When a clever, inquisitive lad
Would pester and pepper his dad
With questions galore,
His dad would implore:
“Ask your mom. She knows more. She’s a grad!”
Posts Tagged ‘Parents’
Parenting Challenge (Limerick)
Sunday, August 13th, 2023Musical Lament (Limerick)
Wednesday, July 12th, 2023“My career choice was NOT the astutest;
There are very few jobs for a flutist.
How I wish that I heeded
My parents, who pleaded:
‘Don’t toot on that flute. Be a lutist!'”
Name-Blame (Limerick)
Sunday, March 4th, 2018It’s risky when parents show flair
In naming their child, so beware!
If you pick a bad name,
You may shoulder the blame
And the cost of a therapist’s stare.
Happy Celebrate Your Name Week (1st full week of March.)
Pat Parental Retorts (Limerick)
Saturday, August 27th, 2016Parents dish out some phrases with glee:
“Just because!” “Cuz I said so!” “We’ll see!”
“Till you pay your own way,
You must do what I say!”
“Do you think money grows on a tree?”
Happy “Just Because Day!” (Aug. 27)
Badly-Behaved Parents (Limerick)
Friday, March 25th, 2016Today’s Crazy Headline of the Day deserves a limerick.
“Kindergarten play gets broken up by police after parents brawl over best seats.”
Most brawling takes place on the street
And in bars, but some cops on the beat
Had to break up a fight
At a school play one night:
Parents fighting to get the best seat.
I Wrote This Limerick “Just Because”
Tuesday, August 27th, 2013When I was a child, I hated the words “just because,” a favorite parental “explanation.” And yet there’s a “Just Because Day,” celebrated on August 27th by people who look at those words rather differently.
I Wrote This Limerick “Just Because”
By Madeleine Begun Kane
The parental retort,”Just because,”
Is a stale and inadequate clause.
Moms might just as well say
“It’s the law, so obey!”
Or, hemmed in, just try hemming and haws.
Bright Limerick (Limerick-Off Monday)
Sunday, November 25th, 2012It’s Limerick-Off time, once again. And that means I write a limerick, and you write your own, using the same first line. Then you post your limerick here and, if you’re a Facebook user, on Facebook too.
The best submission will be crowned Limerick Of The Week. (Here’s last week’s Limerick Of The Week Winner.)
How will your poems be judged? By meter, rhyme, cleverness, and humor. (If you’re feeling a bit fuzzy about limerick writing rules, here’s my How To Write A Limerick article.)
I’ll announce the Limerick of the Week Winner next Sunday, right before I post next week’s Limerick-Off. So that gives you a full week to submit your clever, polished verse. Your submission deadline is Saturday at 11:59 p.m. (Eastern Time.)
I hope you’ll join me in writing a limerick with this first line:
A woman who wasn’t too bright…*
or
A fellow who wasn’t too bright…*
*(Minor variations to my first lines are acceptable, but rhyme words may not be altered.)
Here’s my limerick:
Bright Limerick
By Madeleine Begun Kane
A woman who wasn’t too bright
Met a fellow who wasn’t quite “right.”
They wed, had a kid—
High IQ — off the grid.
Please don’t ask “Who’s the dad?”— Impolite!
Please feel free to write your own limerick using the same first line and post it in my comments. And if you’re on Facebook, I hope you’ll join my friends in that same activity on my Facebook Limerick-Off post.
To receive an email alert whenever I post a new Limerick-Off, please email Madkane@MadKane.com Subject: MadKane’s Newsletter. Thanks!
Mental Limerick
Tuesday, July 24th, 2012Poets United has a fun vice-versa challenge this week: Use all four of these words in any type of poem: Allow, Deny, Harsh, & Gentle. Here’s what I came up with:
Mental Limerick
By Madeleine Begun Kane
A man who denied being “mental,”
Was at times rather harsh, sometimes gentle.
He had one sacred cow:
He would never allow
A critique of his units parental.
Wedded To Acrostics (Acrostic Limerick)
Thursday, April 7th, 2011I’ve never written an Acrostic poem before, let alone an Acrostic Limerick. But writing this was fun, in a mind-puzzle kind of way.
Now if I understand the basic acrostic rules, the first letter of each line must spell out whatever your poem is about. Acrostic Only has a lot more info and a generous assortment of acrostic prompts.
Wedded To Acrostics (Acrostic Limerick)
By Madeleine Begun Kane
“Enlarging our guest list again?
Let me see it,” said bride-to-be Gwen.
“Oh no! What a slew!
Pa, this simply won’t do!
Eloping tomorrow, at ten.”
*****
Author’s Note: I updated this post to change line five’s first word from “Eloping” to “Escaping.” Any thoughts on which one is better? I can’t decide. Thanks!
Update: Thanks to feedback here and on Facebook, I changed it back to “Eloping” and also got rid of the bold first letters. Thanks everyone!
Update 2: I’ve changed the title, so as to not give the game away.
A Childhood Shadow
Thursday, February 10th, 2011Poetry prompts can serve up everything from fun inspiration to unsettling memories. For instance, the shadows prompt courtesy of Poets United Thursday Think Tank brought back a wistful early childhood memory of my late father Ernest Begun and Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses. More specifically, the two of us reciting my favorite childhood poem, My Shadow.
I’m certain that the many hours we spent poring over that Stevenson volume had lots to do with my own versifying. And so, this haiku:
Robert Stevenson’s
I have a little shadow…
My dad’s knee at three.
1996 Humor Column About Underwear Shopping With My Mother
Monday, January 5th, 2009Thanks to all of you for your kind emails, comments, and Twitter tweets about my mother’s death. I really appreciate it!
In my mother’s honor, I’m posting a 1996 humor column she inspired during happier (and funnier) times:
Secret Shopper
By Madeleine Begun Kane
“I’m not going in there. No way. Forget it.”
My seventy-something mother’s stance was as rigid as her words; arms folded across her chest, unyielding legs pointed away from the shop I’d just suggested.
She and I had spent the entire afternoon combing through three department stores for the definitive pair of panties. Or at least my mom’s idea of same. This illusive undergarment had to be loose, comfortable, 100% cotton, and totally devoid of lace. And that was just for starters. It also had to completely cover my mother’s hips and come in a large size, the exact number of which she resolutely refused to disclose. … (Secret Shopper is continued here.)
Rest In Peace, Mom
Thursday, January 1st, 20092008 was a very difficult year for me and for my family. My father died in January, and my mother died on December 30th and is being buried tomorrow.
Rest in peace, mom. I hope you and dad are together again.
I love you both and miss the two of you more than my words can express.
Beatrice Begun (1925-2008)
