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Home Poetry Beauty

Haiku and Limericks by Joe Tessitore

August 22, 2019
in Beauty, Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Haiku, Humor, Limerick, Poetry
A A
4
"Fireflies at Ochanomizu" by Kobayashi Kiyochika

"Fireflies at Ochanomizu" by Kobayashi Kiyochika

Haiku

 

When a newborn cries,
locked in a room by itself,
does it make a sound?

 

Fog enshrouds the night.
Woven in the heavy mist,
a thread of fireflies.

 

 

In Time – a Limerick

When a beautiful moment transpires,
In the midst of the smoke and the fires,
All the sands in the glass
Irretrievably pass
With the heat of impassioned desires.

 

 

Two Limericks

 

My gender was never assigned,
so now I must make up my mind.
I can do as God planned
or take matters in hand
and risk going totally blind.

 

There once was a used-to-be man,
whose surgeon said “Yes dear, you can!”
Though it’s hard to believe
he in fact did conceive
darling daughters named Harry and Stan!

 

 

Joe Tessitore is a retired New York City resident and poet.

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Comments 4

  1. C.B. Anderson says:
    6 years ago

    The best humor comes with a pointed barb, with which you have provided your two limericks. Their meter was a nice alternation of catalectic amphibrachs and proper anapests.

    Reply
    • Joe Tessitore says:
      6 years ago

      Thanks, C.B.

      Reply
      • James A. Tweedie says:
        6 years ago

        I’m heading straight for my dictionary. By the way, I especially enjoyed the haikus. A poetic form not often seen here. The phrase, “a thread of fireflies” woven into the mist is wonderfully evocative.

        Reply
  2. David Watt says:
    6 years ago

    I particularly like the limerick “In Time” for the concluding lines of:
    “All the sands in the glass
    Irretrievably pass
    With the heat of impassioned desires.”

    Reply

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