Clerihew, Haiku, and You

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A word fitly spoken
    is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.

–Proverbs 25:11

* * *

A few months ago, James Scott Bell posted Micro Fiction for Your Writer’s Brain on TKZ. It was about writing fiction that was less than 500 words long. (I’ll wait while you go back and review.)

That post gave me an idea for writing about even shorter form fiction, and I came across a few types that are both fun and challenging.

The Clerihew

The clerihew is a form of poetry that was invented by E.C. Bentley, the author of Trent’s Last Case and other novels. Bentley’s full name happens to be Edmund Clerihew Bentley. I guess when you have a middle name like Clerihew, you may as well come up with some clever and inventive use of it.

Here’s the definition of clerihew from Wikipedia:

A clerihew (ˈklɛrɪhjuː) is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem of a type invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. The first line is the name of the poem’s subject, usually a famous person, and the remainder puts the subject in an absurd light or reveals something unknown or spurious about the subject. The rhyme scheme is AABB, and the rhymes are often forced. The line length and metre are irregular. Bentley invented the clerihew in school and then popularized it in books.

Here are a couple of examples:

Sir Humphry Davy
Abominated gravy.
He lived in the odium
Of having discovered sodium.

Did Descartes
Depart
With the thought
“Therefore I’m not”?

Here’s my humble attempt:

Albert Einstein
Had a very great mind
While in his prime
He relativized time

* * *

The Haiku

Back in 2021, Steve Hooley and his sister, Joyce, wrote a wonderful TKZ post on haiku poetry.

Dictionary.com defines haiku as

a major form of Japanese verse, written in 17 syllables divided into 3 lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, and employing highly evocative allusions and comparisons, often on the subject of nature or one of the seasons.

Here are a couple of rather famous ones:

“A Caterpillar” by Matsuo Basho

A caterpillar,
This deep in fall –
Still not a butterfly.

 

“A Poppy Blooms” by Katsushika Hokusai

I write, erase, rewrite
Erase again, and then
A poppy blooms.

 

And another one by me:

Azalea blossoms
Pink, but ragged on the edge
Tomorrow’s lovers

* * *

The Limerick

Here’s what Britannica.com has to say about this poetic form:

Limerick, a popular form of short, humorous verse that is often nonsensical and frequently ribald. It consists of five lines, rhyming aabba, and the dominant metre is anapestic, with two metrical feet in the third and fourth lines and three feet in the others. The origin of the limerick is unknown, but it has been suggested that the name derives from the chorus of an 18th-century Irish soldiers’ song, “Will You Come Up to Limerick?” To this were added impromptu verses crowded with improbable incident and subtle innuendo.

 

Here’s a non-ribald example.

A tutor who taught on the flute
Tried to teach two tooters to toot.
Said the two to the tutor,
“Is it harder to toot, or
To tutor two tooters to toot?”

Personally, I love limericks. I occasionally compose one in honor of politicians or other strange creatures.  😎 I won’t share any of those, but here’s one I made up just for today:

My computer decided to die
Just as the deadline drew nigh
When the publisher screamed
I knew I was creamed
So I kissed my contract good-bye

* * *

So TKZers: What do you think about these poetic short forms? Pick one or two (or all three) and astound us by entering your work in the comments. Include something in your poem about one of your books if you’re so inclined.

* * *

There once was a pilot named Cassie
An intrepid sleuth was this lassie
She flew into danger,
But it didn’t change her
And she found the murderer fastly.

A 2024 Eric Hoffer Grand Prize Award Finalist

Buy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, or Apple Books.

32 thoughts on “Clerihew, Haiku, and You”

  3. Good morning, Kay. Thanks for the introduction to Poetic Micro Fiction. And thanks for the link to my sister’s article on Haiku.

    Limerick fits my personality the best.

    The weather, it’s going to rain
    The work is calling, what a pain
    I need to get going
    To do all the mowing
    Or I’ll be lost in a jungle of cane

    Have a great day!

  4. We had a unit on haiku in high school English … never clicked with me, although I have a book of haiku poetry on the nightstand in my guest bedroom.
    But I do remember, even after all these years, a limerick from 7th grade English class.

    The Reverend Henry Ward Beecher
    Called the hen a remarkable creature
    The hen just like that
    Laid an egg in his hat
    And thus did the hen reward Beecher.

    (Helps to read it aloud.)

    • Good morning, Terry.

      Great limerick. Isn’t it interesting how many things we remember from our school days? Poems and songs seem to have the strongest staying power. (My husband has a little poem he learned in elementary school that he recites to me now and then.)

  5. Short form poetry is fun. Queen Anne’s lace is blooming in our area, weeds along the roadsides and in empty fields. They give off such an intoxicating scent.

    fallow fields
    weedy flowers white
    fragrant

    • Good morning, Priscilla.

      Lovely poem. I remember seeing a lot of Queen Anne’s Lace in fields and beside roads when we lived in the midwest. The name is perfect.

  6. I’m afraid it’s too early for me to come up with something original. There was a website that did Six Word Sunday— tell a story in 6 words. Here’s one from Hemingway: baby shoes for sale. Never worn.

      • Good morning, Patricia.

        Thanks for the Hemingway example. There’s a whole story in those six words.

        I know what you mean about being too early to think. I was considering answering each comment today with a bit of micro poetry. That idea lasted about two microseconds.

  7. I love Limericks! Although I don’t think I know any clean ones. Issac Asimov has a book, maybe two of limericks. He doesn’t know any clean ones either.

    Once I started reading, not just watching James Bond I learned that Flemming liked haiku.
    You only live twice
    Once when you’re born
    And once when you look death in the face.

    My father introduced me the “The Space Child’s Mother Goose.” A great book and still in print!

    Little Miss Muffet
    Sits on her tuffet
    In a nonchalant sort of a way.
    With her force field around her
    The spider, the bounder,
    Is not in the picture today.

    Have a great day everybody.

    • Good morning, Alan.

      I love limericks too. Their cadence just feels comfortable to my brain.

      I like that poem from “The Space Child’s Mother Goose.” What a great idea to rewrite the nursery rhymes. Maybe we should write an anthology of “The Mystery Writer’s Mother Goose.”

  9. Fun stuff, Kay! I’m not a poetry buff, but I did enjoy the limericks when I was in school. (Reading them, not writing them . . . failed miserably at that!)

    Ahem!

    We have this dog, a German Shepherd. And I write this, after two cups of joe and watching the sun come up. I think it summarizes her personality perfectly. I don’t know what poetry category this would land under, but here goes.

    Miss Hoka the dog
    lived in the fog.
    Thought she was human
    ‘Til she stood in the lumen.

    Thanks for the challenge, Kay. Now I can go forth and conquer. 🙂

  10. I’m afraid I’m too deep into the WIP to switch my brain to poetry, Kay. Enjoyed your examples, though! As always, the comments also rock.

    Hope your week’s off to a great start!

    • Good morning, Sue.

      When you’re in the zone, it’s probably best not to switch gears, so I understand. Good luck with that WIP!

  11. My very first published work was a haiku that appeared in the annual literary magazine of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Junior High School in Fairfax County, Virginia (1969 or 1970):

    A roar overhead
    An explosion and a cloud
    The world has ended

    As you can tell, I was a very deep thinker in my adolescence.

    • That’s cool, John. A haiku that predicted your future career. I doubt many of us can lay claim to that.

      Have a pleasant week.
      Don’t destroy too many worlds.
      Save just one or two.

      🙂

  12. Fun post, Kay, and I enjoyed contributions from the comments.

    My Monday brain is not wired for poetry but reviewing Jim’s post about flash fiction did get the wheels turning. Just finished a 499-word story. Thanks, Jim!

  13. Belatedly I respond
    Struggling to free myself
    From fatigue

    ***
    Great post, Kay! I slept poorly last night–hoped a gym workout would revive me. Not entirely, but I’m at my writing desk. Hope to sleep better tonight.

    • Hi Dale. I hate those sleepless nights. Still, you constructed a good micro poem. Here’s wishing for a better night tonight and a great week ahead.

  14. The heart does not rest,
    For at battle with itself
    It can never win.
    —Chapter 2 epigraphs

    More sorrow is there
    Than joy to she who will not
    Marry her own kind.
    —Chapter 3 epigraphs

    He who aims for great goals
    Shall walk the knife edge of
    Failure all his life.
    —Chapter 5 epigraphs

    Love’s a conscious choice
    that someone makes forever
    to protect your back.
    —Chapter 8 epigraphs

    Credited to Tahiro Mizuki, translated by R. Heath

    Pride’s Children: NETHERWORLD
    —

    And all of them me – the poet and translator are fictional.

    When I can’t find an epigraph that says exactly what I want for a chapter, I write one.

    A good friend who studied haiku in college was about to go look Mizuki up when I confessed.

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