It’s Poetry Friday, today, hosted by poet Matt Ersenwine HERE. Be sure to stop by and see what he has for us today. Thank you, Matt, for hosting.
A Clerihew is poetry for everyone. It’s a short comic or nonsensical verse, typically in two rhyming couplets with lines of unequal length and referring to a famous person. The form was begun by Edmund Clerihew Bentley in 1875 as a schoolboy:
Edmund Clerihew Bentley
Said “I like my name immensely
But sometimes when I’ve had a few
I call myself Edmund Bentley Clerihew”
As you can tell, a clerihew is a short comic or nonsensical verse, typically in two rhyming couplets with lines of unequal length and referring to a famous person. I’ll add this as guidance:
A clerihew’s humorous, examples? They’re numerous; Chose a name, get started, be clever, lighthearted. © Janice Scully 2021
I have written a Clerihews before about two First Ladies, Michelle Obama and Dolley Madison Here.
I’ve added two more this week to my small collection to thank the President and Vice President, on the night of his first State of the Union address and at the end their first 100 days I office.
I don’t think I have never felt such gratitude towards a president and Vice President, for their calming voices, how they include everyone, and the way they’ve helped us fight the pandemic. I can’t believe how pleasant and human they are! For that, they both deserve clerihews and even more, maybe a sonnet, sestina or a villenelle. But I’ll stick to the clerihew.
THANK YOU, MR. PRESIDENT
A slog through the mud, it’s seemed that way, Joe,
in your goulashes you walk careful and slow,
a tortoise in a perpetual race,
at a kind, measured, unstoppable pace.
© Janice Scully 2021
AMERICA’S FIRST
Kamala, women belong in high places,
alongside those whiskered and masculine faces.
You’re the Vice President, second in line,
courageous, brilliant, and doing just fine.
© Janice Scully 2021
Perhaps there is someone you would like to celebrate with a clerihew. If you do sometime, please share them. In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying a little more freedom the vaccines are making possible. Last night we had our son over for dinner. Today I had coffee out with a friend, sat at tables, socially distanced, but we took our masks off. I hadn’t done this in a year!
