Fixed-Width Limerick

06Feb08

The Limerick database was set up by xkcd creator Randall Munroe, with the aim of re-popularising this often dirty, often clever form of poetry (originally popularised by Edward Lear).

The off-beat and nerdy tastes of his xkcd following is clear from the current three most popular limericks:

There was an old man
From Peru, whose lim’ricks all
Look’d like haiku. He

Said with a laugh “I
Cut them in half, the pay is
Much better for two.”

A woman in liquor production
Owns a still of exquisite construction.
The alcohol boils
Through magnetic coils.
She says that it’s “proof by induction.”

A dying mosquito exclaimed,
“A chemist has poisoned my brain!”
The cause of his sorrow
Was para-dichloro-
Diphenyl-trichloroethane

I wanted to take the idea presented in the xkcd comic “Fixed Width” and apply it to Munroe’s newest creation, and after a fair amount of word-wrangling here’s the limerick I came up with:

Rob, an odd fellow, designs Poems of equal-length lines And he limericks with flair As his forethought and care Ensure a word count of 3 9s

Each line is 27 characters long – and on top of that, there are 27 words in total.

Writing a limerick that works well in spite of the triple restrictions of line length, word count and limerick metre was an interesting challenge. You can vote on it here, or check out the hundreds of other submissions at LimerickDB.com!

Update: #20 and rising on the LimerickDB Top 150 list…

Update II: #15…

Update III: #10…