Mixed Metaphors and Postmodern Limericks
Limericks in the Face of Climate Change
Our planet is under siege from an insidious epidemic. Those who don’t protect themselves run the risk of being contaminated. I’m speaking of course about the pestilence of limericks. Recently these five-lined rhymes have been turning up in the air we breathe, on the social media we consume, and even on the very walls of our cities.
As the King of Limericks, I’m guilty of polluting the public sphere with more than my own fair share of doggerel. But when it comes to defacing the walls of the UK, from Hastings to Manchester, with rainbows and limericks, there’s a culprit who goes by the name of Angry Dan.
Like a lot of things in the galaxy of limericks, Angry Dan displays a keen sense of irony. He is, after all, one of the least hostile, venomous, or vituperative young men you’ll ever have the pleasure of meeting. Much in the same way that the King of Limericks hasn’t a single drop of royal blood in his entire cardiopulmonary system. But “Genial Bard” just didn’t have the same ring to it. Nor did the “Plebeian Poet.” Perhaps the “Understated Troubadour”, but alas, I digress.
Angry Dan has basically done what every writer of limericks dreams of doing. He’s taken his limericks to the next level. And in his case, that has meant painting his short poems as larger-than-life murals on the sides of urban buildings around London and the UK. And he’s even turned it into a full-time profession.
By combining his unique skill set, as a poet, a painter and an entrepreneur, Angry Dan manages to keep a packed schedule, zipping back and forth across the South of England, fulfilling one commissioned piece after another.
But that’s not all. He’s also painted murals in Reykjavík and Scandinavia. He paints canvases and prints postcards. He even got himself mentioned on the website of the Guardian Newspaper.
Next-Level Limericks from Angry Dan
But Angry Dan is so much more than just a whimsical rhymer with a brush in one hand and a pint in the other. Like me — if I may be so bold as to draw a comparison — Dan writes limericks that speak from the soul. His limericks don’t dwell on the worn-out insinuations of sexual innuendo. Rather than composing from below the waist, his thoughtful, uplifting, optimistic, reflective rhymes clearly come from a higher place, with his frontal lobe fully engaged and his third-eye chakra activated.
Take a look at Angry Dan’s website and his very active Instagram account to get a taste of what I mean.
His cheerful limericks are guaranteed to put a grin on your face. And his Seussian illustrations serve to reinforce the verbal whimsy with visual levity.
Dan’s background in songwriting and musical composition makes him unusually skilled at limerick writing. His crisp, pithy verses flow ever so naturally. And you might assume that it all happens easily and effortlessly. That is, until you try writing one yourself.
Poetry in Public Places
As long as I’m postulating parallels, I’m reminded of my own humble beginnings as I surreptitiously shared my earliest limericks with the general public. Actually, it was more like sharing them with General Mills, as I secretly operated under the name of the Granola Poet.
What seemed like a great idea at the time, proves in hindsight to have been something certainly doomed for disaster. For one thing, writing limericks takes a little practice, like anything else. So my first ones weren’t all that great.
But I was profoundly inspired by a Norwegian film called “Elling”. The eponymous and eccentric protagonist writes poetry as a way of coping with anxiety and other personal issues. Then he leaves the poems hidden in sauerkraut packages at the local grocery store.
It wasn’t long before I was creeping up and down the aisles of the Vons supermarket, slipping limericks into cereal boxes, and signing them as the Granola Poet. It occurred to me later that the store was probably filled with surveillance cameras. And that tampering with groceries was almost certainly a felony, if not a federal crime. So after a few weeks, I decided to direct my energies elsewhere.
Obviously, Angry Dan has a far better plan in the works. And I can promise you that his limericks will not get soggy in milk.
Further Reading
If you enjoyed this story about the limericks of Angry Dan, you might also want to check out some of these popular articles:
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