The
limeraiku is a form of
poetry devised by
Ted Pauker, consisting of a
haiku in which five of the
syllables (usually the ends of the three lines plus two more) rhyme in the pattern of a
limerick. He gives as
exemplar:
There's a vile old man
Of Japan who roars at whores:
‘Where's your bloody fan?’
— Ted Pauker (emphasis of rhymes mine)
Some authors have written limeraiku in an identical or very similar format, introducing the subject with “There's ...”, choosing a place-name to rhyme with (cf. the stereotyped opening for limericks “There (once) was a ... from ...”), and dividing the second line as 3+2+2 syllables:
There's a latent queer
Of Tangier who brays at gays:
‘I'm hetero, dear.’
— Tim Hopkins
There's a cut-price whore
Of Cawnpore who hails all males:
‘Bed, Mattress — or Floor?’
— Pascoe Polglaze
There's a man at Crewe
station who buggers muggers
so well there's a queue.
— E. O. Parrott
Others have varied the form, changing the position within the lines of the five rhyming syllables, abandoning place-names as a source of rhymes,
even
forsaking the seemingly all-pervasive
sexual humour in favour of historical or political themes:
John Keats rose at dawn,
Still forlorn, too chaste to taste
The amorous Brawne.
— Nick Enright
Richard the Third heard
That his horse had just gone hoarse.
It hadn't occurred
To him that his mount
Would count against him in trade.
So slayed on account
Of his feel for a
Deal, his nag once in the bag
Gave Tudor his Seal.
— Andrew Davie (?)
A limeraiku
needs two rhymes (used five times)
plus wit (which I blew).
— Anitra Freeman
If I had a dime
for every time Windows™ froze—
That would be sublime.
— apothanousa
Mr. Blair has flair:
But I daresay the Third Way
is so much hot air.
— apothanousa
References:
- E. O. Parrott, The Penguin Book of Limericks, Penguin Books 1983
- A. Davie, The Limeraiku, an introduction, http://www.nospine.net/jellyfish/002_11.asp
- A. Freeman, Spontaneous Exercise: rhyme vs. rhythm, http://www.anitraweb.org/kalliope/limeraiku.html