality, Creativity Verse, Holiday Humor, Light Verse, Limericks, Obsessions Humor, Public Figures, Writing & Publishing Humor | 11 Comments »
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
Every year I like to celebrate Limerick Day (May 12) by writing a limerick in honor of Edward Lear, the father of the limerick. (Here are the two limericks I wrote in Lear’s honor last year.)
Since I’ve recently gotten into writing acrostic limericks, I decided to make things about bit harder on myself and write an acrostic limerick to celebrate Limerick Day (and Lear’s birthday.)
Happy Limerick Day (Acrostic Limerick)
By Madeleine Begun Kane
Edward Lear should be honored — hooray!
Lim’rick verses he fathered, some say.
Entertained us with wit—
A nonsensical hit.
Remember his birthday — 12 May.
If you’re looking for a way to celebrate National Limerick Day, why not try participating in this week’s Limerick-Off?
Tags: Acrostic Poems, Celebrations Poetry, Edward Lear, May Holidays, National Limerick Day, Writers
Posted in Acrostic Limericks, Authors & Playwrights, Birthday Verse, Celebrations Poetry, Holiday Humor, Light Verse, Limericks, Writing & Publishing Humor | 15 Comments »
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
As part of its National Poetry Month and Poem In Your Pocket Day “Envelope Project” celebrations, New York City is running an Emily Dickinson related poetry contest. Basically, it involves writing your own poems using Dickinson first lines.
Although I didn’t enter the contest (I wasn’t thrilled with its reprint permission form) I chose four Emily Dickinson first lines and wrote four short, whimsical, New York City-inspired poems. Here they are, with Dickinson’s words noted in italics:
I shall keep singing though I’m bad,
and those who hear me shout, “Egad!”
You’ll never see me on Broadway,
unless you mean my street display.
*****
The Cricket sang.
My sleep is done.
I’d sooner hear an engine run.
*****
I started Early–Took my Dog —
unleashed — don’t fret —
Just franks and grog.
*****
A Day! Help! Help! Another Day!
I wish sometimes they’d go away.
I much prefer the dark of night
So daylight please, go fly a kite.
*****
Tags: April Holidays, Celebrations Poetry, Emily Dickinson, Envelope Project, National Poetry Month, New York City Verse, Poem In Your Pocket Day, Poetry Contest
Posted in Authors & Playwrights, Celebrations Poetry, Holiday Humor, New York Limericks & Haiku, Poetry Contest | 14 Comments »
Thursday, March 3rd, 2011
Today I’ve written four poems on a theme called hope. There’s a pair of quatrains, one haiku, and a limerick — something for everyone, or no one, as the case may be:
Hope springs eternal—
a “truism” some speak.
Yes, hope springs eternal,
until it springs a leak.
*****
Alexander Pope
wrote about hope.
His eternal quote
helps some folks cope.
*****
Showing up to vote—
a yearly exercise in
unrequited hope.
*****
A gal who is often caught moping
And is terribly dreadful at coping
Drives her family mad.
Things have gotten so bad,
That they’re hoping to hear she’s eloping.
*****
(Inspired by Haiku Wednesday’s hope prompt and Poets United quotation prompt. For more optimistic poems see Friday Poetically.)
Tags: Alexander Pope, Aphorism Humor, Family & Relatives Humor, Funny Quotes, Hope, Moping, Optimism, Personality Verse, Quatrains, Truisms, Voting Haiku
Posted in Anxiety & Stress, Aphorisms, Authors & Playwrights, Behavior & Personality, Family & Relatives Humor, Family Verse, Famous Quotes Humor, Haiku & Senryu, Limericks, Mental Health Humor, Public Figures, Quatrains Humor, Self-Help Humor, Social Satire | 35 Comments »
Friday, August 20th, 2010
Last night hubby Mark and I had a wonderful theater experience. We saw Secrets of the Trade, starring Noah Robbins, Mark Nelson, Amy Aquino, John Glover, and Bill Brochtrup (whom you may recognize as “Gay John” from NYPD Blue.
The play, written by Jonathan Tolins and directed by Matt Shakman, centers around Andy Lipman. Who’s Andy Lipman? He’s a fictional (and yet somehow familiar) ambitious, Long Island kid who dreams of a career on Broadway and hopes to be helped by Martin Kerner, a theater legend whom he idolizes. I enjoyed it so much, that I felt compelled to review it in verse:
Saw Secrets of the Trade last night.
The play was great to our delight.
With cast so fine and script superb,
I had to pen this glowing blurb.
The playwright Tolins is new to me.
He made us giggle gleefully.
And Noah Robbins — he’s the star.
A mere nineteen and bound to go far.
The rest of the cast is just as strong.
I’d name them, but this poem’s too long.
So get yourself to Off-Broadway,
And see this fun, outstanding play.
Tags: Bill Brochtrup, Jonathan Tolins, Matt Shakman, New York City Verse, Noah Robbins, Off-Broadway, Play Reviews, Secrets Of The Trade, Shows
Posted in Authors & Playwrights, Entertaining New Yorkers, Limericks, New York Limericks & Haiku, Night On The Town, Theater Reviews | Comments Off on Secrets Of The Trade – Off-Broadway Play Review In Verse
Sunday, July 4th, 2010
If you enjoy Shakespeare performed beautifully in a magnificent setting, don’t miss the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival at the Boscobel Restoration in Garrison, New York.
Troilus and Cressida opened July 3rd, and it was terrific.
We started the evening with a delightful picnic on Boscobel’s Hudson River grounds, then moved into the tent for an inventive performance of the baudy, Trojan tale.
Things got even more unusual in the Second Act, which began with a quirky, yet oddly fitting musical number. After the music, the audience members were welcomed to leave their seats temporarily, walk down to the Hudson River, and view the holiday fireworks display that was about to take place across the river at West Point.
Once the fireworks were over, we returned to our seats and the play continued. What fun!
And that brings me to my latest limerick:
Like Shakespeare performed in a tent?
Then see Troilus — it’s time quite well spent:
At the Boscobel joint—
Straight across from West Point.
Please don’t miss it — you’ll surely repent.
Tags: Boscobel, Fireworks, Hudson River, Hudson Valley, Leisure Time Humor, Literature, Movie & Play Humor, Outdoors, Theater Humor, Troilus And Cressida Review, West Point, William Shakespeare
Posted in Authors & Playwrights, Celebrations Poetry, Entertaining New Yorkers, Holiday Humor, Leisure Time Humor, Limericks, Movie & Play Humor, New York Limericks & Haiku, Night On The Town, Outdoors Humor, Recreation & Fun Humor, Theater Reviews, Travel Humor, Vacation Humor | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010
I hope you’ll join me in writing a limerick with this first line:
An infamous author named Gene…
Here’s mine:
Infamous Limerick
By Madeleine Begun Kane
An infamous author named Gene
Was obnoxious and often obscene.
He was paid a steep price
For his writing, concise.
His prose was, like Gene, lean and mean.
Please feel free to write your own limerick using the same first line and post it in my comments. And if you’re on Facebook, I hope you’ll join my friends in that same activity in my Limerick-Offs.
Tags: Authors & Playwrights, Poetry & Prompts, Writers, Writing Prompts
Posted in Authors & Playwrights, Behavior & Personality, Creativity Verse, Language Humor, Limerick & Haiku Prompts, Limerick-Offs, Limericks, Poetry & Prompts, Writing & Publishing Humor | 25 Comments »
