The Limerick Game And A Prize

The limerick has been on my mind since four AM. I must stop this! I need sleep. If I slept, blogging would not be a true addiction.

Wickapedia says:
A limerick is a five-line poem with a strict form, originally popularized in English by Edward Lear. Limericks are witty or humorous, and sometimes obscene with humorous intent.
The following example of a limerick is of anonymous origin.

The limerick packs laughs anatomical
In space that is quite economical,
But the good ones I've seen
So seldom are clean,
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.

Gershon Legman, who compiled the largest and most scholarly anthology, held that the true limerick, as a folk form, is always obscene, and cites[1] similar opinions by Arnold Bennett and George Bernard Shaw, describing the clean limerick as a periodic fad and object of magazine contests, rarely rising above mediocrity. That is to say, from a folkloric point of view, the form is essentially transgressive; violation of taboo is part of its function

Now here's the game...We are writing limericks today. My favorite will get a surprise.

My favorite limerick from somewhere, just floats into my mind now and then is:
*

There was a young lady from Niger

Who smiled as she rode on a tiger

They returned from the ride

With the lady inside

And the smile on the face of the tiger!

*

My poor attempt at a limerick:

There was a lady named Gail

Who tried to write poetry and failed

She could not sleep

And could not eat

Now she has no tale(tail)!

*

Sick but fun! Care to join me? January 18th will be the dead line. The prize will be picked to fit what I think is related to the winner.