Here are two election candidate limericks I wrote a couple of days ago, after reading a political limerick at Daily Kos. I figured I could do a much better poem and I think I did…

Here we have an elephant’s rump. Donald Trump’s male children like to hunt elephants and leopards. Hillary Clinton loves elephants and wants to protect them. I bet elephants are hoping Hillary wins the United States Presidency! Help SAVE ELEPHANTS, Visit: Worldwildlife.org, Adopt an Elephant.

Of the two major party candidates running for office, the name Trump is a pretty easy word to rhyme*, so I started with him.

Trump…

The Candidate known as Trump
Comes riding on an elephant’s rump,
      But the way that he acts
      Using lies as facts,
Makes him more like an elephant’s dump.

I think it is almost perfect as limerick go, it is topical, clever, scatological and true. As far as writing it, the limerick came straight from my muse to the page.

Now let’s go to the candidate of with a more complex name. Hillary (Clinton). I decided to use the first name because the first rhyme is so appropriate for her career. But please read on to decide if that is true:

Hillary…

There was a young lady named Hillary
Whom Repubs began to pillory.
      Through grit and talent from within
      She became a Great American,
Hats off to future President, Madame Hillary.

This political poetry was more of a struggle to write, but not because of the subject. Hillary Clinton is a great American, and I look forward to her being our next President. Technically, though, this is not a perfect limerick…

First, there are scanning problems. To make this poem scan properly, you have to use your inner or outer voice to stress, condense or stretch some syllables.

Secondly, the action and content within the limerick is more complex than the Trump example. With the Trump limerick the words are very simple and easy to grasp – a child of six or seven can probable get the joke within the poem. The hardest word to grasp, for a six year old, might be the word “Fact.” But then Donald doesn’t seem to be able to grasp facts either.

As I say, the Hillary limerick uses words that require a higher reading level. Understanding that Repubs is short for thuggish Republicans and knowing what pillory means demands a better reader comprehension. Not to mention that understanding the concept of “grit and talent from within” takes a bit more education than understanding “an elephant’s dump.” But the real problem here is that Hillary Clinton’s future title will be Madame President and not the informal Madame Hillary. Still I think it is poetic license to form the last line this way as it conveys (I hope) the overall theme.

Also, I do not like repeating the same word to make the end rhyme, but my brain is not providing me with another relevant rhyme for Hillary.

But let me make it clear that despite my artistic criticisms above, I think this Hilary limerick is pretty good.

*Trump the man is a fascist monster, whose pathological lying makes him a great danger to humanity’s future if given any real power over us…

Just in case, you were still hankering for more limericks, I have added this one (it is not mine):

The more traditional limerick deals with sex – directly or through innuendo. Here is a nice example of one such a five line poem that was printed in The New Yorker Magazine in the 1930’s:

A susceptible senior at Vassar
Is knitting an antimacassar
      To lure her professor
      To love and caress her,
And possibly even to pass her.

=> And, if you are looking for elephant collectibles, check out this link: Jade Elephants.

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In 1846 Edward Lear’s Book of Nonsense was first published and the limerick craze began. Sparkling Limericks follows in the great crazy tradition of this well-loved verse form, which is to say that it is full of earthy humour, wacky wordplay and excruciating rhymes to set the reader laughing and groaning. The handsome young fellow from Clwyd makes a notable appearance here, perhaps for the first time in a limerick, and the old man from Dubrovnik proves to be an even greater rhyming challenge.


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