Limericks about Reference Books

It seems like only last year I was sitting down to write my first limerick, embarking on a project that would eventually become my Encyclopedia of Limericks. That anthology has since scattered with the Four Winds, but my reverence for reference books has only grown greater. So, what better way to express my gratitude than with a series of limericks about reference books.

It would be impossible to write poetry without acknowledging the great debt we owe to those who came before us. From geniuses like Shakespeare and James Joyce to collaborators like the Brothers Grimm to the great lexicographers like Samuel Johnson, they shaped the words and plots that we pick up and use without a second thought. I’m reminded of how easily we can drive to the department store and purchase an appliance manufactured across the globe in a country we can’t pronounce using technologies that we couldn’t possibly understand.

Creativity is at the core of poetry, but no one writes in a vacuum. We, as writers, are all products of a great legacy, the latest in an endless stream of words and phrases that will never come full stop. Documenting and cataloging those words and phrases in dictionaries, encyclopedias and thesauruses can be a tedious task. But those who undertake to do it deserve our thanks and recognition.

With that in mind, I have written and compiled this short collection of limericks about reference books, treatises and periodicals.

     Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
     There once was a pithy expression
     That left a long-lasting impression
               On centuries of science
               We live in reliance
     Their knowledge is in our possession

     Eking out Epigrams
     Inspired by Nietzsche I’ve turned aphoristic
     Firing salvos in phrases ballistic
               Composed with concision
               They may lack precision
     But nothing I’ve said is a bit plagiaristic

     Lady Killer
     Protagonist enters with hardly a chance
     Accosted by maidens all wanting to dance
               Averting their looks
               He clings his books
     And what’s on his arm? It’s a treatise of Kant’s!

     At a Loss For Words
     Though my mind is both limber and porous
     I stumble on what came before us
               The words I once sung
               Get stuck on my tongue
     And that’s why I need a thesaurus

     Wordsmith
     The dictionary’s thick — I get lost in it
     A synonym for antonym is opposite
          A lover of words
          And king of the nerds
     Everyday after school I would pop a zit

     Word Games
     I once knew a girl who was frictionary
     She joined me for long games of Pictionary
               Acting out phrases
               Exchanging long gazes
     She ended up holding my dictionary

     Expert in my Field
     Twice as poetic as Ahab was nautical
     Working with limericks I’m always methodical
               More than overt with it
               Now I’m quite sure of it
     Someday I’ll run in a fine periodical

     King Tide Conjunction
     Ten thousand things and I’ve tussled with each
     Einstein in Hollywood, Joyce on the Beach
               Degrees of precision
               From all forms of vision
     And never a facet with nothing to teach

Further Reading

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